We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified*:
IELTS Academic module overall 6.5 with 5.5 in each component.
TOEFL-iBT (including Special Home Edition) 92 or above with 20 in each section. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
Cambridge English: Advanced or Proficiency overall 176 with 162 in each component.
Trinity ISE: ISE II with a distinction in all four components.
We also accept a wider range of international qualifications and tests.
English language qualifications must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the degree you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, or Trinity ISE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.
Interior Design is the study and design of interior spaces in a range of public and private environments.
At Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) we research, investigate and develop ideas for a range of different scales of building size, intervention and time frames. It is about creating environments that impact positively on peoples’ day to day experiences and interactions.
The focus of our teaching and learning is our studio - the Interior Lab - so named as it acts as a laboratory of design where ideas are developed and grown, shared and evolved. The studio allows us to replicate elements of a professional design office environment, and encourages students to work as a team.
You will develop your skills through innovative projects. This will enable you to explore the design potential of contemporary interventions into existing buildings, bringing new life and functions to old structures. Most of our projects are based in Edinburgh using real buildings and situations to generate briefs. Often we work on live projects with real clients.
We encourage our students to be creative, inventive and questioning of design. In all projects we encourage solutions that are beyond the ordinary or obvious, by the application of interior, architectural and spatial theories to a particular brief.
It is very important to us that you also gain a good technical understanding of interior design to prepare you for work in industry following graduation.
Integrated with the practical studio work, Design and Screen Cultures courses provide a contextual and theoretical understanding of the holistic nature of contemporary design.
Year 1
You will be introduced to the theoretical and practical concepts of interior design. Through a series of spatial projects, this will lead to more focused, subject-specific outcomes. This will result in an ability to understand and interpret 3D space and produce orthographic drawings of your proposals.
In Design and Screen Cultures you will address the key histories and theories of design.
You will be able to take up to 60 credits of option courses, either within ECA, or across the wider College. This is subject to availability and discussion with your Personal Tutor and relevant course organisers.
This offers you the flexibility to construct a suite of courses that reflects your interests and enhances your main study.
Year 2
Basic principles, theories, working practices, and technical instruction will be covered in set projects and exercises that offer a wide-ranging introduction to areas of interior design.
Again, alongside Design and Screen Cultures courses, you will be able to choose up to 60 credits of option courses, subject to availability.
Year 3
The focus of this year is to develop your design solutions to more complex buildings, on a larger scale. You will investigate in greater depth the technical detailing aspects of interior design, and gain a strong understanding of materials properties and specification.
Through set projects you will develop your ideas and explore a range of techniques, thereby establishing an individual approach to your work.
In Year 3, alongside Design and Screen Cultures courses, you will choose up to 40 credits of option courses from the wider College, subject to availability.
Opportunities for study abroad help broaden an understanding of the discipline.
Year 4
You will feel confident about your ability to express ideas, opinions and concerns through your practical and theoretical work.
You will undertake a self-generated design project throughout the year, along with a written dissertation. These will be focused towards your own area of interest in relation to the wider field of interior design.
Year 4 is structured to enable you to start designing your future career. It is an integrated experience which will take you from brief writing, to detailed design, and onward into professional practice.
It will involve mandatory participation in a public exhibition as part of the Degree Show. There is also the potential for selection to participate in the Interior Educators Free Range public interior design exhibition in London in July.
Programme structure
Find out more about the compulsory and optional courses in this degree programme.
To give you an idea of what you will study on this programme, we publish the latest available information. However, please note this may not be for your year of entry, but for a different academic year.
Graduating students have found work in various related design offices, for example with architects, interior designers, lighting designers, and with other areas of the industry, such as product and material manufacturers and sales.
In recent years Film, TV and computer gaming design, as well as theatre set design have also been destinations. Some of our graduates also continue to postgraduate education and teaching.
