UCOL to offer design course

Whanganui UCOL will introduce a programme in interior design next month.

It will be offered in Wanganui and Wairarapa and is already running in Palmerston North with 25 students. It will fill a gap in training possibilities without requiring expensive resources, said UCOL head of photography, arts and design Rachel Hoskin.

Interior design would add to the polytech's "vocational arts programmes", as did the music programme introduced in Wanganui in last year.

Fine arts is another of the polytech's vocational arts programmes. Entry to it has been "paused" this year, a sore point with the Wanganui arts community, at the same time that interior design is being introduced.

Ms Hoskin said that was not because interior design gave graduates a better chance of getting jobs. Prospects for the graduates of both were viable and varied.

"We have not compared them."

She said the introduction of interior design was not a result of Prospective, the process UCOL embarked on in 2011 to rethink its arts and design offerings.

The new programme is due to start at Whanganui UCOL on April 8 and run over two years, giving working people a chance to complete a Diploma in Interior Design Level 5.

It will be reviewed after two years, and continue if successful.

Teaching will include the history of interior design, colour, furnishings, drafting ergonomics, lighting and more. Students will also learn what's involved in a professional design practice.

If it is to go ahead, the programme will need a good number of students, and the polytech will advertise for tutors.

It should appeal to people with a flair for design - either out of general interest or with the thought of future employment.

Jobs could include self employment or working as a consultant for stores, architects, designers or house builders.

To find out more visit www.ucol.ac.nz or ring 0800 GO UCOL.