Postgraduate study
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Design for Change MA (eca)

Awards: MA (eca)

Study modes: Full-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Design for Change

This exciting programme is intended to foster a new breed of designer for the 21st century. As the world undergoes massive, accelerated change, communities, cultures and societies are confronted by a variety of complex circumstances and complicated systems, including disruptive technologies, ageing populations, economic instability, conflict and displacement, and environmental degradation.

What will I study?

This programme will address the complex, real world challenges these communities face through design-led interventions driven by tactical, critical, strategic and creative approaches. It places an expanded notion of design practice at the heart of the enterprise of social, technical and environmental change and nurtures an interdisciplinary approach to these complex circumstances.

Our approach starts with understanding designers as researchers, who weave the interstices of traditional design practice with new methodological approaches, fostered by a sense of curiosity regarding uncertainty and instability. This new breed is seeking to understand the diversity of sociocultural perspectives and practices employed by the fragile networks embedded within these significant global challenges.

Who is this programme for?

This programme is ideal if you are looking to broaden your specialist approaches from a range of disciplines with new and appropriate 21st century design skills that can be applied in a variety of intellectual and creative contexts, including sociology, engineering, business, anthropology, geography, and design itself.

This programme engages you in structured teaching through a series of design labs, which provide thematic focus to open project briefs, encouraging independent interpretation in the design studio.

Design labs

These labs have several aims for developing your design based skillset, including to:

  • develop the innovative use of analytical design research methods
  • encourage application of contemporary methods of production and prototyping to discover new insights
  • facilitate cutting-edge forms of communication, presentation and dissemination of your work

The design labs are complemented by options from subjects across the wider College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.

Designing for Change: Projects and Practices

Our programme adopts a project-oriented pedagogy, but what do we mean by projects? This course, common to all students on programme, is designed to support you in preparation for your summer dissertation, identifying and outlining project-oriented approaches relevant to projects that embrace design for change.

You will be supported in developing your specialist methodology, through social, technical or environmental perspectives, leading to a deeper understanding of mixed methods, cross-discipline practices to support your personal dissertation over the summer.

Dissertation

The programme concludes with an independent dissertation embracing student-led, situated, and practical interventions, and addressing real-world challenges. Opportunities to undertake a work-based dissertation with a local, national, or international partner, applying your skills to real world applications, may be available.

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

AwardTitleDurationStudy mode
MA (eca)Design for Change1 YearFull-timeProgramme structure 2023/24

The professional knowledge, skills and abilities you develop will prepare you for a career as a designer, strategist or consultant in a variety of private sector organisations including design studios and government or non-governmental organisations.

We encourage you to think about a future career in academia leading to emerging fields of inquiry, including digital humanities, developmental studies and emergent forms of design study and practice as an academic researcher.

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent

We also ask for evidence of your ability to communicate in non-textual forms as well as your motivation to engage in design-led practices which embrace a wide variety of media, materials and techniques. Each portfolio should contain two explicit components:

  • a two minute video where you introduce yourself and discuss a potential circumstance for change across one of the three programme themes (social, technical or environmental change). The video should showcase your ability to present complex subject matter supported by appropriate reference materials, which may include objects; images; visualisations; compositions; performance; drawing; writing; etc

  • a collection of visual support material (maximum 15 pages) which demonstrates your affinity and aptitude for engaging in creative, design-led, studio based work. This can be existing project work, a portfolio of drawings; sketchbook development; whatever exemplifies your creative approaches to thinking and communicating complex information and ideas.

The portfolio is a requirement which helps us to determine your level of creative competency, to help us understand in which ways you will be able to flourish on our programme. Prior training in art, design or architecture is not required, but a desire and the courage to communicate change through multi-media means is expected. Professional experience equivalent to academic qualifications may be considered.

Students from China

This degree is Band C.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

  • IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
  • C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 169 in each component.
  • Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
  • PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 59 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

Tuition fees

AwardTitleDurationStudy mode
MA (eca)Design for Change1 YearFull-timeTuition fees

Featured funding

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

  • your programme
  • the duration of your studies
  • your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

  • Postgraduate Admissions Office
  • College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
  • 57 George Square
  • Central Campus
  • Edinburgh
  • EH8 9JU

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines. We will make a small number of offers to the most outstanding candidates on an ongoing basis, but hold the majority of applications until the next published selection deadline when we will offer a proportion of the places available to applicants selected through a competitive process.

Please be aware that applications must be submitted and be complete, i.e. all required documents uploaded, by the relevant application deadline in order to be considered in that round. Your application will still be considered if you have not yet met the English language requirement for the programme.

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in 2024/25:

Round Application deadline Places awarded by
1 06 November 2023 14 December 2023
2 08 January 2024 29 February 2024
3 20 March 2024 10 May 2024
4 14 June 2024 24 July 2024

(Revised 18 October 2023 to add in the staged admissions deadlines for the 2024/25 academic year)

You must submit one reference with your application.

You must submit a statement as part of your application.

You must submit a portfolio as part of your application. You won't be able to submit your portfolio immediately, but you'll receive an email prompt within a few days of submitting your application that will explain how to upload your portfolio.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

Further information

  • Postgraduate Admissions Office
  • College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
  • 57 George Square
  • Central Campus
  • Edinburgh
  • EH8 9JU