Normally a UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in an appropriate subject such as geography, planning or ecology. You should have a strong interest in landscape architecture and show creative potential.
You must submit a portfolio of recent work as part of your application. Your portfolio should contain up to 10 pages (A3 format) that:
collectively demonstrates your potential ability to visualise your design ideas
demonstrate creative skills
are sourced from work you produced at school or from a relevant first degree such as landscape architecture, architecture, art or other design programme or extra curricular activities or self-led projects
As part of the application process, you must submit a personal statement and CV.* Your personal statement must include (but is not limited to) a 300 word summary addressing the following points:
What is your specialist field of interest?
If you do not meet the academic entry requirements, we may still consider your application on the basis of your portfolio and/or relevant professional experience.
(*Revised 1 October 2019 to reflect changes in the CV and personal statement submission process.)
How would you hope your time on this programme will form your landscape architectural practice?
What are your ambitions following your successful graduation from this programme?
For 2020 entry we accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified*:
IELTS: total 6.5 (at least 6.0 in each module)
TOEFL-iBT (including Special Home Edition): total 92 (at least 20 in each module). We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
PTE Academic: total 61 (at least 56 in each of the "Communicative Skills" sections)
CAE and CPE: total 176 (at least 169 in each module)
Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components
For 2021 entry we will accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified*:
IELTS: total 6.5 (at least 6.0 in each module)
TOEFL-iBT (including Special Home Edition): total 92 (at least 20 in each module). We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
CAE and CPE: total 176 (at least 169 in each module)
Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components
*(Revised 21 February 2020 to remove PTE Academic from 2021 entry requirements. Revised 21 April 2020 to include TOEFL-iBT Special Home Edition in 2020 and 2021 entry requirements.)
Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic or Trinity ISE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.
This programme is professionally accredited by the Landscape Institute and provides students with professionally focused landscape architectural skills and a critical awareness of the context of contemporary landscape architecture practice. This is the only professionally orientated postgraduate programme in landscape architecture in Scotland, and it has an acknowledged international reputation.
Landscape architecture combines creative practice with intellectual rigour in the invention of landscapes for human occupation. Working across a range of scales, from the territory to the garden, it is a practice that draws on a deep understanding of material and cultural history, ecology, geography, climate, and the past and present uses of landscapes in order to speculate on the future.
The MLA programme at the University of Edinburgh invites applications from graduates with distinctive disciplinary interests. Applicants may come from a range of study, practice or research backgrounds, including landscape architecture, studies in design, ecology, construction techniques, horticulture and theory.
The two-year programme of study is uniquely designed to cultivate landscape architects from a variety of undergraduate specialisms. The programme endeavours to train individual practitioners with distinct modes of practice and fields of interest with the aim that MLA graduates enter the profession with a sophisticated portfolio of skills, knowledge and understanding.
Design teaching within the MLA programme is research-led. Colleagues within ESALA maintain active design practices through commission, competition and publication; they are engaged in practice and research at local, national and international levels. The programme benefits from the studio-based learning typical of an art-college environment. Design, theory and techniques courses are delivered from within ESALA and from the wider ECA and University community. Uniquely, components of teaching and learning activities are taught at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The MLA satisfies the Landscape Institutes’ professional requirements and enables graduates to commence a period of relevant employment leading to the Institute’s Pathway to Chartership Examination.
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Four design courses underpin the programme, these courses take the form of design studios. This type of course promotes a teaching and learning environment in which students are encouraged to take risks and experiment. Studios provide the opportunity for collective research, discussion and working out of ideas. Design exploration is supported and informed by technical and theoretical courses which run in parallel to the studio based learning and teaching.
In the second year of study you will develop a major design project and reflect upon your approach to landscape architecture in the form of a design report. The programme culminates in the opportunity to stage a public exhibition of your final year design proposals.
Find out more about compulsory and optional courses
We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.
As a discipline and a profession Landscape Architecture has the potential to inform our environment at every scale. It carries a responsibility of stewardship. The MLA programme seeks to foster designers at once creative and critical, able to navigate the full extent of the profession; ethical, intelligent, highly skilled and imaginative practitioners.
The programme aims to unable graduates to enter the profession with a sophisticated portfolio of flexible skills, knowledge and understanding.
Graduates from the MLA programme progress to work in design practice and landscape stewardship both nationally and internationally, as well as contributing to academia and aspects of governance of a wide range of landscapes across a broad range of scales.
