PGCert Design for Dementia and Ageing

Program Overview

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PGCert Design for Dementia and Ageing

Overview

The Postgraduate Certificate Design for Dementia and Ageing offers students the opportunity to study online for a postgraduate degree qualification in relation to environmental design for dementia and ageing.

Key Facts

• Award: Postgraduate Certificate
• Start date: September 2025
• Duration: 12 months part time
• Mode of study: part time
• Delivery: online

Course Objectives

This course will give you access to specialist knowledge in relation to architectural practice and environmental design for ageing and dementia. At the end of this course, graduates will develop key skills including:

• in-depth knowledge of key concepts informing aged care and dementia care practice;
• key principles and concepts in relation to age friendly and dementia friendly housing;
• the role of the environment in influencing the experience of dementia and ageing;
• key principles in relation to the design and implementation of age inclusive and dementia inclusive environments;
• international and multidisciplinary perspectives regarding environmental design practice for ageing and dementia care;
• practical examples of the ageing and dementia inclusive design process;
• assessing and evaluating age inclusive and dementia inclusive environments.

Entry Requirements

Academic Requirements

A minimum of a second class honours degree (2.1 preferred) or equivalent. Applicants without these formal qualifications but with significant appropriate/relevant work/life experience in architecture, design, health and social care, housing, product design or interior design are encouraged to apply.

International Entry Requirements

View the entry requirements for your country.

English Language Requirements

If English is not your first language you must have one of the following qualifications as evidence of your English language skills:

• IELTS Academic or UKVI 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in each sub-skill.
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) 62 overall with 60 in each sub-skill.
• IBT TOEFL 80 overall with 18 in reading, 23 in writing, 19 in listening and 21 in speaking.

Course Details

Our PG Certificate course features three individual modules leading to a Postgraduate certificate. This modular structure draws upon bespoke content for this programme alongside modules from the MSc Dementia Studies and MSc Housing Studies programmes (part time and with internship) at the University of Stirling.

Modules

• The module information below provides an example of the types of course module you may study. The details listed are for the academic year that starts in September 2025. Modules and start dates are regularly reviewed and may be subject to change in future years.

Teaching

You will study during three semesters at Stirling. Modules offer a mixture of online content including videos, recorded short lectures, interactive activities and online face to face teaching sessions.

Assessment

Your learning will be assessed against the learning outcomes of each module you take, throughout your degree. These contribute to demonstrating that you have met the overall learning outcomes for your degree. Assessment requirements for each module will be explained at the outset of the module, so you will know what you need to do, how and when.

Fees and Funding

Fees and Costs

If you need to extend your period of study, you may be liable for additional fees.

If you are studying part time, the total course fee will be split over the years that you study. The total fee will remain the same and will be held at the rate set in your year of entry.

Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loans

This course is eligible for a postgraduate tuition fee loan from one of the UK’s governments.

Scholarships and Funding

Scottish students may be eligible to apply to the Students Award Agency for Scotland (SAAS) for loans of up to £11,500 to cover tuition fees and associated living costs.

English students can apply for a loan of up to £12,167 each year as part of the Postgraduate Masters Loan Scheme.

Welsh students can apply for financial support of up to £18,770 as a combination of grant and loan from Student Finance Wales.

Northern Irish students can apply for a postgraduate tuition fee loan of up to £6,500 from Student Finance NI.

International students may be able to gain additional funding from loan providers.

After You Graduate

This course is for experienced professionals from all relevant disciplines and enables you to study while continuing to work in your existing post. Some of our graduates have moved to specialised posts, while others have secured a promotion, undertaken further research or become involved in training.

• Advance your career prospects by growing your expertise in this specialist area of environmental design, housing and health and social care.
• Fit your studies around your current job commitments.
• Put everything you’re learning straight to work in a professional setting.

Employability Skills

Throughout your studies you’ll gain transferable skills that enable you to impart knowledge to colleagues and other students, transfer awareness and implement action in practice and provide training to colleagues in architecture, environmental design, housing or health and social care.

The course enhances employability within the broad field of architecture, environmental design and housing for dementia and ageing. The qualification can also equip you to move to more specialised and promoted posts within health and social care settings.

Companies We Work With

Because everyone studying the course is working in a professional field related to environmental design for dementia and ageing, you’ll automatically find yourself engaging with a wide range of organisations across statutory, private and not-for-profit sectors in different countries within the UK, Europe and worldwide.

Our teaching team and the Dementia Services Development Centre have extensive contacts with a range of commercial and non- for-profit organisations across the world.

These include:

• Silviahemmet (Sweden)
• IKEA (Sweden)
• Forbo Flooring (UK)
• Mediva Inc. (Japan)
• JCCPA (Hong Kong)
• HR Care (Italy)