University of Portsmouth

The BA (Hons) Interior Design course at the University of Portsmouth provides a rigorous and challenging education in the broad issues associated with the subject, including: culture and context, materials and technology, sustainability and environment, interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches to design, attitudes to adaptive re-use of existing buildings, and also the complexities of designing poetic and functional spaces for a range of clients, both social and commercial. The course recognises the significant contribution interior designers can make to the quality of our built environment and the need for ethical and sustainable practice; it also provides a rigorous introduction to professional practice, including opportunities to work with the School of Architecture’s Project Office, with live clients.

Portsmouth University places emphaisis on employability and student enterprise and there are a number of supportive initiatives within the university including post-graduate support in setting up business (this is available for 5 years after graduating) and cross-faculty projects and events to encourage entrepreneurship.

We have a dedicated and inspiring group of staff who have experience in professional design practice (architecture, interior design, furniture and product) and also in history, conservation and museology. Our full-time team is supported by visiting practitioners from the region and from London who add to the professional rigour of our course and who represent the diversity of design practice. All of our interior design staff have qualifications to teach in Higher Education or are members of the Higher Education Academy; they have a thorough understanding of pedagogic practice and continue to challenge and renew their practice. All staff are also engaged in research and a number of books have been published; research subjects include: a PhD which researches the performance of national identity at Nepal’s Narayanhiti Palace at the point of its construction in the 1960s; phenomenology, materials and interior design, culture and place, historic buildings conservation, design pedagogies, sustainable architecture and retail design.