Transport Design (Swansea College of Art)
UCAS Code: 9R37
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
UCAS Tariff
Grades are important; however, our offers are not solely based on academic results. We are interested in creative people that demonstrate a strong commitment to their subject area and therefore we welcome applications from individuals from a wide range of backgrounds. To assess student suitability for their chosen course we normally arrange interviews for all applicants at which your skills, achievements and life experience will be considered as well as your qualifications and portfolio of work.
About this course
The Transport Design course at Swansea explores the changing nature of transportation in all its forms, including: cars, boats, trucks, motorcycles, public transport & transport systems.
The bias of this course is in the design resolution of new vehicle types to meet a need and/or a future scenario. The course includes live design projects that enable students to engage with both major companies and small entrepreneurial businesses. This industrial contact allows students to develop their skills in response to real-world scenarios and prepares them for the demands of employment. External client projects are undertaken each year, with recent client companies including world-renowned brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, McLaren Automotive, Lotus and a Sci-Fi film production company. The teaching team consists of highly experienced designers who are either engaged in industrial practice or are research active, supported by industrially trained technical staff. This ensures that the course delivers a qualification and experience that is highly relevant to the changing needs of the industry. The School is situated in the refurbished ALEX building in the Swansea Arts Quarter where students have access to excellent facilities including dedicated design studios with individual workstations. Traditional modelling workshops are supported by a comprehensive range of advanced CAD/CAM and Rapid Prototyping machines. Students can gain experience of working with wood, metal, plastics, glass, ceramics and automotive styling clay. Our studios and CAD facilities are equipped with Wacom Cintiq displays for freehand digital sketching and the latest versions of industry-standard design and visualisation software, such as Autodesk Alias, Sketchbook Pro, SolidWorks and Adobe Creative Suite.
Modules
Example modules include: Year 1 Modules – Automotive Design Methods 1; Automotive Design Methods 2; Creative Design Development Materials & Manufacturing Contextual Studies; and, 3D CAD & Visualisation. Year 2 Modules – Professional Design Practice; Group Design Practice; Advanced 3D CAD; Advanced Digital Visualisation; and, Vehicle Technology Concept Studies. Year 3 Modules – Major Project - Design Research & Manifesto Major Project - Design Realisation & Communication, Professional Promotion; and, Minor Project.
Assessment methods
The three main modes of assessment used on this programme are;
Studio Projects – work undertaken to fulfil the demands of a given or student generated brief. Projects are set to examine the student’s abilities to master the integration of new design principles and skills to his/her design practice. Studio projects may be set and take place in a variety of forms and over a range of durations, and include activity within the schools Workshops, CAD Studios as well as traditional Design Studios. Students may be required to present a variety of types of work for assessment such as; portfolios, sketchbooks and project journals, presentation boards or three-dimensional models.
Written Assignments - work undertaken by the student in his/her own time. Written assignments may take the form of an illustrated paper or report. In both cases the student is expected to demonstrate critical insight and proficiency in articulating the results of a practice or research based assignment.
Seminar Presentations – this form of assessment requires the student to demonstrate conceptual understanding and evaluate the rigour and validity of published research, extrapolate the underlying principles, and apply this knowledge in new contexts of professional practice.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Alexandra Road, Swansea
Swansea College of Art
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See your living costsWhat 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.
How do students rate their degree experience?
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Design studies
Teaching and learning
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Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
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Design studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What do graduate employment figures really tell you?Want to work in a growing, creative sector where we are a world leader? Welcome to design! The UK has a proud reputation as a centre of design excellence, and last year just over 14,000 design degrees were awarded. At the moment, the jobs market looks a little better for fashion and textile designers, and not as good for multimedia or interactive designers — but that may change by the time you graduate. In general, design graduates are more likely than most to start their career in London, although that also varies by subject — last year fashion designers often found jobs in the North West, graphic designers in the South West, illustrators in the South West, East Anglia and Midlands, textile designers in the Midlands and the North West, and visual designers in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Midlands. Design is also a good degree for people who want to work for a small business - more than half of graduates start at a small employer.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Product design
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
£15k
£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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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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