PGDip Landscape Architecture
Course overview
Start date
September 2020
Subject area
Architecture
Attendance
Full-time
Learning
On campus, dual delivery
Course summary
This is a design based career conversion/ development course, for anyone with a passion for landscape architecture, but a first degree in any other subject. It is fully accredited by the Landscape Institute.
Our ‘conversion’ postgraduate diploma does lead to employment in landscape offices, but you will need to return to study, and take a Masters in Professional Landscape Architecture to gain full UK Licentiate status, giving entry to the Landscape Institute Pathway to Chartership. You might also consider applying for the Masters in Professional Landscape Architecture (with Conversion) - our ‘straight through’ to Licentiate status programme.
Download our yearbook to view examples of our students' work.
We will seek to enhance your existing skills and knowledge, including developing:
- your drawing, modelling and software skills;
- your understanding of design, including planting design; and
- knowledge across the wide scope of landscape concerns and practice.
We will give you the skills to explore your interests and find your direction within landscape architecture.
Return to campus: dual delivery
In a Covid-secure environment, enjoy learning on our state-of-the-art campuses and flex between online delivery
Find out moreLive projects with social impact
We work on live build projects, and with real clients to learn hands-on, changing lives and places, delivering positive social impact and benefits to London communities.
Tailored teaching to suit diverse skills
Our students are from a range of backgrounds, not just art and design. Through tailored teaching, we help extend your skills and subject knowledge to professional standard, at your pace.
Industry placements
The postgraduate diploma course includes shadowing placements within leading landscape architectural practices in London, giving you the opportunity to gain direct experience and make professional connections while you study.
What we're researching
Course Leader Dr Bridget Snaith CMLI a professional Landscape Architect and Design Council Built Environment Expert, with an award winning practice, Shape Landscape Architecture & established professional links in London. Her own research interest is in social theory, informing people centred inclusive design, but the Landscape programme at UEL is supported by academics with research interests in Sustainability, Ecology and Heritage as well as Architecture and Civil Engineering. Dr Snaith’s PhD Thesis investigating ethnic minority underrepresentation in UK parks was awarded a Landscape Institute Research Award in 2015. Previous research has focussed on reducing fear of crime in parks and river corridors, she authored one of London’s Green Grid Frameworks, and she has advised on Play Design nationally for the Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment.
Making a difference
UEL is one of the UK’s leading modern research universities. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), 17 per cent of our overall research submission was classified as ‘world-leading’ for its quality and impact – almost double our previous REF score. A further 45 per cent of our work was considered ‘internationally excellent’.
How you'll learn
At UEL you will be working in an inspiring, creative setting where your interests and passions count. Our students are from a range of backgrounds, not just art and design, which gives you access to diverse knowledge, different modes of thinking, and a wide student skillset. Through tailored teaching, we help extend your skills and subject knowledge to landscape professional standards, whatever your starting point.
You can gain the skills and understanding that will facilitate self-expression, and the understanding to engage creatively with living systems in a changing environment. We engage with live sites and clients, with projects tailored at a pace in keeping with your developing skills.
The postgraduate diploma runs alongside the MA in Professional Landscape Architecture, and offers opportunities for collaborative project work within landscape architecture and with architecture and urban design students. You will also benefit from shadowing placements within leading studios in London.
Who will teach on this course
The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.
Nic McEwan
Landscape Architect - Farrer Huxley (Completed the MA Professional Landscape Architecture with Conversion)
The course at UEL was highly practical and relevant to the thinking and actions that underpin the work I now do day-to-day as a landscape architect. Despite having no previous experience in design, my knowledge of young people, education and play that I developed in my previous career were valued at UEL.
Projects which allowed for flexibility and self-direction meant I could draw on the learning and interests that I arrived with, yet I was also challenged to develop these in light of what I was being taught about design, environment and successful places.
I am thrilled to be working with a practice that champions these values and I am grateful to the course at UEL for helping to make this possible.
Fees and funding
- September 2020
-
2020-21UK/EU: Full-time
-
2020-21International: Full-time
£10,280 to fund your Masters Programme under the Postgraduate Loans (PGL) scheme
Postgraduate Loans (PGL)
The Postgraduate Loan (PGL) provide non means-tested loans of up to £10,906 to taught and research masters students. It will be paid to students as a contribution towards tuition fees, living costs and other course costs.
Applications are made directly through Student Finance England
Eligibility
Whether you qualify depends on:
• if you’ve studied on a postgraduate course before
• your course
• your age
• your nationality or residency status
Full eligibility can be found here
Please take a look at the Postgraduate Loans for an overview of the new funding.
The scholarship is open to full-time and part-time UK and EU students of taught postgraduate courses. *Exclusions apply.
Find out more about full eligibility criteria and how to apply.
Terms and conditions apply.How we can help you
Did you know that with a postgraduate qualification you can expect to earn more than someone who only holds an undergraduate degree?If you want to build new skills, change career paths, or further your career prospects, a postgraduate degree can help you. Our range of scholarships and bursaries will make financing your education that much easier. Below is some of the funding available to support you in your studies:
- Alumni Discount – up to 15% fee waiver *exclusions apply. Please see Alumni Discount page for information.
- Early Payment Discount – 5% fee waiver
- Asylum Seekers scholarship – 100% fee waiver
- Civic Engagement – £1,000
- Hardship Bursary – up to £2,000
- Sport Scholarships – Up to £6,000
Terms and conditions apply.
• By telephone
• In person at our Docklands or Stratford campus
• Bank transfer
The Student Money Advice and Rights Team (SMART) are here to help you navigate
your finances while you're a student at the University of East London.
We can give you advice, information and guidance on government and
university funds so that you receive your full funding entitlement.
Email: study@uel.ac.uk
Phone: 020 8223 4444
As part of the Tier 4 student visa requirements, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) estimate that you will need £1,265* per month to cover your living costs. It includes expenses for accommodation, food and drink, travel within London, text books, entertainment, clothing, toiletries and laundry. Most Tier 4 students are required to show they have sufficient funds to cover the first nine months of the course before they start- a total of £11,385- in addition to the tuition fees. You can find more information about the specific requirements of the Tier 4 student visa here. The amount that you will spend can vary depending on your lifestyle. The UKCISA International Student Calculator can help you plan and manage your money.
* Please note the Immigration Rules are subject to change and this figure is likely to be increased by UKVI year on year. Please therefore check our ISA page for more information at the time of preparing your visa application.International students are required to pay a deposit prior to being issued a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS).
Your remaining balance will be paid in five monthly instalments over your first term. The first of these instalments must be paid when completing your enrolment on arrival at UEL. Please follow the payment instructions here.
After the required payment has been made, you will be asked to complete the online International Student Reply Form to confirm your acceptance of our offer and of our terms of admittance and fees policy.
Our International team at UEL are available for advice and guidance on studying in London, fees, scholarships and visa requirements.
Email: international@uel.ac.uk
Entry requirements
We would normally expect you to have Grade C in GCSE English and Maths.
If you do not meet the academic English language requirements for your course, you may be eligible to enrol onto a pre-sessional English programme. The length of the course will depend on your current level of English and the requirements for your degree programme. We offer a 5-week and an 11-week pre-sessional course. Find out more here.
Please note that some courses require applicants to meet the entry requirements outlined on the course page. Our pre-entry Information Advice and Guidance Team are able to provide further advice on entry requirements and suitability for study.
What you'll learn
UEL’s professional landscape architecture programmes build your skills for a future career in landscape architecture in the context of key issues in contemporary life – city expansion, migration and displacement, diversity, inequality, competition for resources, climate change, food security.
We challenge you to consider your understanding of what landscape is about, what it can and should do. You’ll learn through design studio, site visits, and by interaction with professionals and academics across a range of spatial and environmental disciplines, as well as getting hands on, with the practicalities of building now, for existing needs with real clients and communities.
We support you to develop your own personal attitude to landscape design, to express yourself spatially, to investigate ideas with passion and commitment. We work in tandem with architecture and urban design students, who investigate the same sites through a different lens, providing opportunities for interdisciplinary working, as well as individual expression.
What you'll study and when
We consistently review and develop our courses and modules to ensure they are up-to-date with sector and industry graduate skills demands. Course structure, modules and options are subject to change.
There are four core modules for the postgraduate diploma, taking one academic year full time, and up to two years part time. You can switch between full and part time mode.
- Landscape Architecture: Foundations of Theory and Contexts (core)
- Landscape Architecture: Foundations of Theory, Practice & Professional Life (core)
- Landscape Architecture: Basic Tools & Principles of Design (core)
- Landscape Architecture: Essential Tools & Principles of Design (core)
How you'll be assessed
Your understanding of each module is assessed through a variety of written/ illustrated reports, and design drawing portfolios, submitted at the end of the module.
Your submitted coursework is completed against detailed project briefs, with submissions selected from project work developed in a variety of media, practical and 3D work, essays, site research studies, illustrated reports, seminar papers and presentations. Teaching supports the development of materials for submission through seminars individual and group tutorials, field visits and lectures.
All coursework is double marked and reviewed by an external examination board.
Your future career
With increased focus on environmental issues, and on building healthy communities, landscape architects are more in demand professionally, nationally and internationally. There is a high industry employment rate. Our graduates perform well within the field, achieving recognition and industry awards, and employment in practices in the UK and overseas. Several gain employment as a direct result of our shadowing placements. Our School has links with a range of professional practices, and will give you invaluable experience of working collaboratively with other disciplines, on live projects and with professionals in a practice setting.
All of our postgraduate landscape courses have full accreditation from the Landscape Institute.
Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.
