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BA (Hons)

Interior Design

BA Interior Design is your gateway to the design industry. You'll develop creativity, professionalism, and a strong focus on user experience, conservation and sustainability. With hands-on projects, real-world briefs and industry connections, you'll get the skills needed for a career as an interior designer.

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Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    W250

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,535*

  • International students

    £15,850*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • UCAS Code

    W252

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,535*

  • International students

    £15,850*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

Become a creative, thoughtful and professional designer at USW. Experience industry-focused teaching from day one with real-world briefs to kickstart your career in this exciting field.

Designed for:

If you’re passionate about designing aesthetic, user-friendly spaces, this course is for you. Whether you’ve studied art or design before or not, if you love working with colour, texture, and materials, you'll thrive here.

Dedicated to excellence:

  • Society of British & International Interior Design (SBID) recognised 

Career paths:

  • Interior designer
  • 3D visualisation
  • Exhibition / event design
  • Interior branding
  • Project management

Skills taught:

  • Building analysis
  • Detailing and technical drawing
  • Material specification
  • Spatial principles and form manipulation
  • 3D visualisation

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

Interior Design student art work for Gradfest 2024

Interior Design 2024 Showreel
Close up of hands pointing at an illustration in a workbook

Course Highlights

Work on live briefs

Collaborate with industry partners on live briefs, gaining practical real-world experience through our professional network.

Sustainability focus

Design with purpose. Social and environmental responsibility are at the heart of this course, with many projects based on the adaptive re-use of existing buildings and spaces with a clear agenda for conservation.

User experience matters

Learn to design with user experience and wellbeing at the core of design projects.

Lifelong connections

Join a supportive design community with a strong alumni network who contribute back to the course to share their knowledge.

Module Overview

Our Interior Design modules are designed holistically to make you a confident, creative, independent, socially and ecologically minded designer, equipped with the practical and intellectual skills needed to flourish in industry.  You'll work on live industry briefs, learning to design spaces with a focus on sustainability. Develop key skills like 2D/3D visual communication and use tools like AutoCAD, Revit, and Photoshop.

Year One
Interior Design Projects 1 
Interior Architectural Communication 1 
Building Analysis 
Interior Design Core Skills 
Interior Design in Context 1 
Ethical and Sustainable Design

Year Two
Interior Design Projects 2 
Interior Architectural Communication 2 
Interior Design Professional Skills 
Interior Design in Context 2 
Conservation Principles and Sustainability 

Sandwich year 
If you choose a one-year sandwich placement after Year Two, you'll return to complete your final year of study in Year Four. 

Year Three
Interior Design Major Project 
Production Information 
Competition and Exhibition 
Critical Research in Interior Design  
Professional Practice

Set the foundation for your degree, covering essential skills like drawing, design, building analysis and research skills. You'll explore key issues like sustainability, accessibility and user experience, start developing your visual style, and learn to create digital and physical models and use industry software.

Interior Design Projects 1 
Explore key interior design concepts and create work with a defined rationale. Learn by doing through project briefs that develop your understanding of 3D geometry and spatial configuration. 
 
Interior Architectural Communication 1 
Learn to visually communicate design ideas at various points in the design process using analogue and digital modelling skills.  
 
Building Analysis 
Understand how interior environments can affect users. Study functions and principles of building interiors, spatial organisation, materials, accessibility, and ergonomics.  

Interior Design Core Skills 
Learn to draw interiors to scale and represent 3D space as 2D.  Learn to draw plans, sections, elevations, and create 3D projections and perspective views, first by hand, then digitally using AutoCAD. 
 
Interior Design in Context 1 
Learn how to analyse, research, and discuss designed objects and ideas surrounding their design, production, or consumption. Study precedent projects to understand how design relates to its context. 
 
Ethical and Sustainable Design 
Explore how design can address environmental, social, and ethical issues. Consider how your own design practice relates to these challenges.  

Year Two extends the skills that you developed in the first year and pushes you toward greater independence in your work.  Year Two becomes more industry- focused, giving you greater insight into professional standards and industry expectations, including how to approach the design of a listed building. If you opt for a sandwich placement or short-term work experience, you'll get support to develop your portfolio and CV.

Interior Design Projects 2 
Enhance your creative and strategic thinking in response to a brief.  Gain increasing independence as you explore design concepts and visual presentation methods. 
 
Interior Architectural Communication 2 
Learn advanced presentation techniques, both analogue and digital. Conduct a feasibility study, explore visual branding strategies, and create compelling visuals that capture the essence of a project’s visual identity.  
 
Interior Design Professional Skills 
Master key industry production drawing and specification techniques. Assess and align your skills with your career goals to get ready for the professional world.  

Interior Design in Context 2 
Deepen your research and analysis skills. Explore interior design contexts and concepts in greater depth. Improve your communication and project management abilities both solo and in teams.  
 
Conservation Principles and Sustainability 
Learn the conservation principles to follow when dealing with buildings of social or historical significance, such as listed and protected buildings. Learn about sustainability in conserving the built environment and in material selection.  

Year Three enables you to become an autonomous designer, aware of your own goals, as well as the impact that you can have as a designer. Year Three prepares you for industry. Through our extensive alumni network and industry contacts, we focus on the transition from university to the workplace. Your Final Major Project is your opportunity to work on a project focused on your interests as a designer, supported by USW Interior Design academics and industry mentors. For these reasons, many students secure employment in the industry soon after graduation.

Interior Design Major Project 
Create a self-selected major project, showcasing all the skills you've learned throughout the course. This is your chance to shine with a final, in-depth project.  

Production Information 
Learn to produce technical drawings following industry standards that explain and quantify the design scheme and main internal elements for your major project, including technical detailing, finishes layouts, and reflected soffit plans integrating lighting schematics.

Competition and Exhibition 
Focus on building your professional profile by designing work for a competition brief and planning the end-of-year showcase. Enhance your portfolio and gain industry exposure.

Critical Research in Interior Design 
Explore a self-selected topic of interest with thorough research. Develop a reasoned argument, resulting in a 5,000 word paper.

Professional Practice 
Learn about the wider issues relating to the Interior Design industry, including professional requirements and ethical standards. Develop key skills in project management and build your professional profile to prepare for your career.  

Course highlights

How you'll learn

At USW’s creative campus in the centre of Cardiff, most teaching for this course happens in the Interior Design Studio and includes lectures, tutorials, practical classes, and workshops. Some of your sessions may be online, and practical work might be done in computer labs or fabrication workshops. You may also go on study trips or site visits. 
 
Assessments are varied, primarily focusing on practical and design skills, with no exams. Assignments are spread out to avoid overlapping deadlines, and you are given regular feedback to support your development.  

Teaching staff

The BA Interior Design teaching team includes full-time academics and part-time industry professionals. This mix guarantees that your learning is not only grounded in solid academic knowledge but also enriched with current industry practices and insights. Our staff's real-world experience keeps your learning relevant and up to date. Plus, our course is SBID-recognised, meeting high industry standards and staying aligned with the latest trends. This mix of academic and practical expertise provides you with a cutting-edge education, preparing you for your future career in design. 

Placements and work experience

This course is designed to get you ready for a career as a professional designer. You'll build your portfolio, make industry contacts and gain practical experience. Our Careers Service helps with CVs, professional profiles, and guides on your portfolio content, while the Student Enterprise team advises on freelancing and business start-ups.

The course offers a one-year placement or work experience, with support from our Placements team and academic staff to find roles in South Wales and the Southwest. Recent students have secured placements at WSP in Cardiff, BBI Group in Brecon, and BAPTT Group in Swansea.

Facilities

At USW’s Cardiff campus, our interior design course provides a dedicated studio for teaching, workshops, and individual work. You’ll have access to all essential drawing tools, materials, and drawing boards. 
 
The studio includes a product library and PCs with Autodesk AutoCAD, Revit, 3DS Max, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Additional facilities feature digital and manual fabrication workshops with laser cutters, 3D printers, and various tools. The campus also offers collaborative spaces, networking areas, and quiet study pods for your creative and academic needs.  

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Our Interior Design course is designed to get you ready for your dream career. You’ll learn hands-on skills from industry experts and work on live briefs, making you a top choice for employers. Many of our graduates land jobs with successful UK companies like AtkinsRéalis, Austin-Smith: Lord, Benchmark Design, DMP, Do Digital Agency, HLM Architects, Interaction, Rio Architects and Powell. But it’s not just about Interior Design. Our alumni also work in exhibition and theatre design, 3D visualisation, and project management. Graduates of the course have pursued study at postgraduate level, some have gone on to teach Interior Design, and others have founded their own design practices.  

Careers support

At USW, you'll benefit from our Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after graduation. Access one-to-one appointments with career advisers in person, by phone, Teams, or email. Our online resources include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, an interview simulator, and job application help. We also offer weekly job alerts from our database of over 2,000 employers. 
 
Our dedicated teams include a work experience team to help with placements, an employability team with the Grad Edge program, and an Enterprise team focused on business and entrepreneurship.  

Industry partners

Our Interior Design course connects you with top industry partners. You'll work on live briefs and be guided and mentored by professionals from renowned companies like Orangebox, Austin-Smith: Lord, and Rio Architects. 
 
Our industry contacts and alumni are often on-hand for mentoring, workshops, and industry events to help you build your network. 

Learn more about sandwich years

Sandwich years

A sandwich year enables you to apply the knowledge gained during your degree to real-world work situations. You’ll equip yourself with a transferable skillset and gain invaluable work experience that will help you to stand out to potential employers in future job applications. A sandwich year also provides a fantastic opportunity to network and, if you impress your employer, you may even find you have a job waiting for you when you graduate. Many employers like to take on dedicated employees as showcased via a sandwich year placement scheme.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS points: 96 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level:CCC to include a relevant art and design subject
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit  in a relevant subject
  • Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate: Grade C in the Skills Challenge Certificate and CC at A Level with a relevant art and design subject
  • Access to HE: Pass Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 96 UCAS Tariff points.
  • T Level: Pass (C and above)

Additional requirements include:

Selection for this course is based on a suitable application. If you do not meet the entry criteria, you may also be required to provide a portfolio of your work to help us assess your suitability for the course.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,535

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£15,850

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£15,850

per year*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Bursaries Cost of Living Support

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

*Obligatory

  • Laptop - Cost: £300-£1000
  • Equipment or art materials associated with drawing/design work (e.g. T-square, etc)- Cost: £10-£50

Travel costs associated with local site visits (e.g. local/regional train or bus fare, etc)

Cost: £0-£30

Optional – group study trip in the UK or abroad (price per study trip, no more than once per year)

Cost: £150-£600

Printing costs 

Cost: £100

How to apply

All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time.)

Advanced entry

If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.

International admissions

International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
 

Media Loans

You can hire a range of equipment, for your assignments and practical work, for free from our Media Loans facility.

Media Loans

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.

A student sat smiling and talking to friends off camera in Treforest Student's Union
Student Life
Exterior view of the University's Cardiff Campus.
Cardiff Campus
A double room at our Pontypridd accommodation featuring a large window.
Accommodation

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