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Accrediting Interior Design Course Content for Professional Practice

SBID is authorised to accredit the course content of interior design qualifications to ensure the modules taught are fit for purpose, equipping students with the relevant education and preliminary training for an emerging interior designer’s journey into professional practice. SBID’s course accreditation ensures prospective interior designers have the design skills, commercial understanding and technical knowledge to support a successful career in interior design by evaluating how well the academic content offered by educational institutions relates to the practicing profession of interior design.

Higher Education Statistics Agency

As the professional industry body providing accreditation for interior designers in practice, SBID is also an accrediting body registered with the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) as recognised as a provider of accreditation for interior design courses at national degree-awarding universities and colleges across the UK.

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SBID Graduate Membership

SBID is proud to support the next generation of trained and qualified interior designers with Graduate membership! SBID Graduates are supported on their journey to full Accreditation with access to a suite of professional membership benefits, as well as exclusive discount on accreditation fees.

Graduate membership is FREE for students graduating from Accredited degree courses! 

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Why is it important to support interior design initiatives in education?

Students are the next generation of interior designers in training. Previously, the interior design profession and employers argued that university graduates didn’t possess the skills expected from a junior designer.

SBID was founded on a remit to measure best practice and competence of the profession at large to establish a benchmark for varying degrees of professional capability. Assessing the entry-level education provided for its suitability to professional application is the ultimate starting point to ensure emerging interior designers are best equipped for the workforce with the relevant level of skill, knowledge and understanding.

We provide this information for the benefit of students so that they can make an informed choices when selecting a course to study interior design.

Graduating with an interior design degree from an SBID Accredited course signifies to prospective employers that the level of education received is verified by the industry and fit for purpose.

How does SBID work with universities?

SBID pioneered an engagement between universities in the UK and the industry in 2009 to assess how courses and tuition transfers into the commercial world post-graduation. Until that time, education and employment had not engaged in the sector of interior design to bridge the gap between training and application.

A Memorandum of Understanding between SBID and a collective of interior educators was formed. The agreement was shaped across 12 UK universities to collectively establish a structure to improving the outcome of course content for a career in interior design.

In 2011, following an introduction from the Minister of Universities and the Department of Education, SBID formed collaborations with universities directly empowered to provide interior design degrees with a highly researched remit to measure course content. By 2015, SBID was validated with accreditation status by the HESA’s Key Information Set (now known as Unistats Dataset) for interior design and in the same year, created 5 modules for interior design BA and MA degree courses which are registered with HESA.

As the industry body for interior designers, SBID used its professional accreditation framework to create a 3-tier system for identifying government-validated university courses for professional interior design practice; awarding universities with Recognition, Accreditation and Centre of Excellence status.

How does SBID accredit course content?

When evaluating course content, SBID reviews and measures each module for a variety of professional, industry-consulted criteria to ensure it covers the level of education that is required in practice for both projects, clients and employers.

Each course is independently examined by representatives of SBID, reviewing its essential relevance for the broader interior design industry, from the technical considerations and societal impacts, to innovation in design thinking and creative problem solving. Courses must be able to meet the industry’s standards and expectations of the basic knowledge required for the workplace.

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SBID Professional Accreditation

SBID Accreditation is a marque of achievement that signifies the highest level of interior design expertise, determined by knowledge, training and work experience.

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Accreditation distinguishes interior design experts from unregulated providers, equipping members with exclusive industry offers, tools, and training necessary for success.

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Continuing Professional Development

SBID registered designers receive access to ongoing industry learning and engagement opportunities with accredited CPD training, from webinars and presentations, to trade events and activities.

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How are BA and MA degree courses accredited? 

A degree course is accredited by a professional organisation in the subject. Approximately 175 Universities and other institutions that have the power to award UK degrees are known by the UK government as recognised bodies’, other schools or colleges approved to provide higher education programmes on behalf of recognised bodies are known as listed bodies’. They do not in themselves have the right to award degrees. The Privy Council (a formal body of advisers to the Queen) is responsible for decisions about UK institutions providing education by honours degree. The Society of British and International Interior Design have been accrediting honours degree courses providing content for professional practice since 2009.

— As the government monitored the grades and outcomes of accredited courses, SBID monitored the transfer from learning to earning with mentoring programmes, internships and student competitions. SBID accredit university course content to ensure each course meets an all-inclusive educational standard required by industry.

What is the difference between the accreditation scheme created by SBID and other providers?

SBID pioneered the scheme for the benefit of students; the course customers and ultimate employees of our members. It was originally created as a guide for potential students to choose courses that future employers know contains content their employees must possess. Therefore the employment potential is increased for students attending an SBID Accredited course. Course accreditation is an industry endorsement from the professional body authorised to accredit interior design degree courses.

Competitors have copied the SBID Accreditation models but fail to replicate its secret formula. SBID is the largest professional member organisation in the UK for interior design, and offers the highest potential of employment following course completion. SBID prepares accreditation from a position of experience in practice that competitors are unable to duplicate.

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