Graduate Diploma in Creative Practice
- Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
- Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
Graduate Diploma
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 20,700 **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* there is no application deadline for postgraduate courses
** for 2025 international full-time | for 2025 home full-time: £11,400
Key Summary
During the course, you’ll specialise in Fashion, Graphic Design, Interior & Product Design or Illustration Animation.
Studying this Creative Practice Graduate Diploma at Kingston University will give you a strong foundation to progress onto a practice-based master's course. It’s also a great way to prepare for roles in design, publishing, media, film, fashion, advertising agencies and more.
You’ll study in Kingston upon Thames – just a 30-minute train journey from central London’s world-famous museums and galleries.
When you complete the course, you’ll feel confident approaching subjects and briefs in a variety of ways and you'll be equipped for further study or employment.
Why choose this course?
While you study, you’ll benefit from top-quality teaching at Kingston University. Not only are we ranked Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework, we’re also No.1 in the UK for Interior Design and No.2 in the UK for Fashion and Textiles (Guardian University Guide league tables 2023).
University museums and galleries
Kingston University has two on-site galleries, which offer exciting opportunities for career progression. Grade II-listed Dorich House is the former home of the sculptor Dora Gordine, while the Stanley Picker Gallery is one of the UK’s leading university galleries. Our Knights Park campus also has a bookable project space for large-scale exhibitions.
Workshops and studios
Explore, collaborate and share ideas in our state-of-the-art workshop facilities, designed by Stirling Prize-winning studio, Haworth Tompkins. Facilities are open to all Kingston University students, and include:
- 3D workshops, with spaces for ceramics, concrete, resin-casting, plastics, metalwork, woodwork, bronze-casting foundry, set design and large-scale model making.
- Animation and post-production studios
- A digital media workshop
- Knitting and sewing workshops with digital and analogue facilities, plus a working dress archive from 1750 to the present day.
- A HackSpace for collaborative, creative, solutions-focused projects
- A letterpress and printmaking workshop
- A moving image workshop, with studios, an editing suite and industry-standard equipment
- A fully-equipped photography workshop
Course content
The learning experience of this course will be tailored to your subject area (which you should indicate when you apply) by the relevant postgraduate course teams. You can choose pathways from Fashion, Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation and Interior & Product Design.
You will work within your subject-specific course peer group and alongside other postgraduate students, building up a strong portfolio of relevant project work that clearly demonstrates your creative strengths. Projects are designed to help you develop creative and flexible thinking, sound technical skills, and an understanding of the need for a variety of approaches to any given subject or brief.
You'll be expected to complete two 30-credit modules and one 60-credit module, totalling 120 credits. These modules run sequentially in teaching blocks 1 and 2 and are underpinned by a learning agreement specific to your course subject area.
Modules
Core modules
- Global Context
- Discipline and Autonomy
- Creative Practice 2
You’ll complete this course with the creative skills you need to progress to a practice-based master's course. Previous graduates have also gone on to work for design offices, publishing houses, interactive media, film and television companies, fashion houses and advertising agencies worldwide.