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University of Wales Trinity Saint David

UCAS Code: PFD1 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements

UCAS Tariff

120

About this course

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2025

Subject

Product design

Our BA in Product and Furniture Design focuses on developing your intellectual and creative skills. You will explore the design production process with an emphasis on aesthetics and social relevance. Available as both a BA and BSc, the BA option is ideal if you are passionate about the artistic and cultural aspects of design, aiming to create objects that are both beautiful and purposeful.

BA Product and Furniture Design degree offers a comprehensive understanding of the design process, helping you develop the practical skills necessary for designing for manufacture. You will also gain analytical, evaluative, and communicative skills, which are crucial whether you are working alone or as part of a team. You will become aware of the social, environmental, and ethical frameworks within which you, as a design professional, will operate. Engaging with real-world challenges and client requirements will be a key part of your learning experience.

Product and Furniture Design is a strategic problem-solving process that sparks innovation and drives business success. This field improves our quality of life by creating innovative products, systems, services, and experiences. It bridges the gap between what exists and what is possible, using creative problem-solving to turn challenges into opportunities. In this course, you will learn to develop innovative approaches to the design, development, and creation of products and furniture.

As a Product and Furniture Designer, you will place people at the heart of the design process. By understanding user needs through empathy, you will apply a user-centred design approach. This pragmatic process ensures that the products, systems, services, and experiences you design truly meet the needs of users. You will be in a unique position to connect different professional disciplines and business interests, working together to create a better quality of life.

We do not require a previous portfolio for entry. Instead, we look for passionate creatives with a strong desire to improve. With these qualities, we can help you become a designer capable of making a significant real-world impact.

Modules

Year One – Level 4 (Cert HE, Dip HE & BA)

• Contemporary Challenges: Making a Difference (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Design & Make 1 (20 credits; compulsory)
• Design Thinking (20 credits; compulsory)
• Learning in the Digital Era (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Technical Design (20 credits; compulsory)
• Ways of Perceiving (10 credits; compulsory)
• Ways of Thinking (10 credits; compulsory).

Year Two – Level 5 (Dip HE & BA)

• Changemakers: Building your Personal Brand for Sustainable Employment (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Changemakers: Creativity and Value Creation (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Design Exploration (20 credits; compulsory)
• Design for Manufacture (20 credits; compulsory)
• Design Realisation – CAD (10 credits; compulsory)
• Design Simulation – Virtual (10 credits; compulsory)
• Research in Context (10 credits; compulsory)
• Research in Practice (10 credits; compulsory).

Year Three – Level 6 (BA)

• Advanced Creative Enquiry (20 credits; compulsory)
• Independent Project (40 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Individual Major Project (60 credits; compulsory).

Assessment methods

Assessment is carried out through coursework, both written and practical. There are no exams on this course. You are formatively assessed throughout a module, with summative assessment taking place at the end of a module. A variety of teaching and learning methods are used throughout the course.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£13,500
per year
International
£13,500
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni

Course location:

Alexandra Road, Swansea

Department:

Swansea College of Art

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What students say

We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

72%
Product design

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Design studies

Teaching and learning

87%
Staff make the subject interesting
82%
Staff are good at explaining things
83%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
85%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

64%
Library resources
53%
IT resources
72%
Course specific equipment and facilities
57%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

92%
UK students
8%
International students
81%
Male students
19%
Female students
60%
2:1 or above
9%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
E

After graduation

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Design studies

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£15,912
low
Average annual salary
97%
med
Employed or in further education
65%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

47%
Design occupations
21%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
7%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Design studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£14k

£14k

£17k

£17k

£18k

£18k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here