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Textile Design

Arts University Plymouth

UCAS Code: WYC2 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff

104-120

Although many of our students do come in with top grades and high UCAS points, these aren’t necessarily essential for entry. We typically ask for a minimum of 104 UCAS points, but we understand that talented artists, designers and makers can have a wide range of relevant strengths and skills beyond formal qualifications. We’re just as interested in exploring your portfolio as we are in seeing your grades.

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Present a portfolio

About this course


This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Other options

6 years | Part-time | 2024

4 years | Sandwich | 2024

Subject

Textile design

**Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience.**

In May 2022 we were awarded the **Best Small or Specialist University at the 2022 WhatUni Student Choice Awards**, coming top in a list of well-respected specialist UK universities, based on unbiased and honest reviews from students across the UK, in a category that highlights the quality of our provision as a specialist creative university.

**Every day we encounter textile design in our lives, encompassing and enriching everything from the clothes that we wear to the patterns, textures and colours of the environments that we live and work in. Join our community and nurture your unique design personality, through an exciting mix of textile and surface experimentation, personal development and creative industry live briefs and opportunities.**

Our Textile Design course is an exciting, industry-focused and experimental environment where you will develop essential skills needed to design for different markets and audiences. From trend forecasting and product development to branding and marketing, our course covers all aspects of the exciting textile design sector.

Our course structure is centred around experimentation, innovation and exploring the future of textile design and sustainability, giving you the freedom to utilise new materials, techniques and technologies: from traditional print processes and knit and dyeing methods to contemporary digital printing and creative surface pattern design. You will have access to a wide range of tools and equipment while learning current digital design skills that will bring your creative visions to life.

Our breath-taking textiles studios are home to an expansive, impressive screen printing space, a dye laboratory, large-format sublimation printers and transfer presses, as well as knitting machines, digital embroidery machines, tufting guns and a range of state-of-the-art digital printers and scanners, enabling you to realise your fabric design with immediate turnaround. You’ll also have access to WGSN and The Future Laboratory.

Our students become accomplished and exciting textile designers for fashion, interiors, product design, craft and fine art applications, as well as textile buyers, stylists and merchandisers. This course also incorporates research into the historical, cultural and sustainable contexts of textile design, as well as developing your critical understanding and appreciation of design principles. You’ll learn advanced research and communication skills, alongside a practical understanding of traditional and digital design processes, resulting in a diverse portfolio of creative outputs.

The course is supported by a brilliant team of technical staff and visiting lecturers. In recent years, live briefs and industry placements have been offered by prestigious designers including Timorous Beasties, Zandra Rhodes, Mercedes, Sainsbury’s, Joules, Finisterre, Princess Yachts, Dulux, Nicky Pasterfield, Christopher Farr, Anna Gravelle, MAKE Southwest and the Eden Project. Through sponsored industrial projects you’ll learn how to meet the needs of clients and see your designs made ready for production, gaining real-life design experience. Study trips have included Heimtextil in Frankfurt and Première Vision and Maison&Objet in Paris.

After graduating, you’ll be equipped to start your career and capitalise on your design skills, whether designing for large, well-known brands or starting your own independent enterprise.

Modules

You’ll learn a lot about the use of textiles, especially in the context of fashion and interiors, and have the opportunity to exhibit and sell at events such as Tent, London, and Première Vision, Paris.
You’ll also gain an international perspective, through study trips abroad – we’ll encourage you to visit fashion fabric shows in New York, Maison & Objet in Paris and interiors shows in Germany.
You’ll be introduced to the great potential of contemporary textiles, their applications, and places to sell your ideas and develop a career.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,500
per year
International
£16,500
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Arts University Plymouth

Department:

Arts, Design and Media

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

78%
Textile design

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Design studies

Teaching and learning

81%
Staff make the subject interesting
88%
Staff are good at explaining things
82%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
76%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

71%
Library resources
82%
IT resources
79%
Course specific equipment and facilities
67%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

100%
UK students
0%
International students
4%
Male students
96%
Female students
63%
2:1 or above
13%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
A

After graduation


We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Design studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£13k

£13k

£16k

£16k

£18k

£18k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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