Interior Design at UCA

The MA Interior Design degree at UCA Canterbury is for designers who want to push their thinking, test their ideas, and grow their practice.

This Interior Design course is about more than mastering skills; it’s about finding your voice and learning how to use it through design. It will give you the space, structure and support to explore what interior design means to you, and how you can use it to shape the world around you.

We see interior design as more than decoration or function. It’s about how people feel in a space, how materials and objects interact, and how we create meaningful connections between people, places and experiences. We encourage you to see space as a medium for communication, culture and change.

This course is open to graduates from interior design and related disciplines who are ready to take the next step. You might be looking to specialise in a new area, experiment with emergent tools and technologies, or refine your approach to spatial design. Whatever your direction, you’ll find the freedom and guidance to build a practice that’s truly your own.

Conversation is a key part of how we teach. Through regular tutorials, critiques and studio discussions, you’ll develop your ideas in dialogue with tutors, peers and visiting professionals. You’ll explore how interior design connects with themes like sustainability, heritage, immersive media, social impact and more — and how you want to position yourself in relation to them.

As part of this Interior Design masters degree you’ll work on a self-directed major project that reflects your personal interests and ambitions. You’ll also take part in hands-on workshops, research, prototyping and testing using both digital and physical tools.

There’s a strong focus on rigorous process development, helping you refine your thinking, test ideas thoroughly, and build a design methodology that is both reflective and robust. Whether you’re drawn to domestic interiors, exhibitions, retail environments or speculative spaces, we'll support you in developing a distinctive and thoughtful design process.

Our studio culture is collaborative and inclusive. You’ll share ideas, feedback and opportunities with students from MA Product Design and MA Architecture, enriching your understanding of how interiors relate to objects, experiences and the built environment. You’ll also take part in study visits and hear from guest critics and practitioners who bring global and industry perspectives.

After you completing your Masters in Interior Design you’ll leave with a strong body of work. You'll also have a clearer sense of your design identity and have gained the confidence to move forward into professional practice, further study or your own design venture.

Integrated Pre-Masters

We also offer this degree with an Integrated Pre-Masters course for international and UK students. The course prepares you for postgraduate study by improving your academic and creative skills before your degree begins.

 

Course entry options

Select from the following options to find out more about the different study options available for our MA Interior Design degree:

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Campus
canterbury
Start date(s)
September 2025, September 2026
Duration
1 year full-time
Entry requirements

Honours degree (or equivalent qualification) in the subject/related discipline
and/or
Relevant work experience

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Campus
farnham
Start date(s)
September 2025, September 2026
Duration
2 years full-time
Entry requirements

A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject

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Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
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Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
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Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
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Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements

Upcoming webinars

We offer a range of webinars throughout the year that Interior Design students may be interested in.


This includes subject talks, masterclasses, application proccess advice and student life guides. Check out our upcoming webinars and book your place today.

What you'll study

What you'll
study

The content of the course may be subject to change. Curriculum content is provided as a guide.

Our Integrated Pre-Master's course will prepare for postgraduate study by improving your academic and creative skills before your degree begins.

You'll build a portfolio of work whilst you explore your subject specialism and benefit from personal development tutoring that will support your academic growth and help refine your specialism. 

If you need to enhance your English language skills you can opt to join a pre-sessional English course to improve your IELTS score as well.

Learn more about the Integrated Pre-Masters course

Launch
This intensive week of study is to help you get ready for starting your course, and getting to know your course staff, peer group and the school community in greater depth. Activities include a multi-story guest lecture super session, an all staff pecha kucher, Canterbury and surroundings walking orientation tours and a studio launch collaborative making project. 

Experimentation and Innovation
A space for orientation, adventure, and exploration of your subject and practice, this unit provides opportunities to develop and discover new perspectives on design, analytical techniques and production methods. In so doing it will situate your current and future practice, expanding your critical framework for the units ahead.

Research and Professional Contexts 1
Designed to help you develop advanced skills in research, conceptual understanding, appropriate analysis techniques and application of knowledge, this unit will help position you within the contextual foundations which support the past and future of your discipline.

Opportunity
Opportunity Week is an intensive week of activity conceived and undertaken in collaboration with an external partner(s). Typically, this will sit outside the your subject areas, and could cover topics including politics, economics, business, culture or philosophy.

Studio Practice
Studio Practice’ extends your research and development from term one and acts as a design accelerator unit. In the early stages, in collaboration with your specialist tutor, you will formulate a research and project proposal to be carried out through the remainder of your studies. This unit is an intensive, fast paced, and productive “engine” of your course, the outcome of which will be a comprehensive and sophisticated project that demonstrates a developing mastery of your practice.

Research and Professional Contexts 2
Research and Professional Contexts 2 further extends and focuses your research, critical analysis, and communication skills through two components. The first is a contextual practice presentation, in support of the development of your individual project. This should demonstrate your ability to situate your research, experimentation, and knowledge in a wider field, and express your comprehension of the impact of your work on that field. The second is a collaborative practice project where you can work with others on a collectively defined brief.

Final Realisation
The culmination of your Masters course, this unit gathers all of your prior research, experimentation, concept development, and contextual analysis into a focused synoptic outcome. The project is a natural continuation and resolution of the work you began and the goals that you set yourself in Studio Practice and includes the dissemination of your work to external audiences.

Course specifications

Please note, syllabus content indicated is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change in line with our Student Terms and Conditions for example, as required by external professional bodies or to improve the quality of the course.

Fees & funding

Fees & financial support

Tuition fees

  • 2025/26: £10,500

Tuition fees

Tuition fees

  • 2025/26 (MA): £18,000
  • 2025/26 (Integrated International Pre-Masters course - Sept & Jan): £17,500
  • 2025/26 (Integrated International Pre-Masters course - May): £8,750

Please note: the fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. For more detailed information about our course fees please see our fees and finance pages

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

Current UCA students and alumni may be eligible for a tuition fee discount.

Financial support

There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources. Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information.

Additional course costs

In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of the Course Information Document for details of the costs you may incur.

Career opportunities

We've got extensive contacts across the range of interior design disciplines. Live projects, research analysis and feasibility studies will draw on our wide range of contacts and associations.

Connections include specialists in the related fields of audio-visual technologies, lighting design and interactive design.

Recent guest lecturers have included:

  • David Callcott, CADA Design, retail and leisure design consultants (London and Hyderabad, India)
  • Emma Vane, Production Designer for Atonement, the Harry Potter series, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Captain America: The First Avenger
  • Finlay White, ModCell, sustainable construction
  • Mick Pearce, award-winning international architect (Title: Bio-mimicry and the 3rd industrial revolution)
  • Phil Hughes, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, museum and exhibition designers (London, New York, Beijing)
  • Uwe R. Brückner, Atelier Brückner, exhibition design (Stuttgart, Germany)

Career opportunities exist within design or architectural consultancies in retail, leisure, exhibition, office, hotel, residential and cruise ship design, as well as in the fields of design management, interior or film-set design.

Our course has a strong ecological focus with opportunities for engaging with both the theoretical and practical aspects of real-world sustainability.

You may want to undertake further study or research to specialise even further.

Sonny Cant

"UCA has proved to be a great choice for me; the skills that students acquire are highly sought after in industry and my MA in particular, gave me a more rounded skill set than some, which was advantageous and helped to bring fantastic opportunities my way."

Sonny Cant

Entry & portfolio requirements

For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review. You can either submit a digital portfolio or request an in-person portfolio review with the course team. 

View postgraduate portfolio advice

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