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Buckinghamshire New University

UCAS Code: PD99 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Entry requirements

Complete a relevant HND

You may also need to…

Attend an interview

groups

Present a portfolio

image

About this course

Course option

1year

Full-time | 2025

Subject

Product design

Completed a foundation-level degree, HND, or equivalent qualifications in a relevant Art and Design subject? Top-up your studies to gain a full bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Product Design.

If you want to socially and responsibly, create and make innovative and forward thinking designs, then this degree can help you level-up your skills and knowledge to lean towards an environmentally aware and technologically innovative approach, which is supported by a sound understanding of cultural and critical insight and user behaviour.

**Why study BSc (Hons) Sustainable Product Design at BNU?**
**A degree for you**
A sustainable product design course is essential to all walks of life, whatever industry you work in having the skillset to problem-solve and ensure the user-experience is as efficient as possible. The products and designs you create can change the future by answering ethical, environmental and social issues with tangible objects and well-considered concepts as we respond to global sustainability challenges.

A top-up degree is the equivalent of the final year of an undergraduate degree, and offers a chance to deepen your knowledge, skills and understanding of your subject, while also getting an internationally-recognised qualification.

If you have completed a foundation-level degree, HND, or equivalent qualifications in a relevant Art and Design subject, you can choose to top-up your studies to gain a full bachelor’s degree.

**State-of-the-art facilities**
We’ve invested in workshops that replicate those you’ll find in industry. We keep on top of the best equipment, using professional facilities and software for your designing needs.

You’ll get hands-on with our industry standard 3D CAD systems, and benefit from our workshop facilities to produce 3D models, fully working prototypes, and computer models to demonstrate your design solutions. In these workshops you’ll be able to experiment with a range of different materials including wood, metal, ceramics and mixed media, developing traditional hand skills and working with new technologies such as our MetraSCAN 3D and utilising the latest CNC machining and techniques. You’ll explore different solutions for several areas, engaging with live industry briefs as you use your expertise to create products with a purpose.

**Location**
Our Product Design degree is situated at our High Wycombe campus, a town with a rich history within furniture making and manufacturing. With London only a short journey away, and access to a range of business and organisations relevant to product design, there are ample opportunities for visits to sites of historical and contemporary interest. As well as this we are only around the corner from Oxford and Reading - other cities full of inspiration.

**What will I study?**
During your top-up year you’ll delve into how design must be structured, analysed, controlled and assessed in order that functions can be achieved by manufacturing in an efficient and economical way.

You’ll explore design methods that allow products to be manufactured, assembled and disassembled more efficiently, thus producing designs that are higher quality, easier to maintain, and are more efficient in the use of resources over their entire life cycle. Whole life costings, life cycle analysis techniques and cradle to cradle thinking will help to ensure that the environmental consequences of design choices are carefully considered.

You’ll gain key understanding of the roles, relationships, and responsibilities that can play a major part in progressing and sustaining your professional practice. This includes undertaking commissions and other work-related learning opportunities such as engaging with industry briefs and/or competitions, and to devise or engage in creative initiatives and collaborative projects relevant to your work. Live briefs set by clients may be featured, allowing you to gain experience with real world, industry challenges.

Modules

**Year One**
**Core Modules**
Final Major Project
Professional Practice
Dissertation
Design for Manufacture

Assessment methods

To achieve the full BSc (Hons) in Sustainable Product Design you’ll need to complete the modules listed, as well as a major project and a dissertation. These Projects are designed to present new challenges to you as you progress through the course. They involve working with varied briefs, clients and requirements. By the end of your time with BNU, you’ll benefit from a full portfolio of work to go to employers with.

The major project and dissertation will allow you to investigate a topic important to you within interior and spatial design. You will cover the whole research process, undertaking empirical investigation and analysis. You will be allocated a dissertation supervisor, who will offer support and advice.

The Professional Practice module gives you the chance to undertake work-based learning or answer live industry briefs, gaining the practical and transferable skills you need for your career in the creative industries.

Tuition fees

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

Channel Islands
£9,535
per year
England
£9,535
per year
EU
£15,150
per year
International
£15,150
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,535
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,535
per year
Scotland
£9,535
per year
Wales
£9,535
per year

Extra funding

There are several ways you can fund your studies, including sponsorship and student loans. You may be able to use ELCAS credits for some of our courses. We also have scholarships and bursaries to help support our students.

The Uni

Course location:

High Wycombe Campus

Department:

School of Art, Design, and Performance

Read full university profile

What students say

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

81%
Product 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

95%
Staff make the subject interesting
98%
Staff are good at explaining things
89%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
88%
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

61%
Library resources
76%
IT resources
70%
Course specific equipment and facilities
91%
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?

85%
UK students
15%
International students
23%
Male students
77%
Female students
73%
2:1 or above
18%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
A

After graduation

The stats in this section 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

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.

£23,000
med
Average annual salary
85%
med
Employed or in further education
75%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

36%
Design occupations
12%
Media professionals
9%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

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.

£18k

£18k

£23k

£23k

£26k

£26k

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 the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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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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Course location and department:

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here