Program Overview

Industrial Design BSc (Hons) at UCA Canterbury

Overview

This course is available for applications into Year 2 or 3.

Are you endlessly curious and always wondering how you could make things work better? Do you love taking objects apart for a closer look? Are you prepared to get your hands dirty? If so, our BSc (Hons) Industrial Design degree course at UCA Canterbury could be perfect for you.

This technical design course could lead to a number of careers, from mass fabrication or engineering, to working for tech firms or joining the automotive industry. Industrial designers deal in the details, and we’ll teach you how to look at the smallest items and work out how to improve them.

You’ll learn to use industry-leading software, develop your problem-solving skills, gain a deep understanding of materials and systems, examine sustainability considerations, and develop your knowledge of how things work. And you’ll learn all this in great studio spaces with incredible making facilities, alongside lecturers, tutors, and technicians who have extensive knowledge and experience in the field.

Key Information

• Campus: Canterbury
• Start date(s): September 2025
• Duration: 2 years full-time

What You'll Study

Year Two

• Launch: Launch Week for the second year will be spent gearing up for your study objectives and re-orientating after your first summer break.
• Design 03 – Fabricate and Form: In this unit you’ll further refine your skills in sketching, model making and visualisation, with specific focus on digital representation methodologies, and material and manufacturing constrains and opportunities.
• Design for Equity 02: In this unit, you will expand your knowledge of the technological principles, civil regulations, and societal challenges that inform contemporary design and manufacture.
• Briefs and Positions 02: In this unit, you’ll prepare a developed set of briefing materials that will inform and guide your development of a medium-scale design proposal in the subsequent design unit Design 04 – Fabricate and Form.
• Opportunity: The second term begins with Opportunity Week, an intensive week of activity conceived and undertaken in collaboration with external partners.
• Context and Constraint: You’ll expand your conceptual approach to constraint-based design by undertaking a detailed design project which brings together your technical, conceptual ideation, iterative testing, and narrative production skills in a confident and holistic way.
• Pathways and Mentors: In this unit, we’ll challenge you to reflect on the design skills, knowledge and techniques you are acquiring and identify potential alternative career paths that you might not yet have considered.
• Critical Analysis 02: The unit, a progression from your first year of study, is primarily concerned with theory and represents a step-up in challenging you to interrogate ideas, designs and actions.
• ATOM Activities: ATOM activities are tiny pieces of individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure across the university.

Year Three

• Launch: For your final Launch Week, you’ll spend the week getting ready for your final year of study, and re-orientating after your summer break.
• Design 05 – Pitch and Prototype: This unit challenges you to engage with exciting new technologies and to produce compelling digital and physical prototypes through the rapid acquisition and integration of new skills within your workflows.
• Critical Analysis 03: You’ll produce a piece of self-directed research on a subject that is related to the historical, theoretical and critical concerns of your subject discipline.
• Briefs and Positions 03: This unit is about preparing an advanced set of briefing materials to inform and guide your development of a medium-scale design proposal for the Final Major Project.
• Opportunity: Opportunity Week is an intensive week of activity conceived and undertaken in collaboration with external partners.
• Major Project: After defining your own brief during the preceding Briefs and Positions 03 unit, with the support of your tutor, you will develop and complete an expansive project that uses all your skills in design, making, research and project development.

Fees & Funding

• Tuition fees - 2025/26:
  • UK: £9,535
  • EU: £9,535 (see fee discount information)
  • International: £17,500

Facilities

• UCA Canterbury has open plan studio spaces offer a flexible learning environment, used for tutorials and independent working.
• Fully equipped Mac and PC computer labs with software for design and coding.
• Access to a purpose built FabLAB with laser cutters, 3D printers and CNC milling and injection moulding equipment, as well as virtual reality and spatial tracking technology.
• Campus 3D workshop with machines for working in wood, metals, plastics and ceramics.

Entry & Portfolio Requirements

• UK:
  • BSc (Hons) course - Year 2: 120 credits from a relevant degree (at level 4), Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE), Higher National Certificate in a relevant subject, and/or Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL)
  • BSc (Hons) course - Year 3: 240 credits from a relevant degree (120 credits at level 4 and 120 credits at level 5), with a minimum of 55% overall, Foundation Degree in a relevant subject, Higher National Diploma in a relevant subject, and/or Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL)
• International and EU:
  • BSc (Hons) course Year 2 / Year 3 entry: The entry requirements for these courses will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please contact our International Admissions team to discuss your application
• Portfolio requirements: For these courses, we’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

Our Staff

• JJ Brophy, Programme Director Design
• Dr Paul D. Found, Senior Lecturer Industrial Design and Design Media
• Stephen Davies, Senior Lecturer – Product and Furniture Design
• Robert Nice, Lecturer/Senior Lecturer Architecture and Design
• Dr Kim Trogal, Reader in Social and Political Design
• Lucy Jones, Senior Lecturer Architecture & Design

Related Courses

• Ceramics & Glass BA (Hons) at UCA Farnham
• Industrial Design BSc (Hons) at UCA Canterbury
• Interior Decoration & Styling BA (Hons) at UCA Canterbury
• Jewellery & Silversmithing BA (Hons) at UCA Farnham
• Modelmaking BA (Hons) at UCA Canterbury
• Product Design BA (Hons) at UCA Canterbury
• Studio Practice (Product Design) (top-up) BA (Hons) at UCA Canterbury