Materials & Design (Top Up) Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

BA (Hons) Materials & Design is a practice-led degree for curious makers, designers and creative thinkers who want to explore what materials, making and design can do.

This one-year top-up course blends new design principles and an innovative approach to process, together with material knowledge and craft skills developed through hands-on making.

Applicants to this course will need to have already achieved a UK based level 5 qualification such as a Foundation Degree (FdA) or HND in a related subject (evidence of prior learning will need to be provided).

You will learn through hands-on experimentation, making, research and reflection, developing practical skills alongside your own creative ideas. Work across wood, metal, textiles and ceramics, with access to digital technologies and the wider specialist workshops within the School of Materials & Design.

You do not need to know exactly what kind of maker, designer or creative practitioner you want to become. The course gives you space to explore different materials, processes, and approaches before you develop a direction that feels right for you.

You will shape your studies through three broad pathways:

Craft & Heritage – explore traditional making skills, material knowledge and the cultural significance of craft. Investigate how heritage skills and processes can be preserved, adapted and reimagined for contemporary life.

Product & Industry – explore design for people, products and industry. Develop skills in research, ideation, prototyping, testing and refinement, considering users, manufacture, sustainability and emerging technologies.

Artist Maker – develop an individual creative practice in which materials become a means of exploration, expression and enquiry. Work with objects, sculpture, installation, functional making or expanded forms of craft.

These pathways provide different ways to develop your practice while allowing you to remain curious, experimental and responsive to new ideas.

We believe making is a way of thinking. Your learning moves between making, research, critical thinking and reflection. You will learn by testing materials, solving problems, questioning decisions and learning from outcomes. Learning takes place in workshops, studios, drawing and design spaces, digital facilities, lectures, seminars and project work.

You will develop the ability to research, generate and develop ideas, respond to briefs, evaluate your work, communicate your thinking and make informed creative decisions. You will also consider sustainability, material responsibility, heritage, culture, technology and the ways objects and making can affect people's lives.

Professional practice is integrated throughout the course. Through live briefs, exhibitions, competitions, visiting practitioners and other opportunities, you will build experience of communicating your work and engaging with the wider creative community. In your final year, you will develop an independent body of work, portfolio and professional identity.

You will study within the School of Materials & Design alongside students working across different material disciplines. This creates opportunities to share ideas, collaborate and learn from different approaches.

Graduates can progress into areas including craft and heritage, product and furniture design, artist making, creative production, fabrication, design consultancy, exhibition and cultural work, education or independent creative practice. The degree can also provide a foundation for postgraduate study or further specialist training.

You will graduate with practical, critical and professional skills, alongside the confidence to shape a sustainable future for your creative practice.