Program Overview

BA (Hons) Interior Design

Overview

The BA (Hons) Interior Design course at Manchester Metropolitan University explores the dynamic interplay between human experience and the built environment. Students will challenge and interpret the spaces we occupy and reoccupy through both creative and research-informed methodologies.

Course Information

The course is taught by practising designers and architects, touching on all aspects of interiors. The programme embeds external engagement, with strong industry connections and partnerships. This materialises in a variety of ways, including design studio visits in London and Manchester, networking events, and portfolio reviews.

Features and Benefits

• Award Winning: Winner of the 2025 Student Union Teaching Awards 'Course of the Year'
• Globally recognised: Ranked in the top 100 schools for art and design in the world (QS World Rankings 2025)
• Live projects: Regular live projects throughout the course, including exhibition design in collaboration with Mather & Co and Manchester Met's Special Collections
• Design competitions: Participation in design competitions, such as the Retail Design Awards and the Creative Conscience Award
• Study trips: Opportunities to undertake study trips to key design cities, including Berlin, Venice Architecture Biennale, Milan Design Week, Copenhagen, and New York
• International exchange: Participation in exchange visits to Australia, Canada, the USA, and Europe
• Visiting expertise: Visiting designers and lecturers assist in the course team via lectures, projects, and workshops
• Studio visits: Opportunities to attend studio visits in London and Manchester across a range of design practices

Year 1

In the first year, students will explore interior design through research and creativity, focusing on space, place, and speculative design. They will develop skills in drawing, making, and digital communication, while considering history, people, and environment in their design process.

Core Modules

• Interior Beginnings: Introduction to the field of interior design through a blend of research and creative interpretation of the built environment
• Interior Narratives: Development of creative interior methodologies and design process, including storytelling and design thinking
• Interior Communication: Focus on visual and verbal communication skills, bringing together a range of physical and digital techniques
• Future X: Kinship: Exploration of creative fields through questions of belonging, encouraging consideration of relationships with the planet, people, and place

Year 2

The second year combines poetic aspirations with pragmatic requirements and materiality of the discipline, teaching students to investigate and develop imaginative solutions to real-world challenges.

Core Modules

• Interior Pathways: Exploration of the breadth of the discipline, highlighting various pathways such as event design, exhibition design, retail design, and interior architecture
• Interior Pragmatics: Focus on the pragmatic expectations and design intention of a brief, situating design thinking and communication methods in the professional realisation of projects
• Interior Poetics: Creative exploration of the poetics and rationale behind designing spatial solutions and enhancing human experiences
• Future X: Symbiosis: Tackling complex planetary challenges by working with students from different creative fields, exploring the notion of ‘What if?’ as a way to propose alternative futures

Year 3

The third year provides the testbed to demonstrate the informed and rigorous design process developed throughout the degree, highlighting consideration of socially and environmentally responsible approaches to people, place, and materiality.

Core Modules

• Research Proposal: Independent research project focused on a specific design agenda in relation to current planetary challenges
• Design Proposal: Conceptual development and technical refinement of a major interior design proposal, addressing an identified design problem
• Future X: Re-worlding: Exploration of the boundaries of where the discipline intersects with other fields of practice as a catalyst for innovation

Study and Assessment

• Year 1: 25% lectures, seminars, or similar; 75% independent study
• Year 2: 25% lectures, seminars, or similar; 75% independent study
• Year 3: 100% placement (optional)
• Year 4: 20% lectures, seminars, or similar; 80% independent study
• Assessment: 100% coursework in Years 1, 2, and 4; 100% placement in Year 3 (if taken)

Placements

Professionalism is embedded in all aspects of the course through visits from respected professional critics from industry, live projects, and collaborative modules. There is the option to complete a fourth 'sandwich' year consisting of a work placement and/or study overseas between the second and third years.

Entry Requirements

• Typical offer: 104-112 UCAS tariff points
• IELTS score: 6.0 overall with no individual element below 5.5
• Portfolio: Required as part of the application
• UK students: Level 3 qualifications, including GCE A levels, Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma, Access to HE Diploma, UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma, OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma, and T level
• International students: IB Diploma with minimum 26 points overall or 104-112 UCAS Tariff points from Higher Level, and IELTS score of 6.0 overall with no individual element below 5.5

Fees and Funding

Tuition fees for the 2026/27 academic year are still being finalised. Information on 2025/26 standard undergraduate fees for UK/Channel Islands and EU/Non-EU international students is available.

Careers Support and Prospects

• Employed or in further study: 88.7% of UK-domiciled, full-time, first-degree graduates are employed or in further study 15 months after graduation
• Graduate Outcomes survey: 2021/22 leavers, HESA data
• Careers Service: Support and encouragement to get ready for further study or working life, including starting your own business
• Future Me: Exploration of career plans
• Rise: Access to hundreds of online short courses to top up skills
• Industry connections: Unrivalled business connections to help open doors to dream careers

Related Courses

• BA (Hons) Architecture
• BA (Hons) Product Design