About MA(rca)/msc Innovation Design Engineering (ide) in Imperial College London

A cutting-edge, creative product development course, which involves experimentation, design, engineering and enterprise activities.

The degree programme has now been running for over 30 years, and has produced some of the world’s leading designers working in companies such as Philips, IDEO, Apple, Sony and Samsung.

A significant proportion of graduates go on to set up their own enterprises on leaving the programme. Recent examples include Omlet, Bare Conductive and Concrete Canvas.

In multidisciplinary teams or as individuals, participants work at the centre of complex and demanding projects with an emphasis on prototyping and proving design and enterprise propositions.

The course is managed jointly by the School of Design at the Royal College of Art (RCA) and the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial.

Academic qualification equivalents

•  To be considered for admission to a Master's e.g. MSc, MRes, MBA etc, applicants should normally have completed a three to four year Bachelor's degree from a mainstream university (state/federal or ‘deemed' institution) passed with a required grades.

  Applicants for research should hold a three to four year Bachelor's degree and Master's degree, both passed with required grades. Integrated Master's degrees with required grades will also qualify an applicant for entry to Research.

  Applicants from elite institutions will be required to obtain a minimum overall average of 7 / 10 or 60%. These are the College minimum scores and particular departments may seek grades at a higher level.

  Applicants from other approved institutions will be required to obtain a minimum overall average ranging from 7.5-8 / 10 or 65-70%. These are the College minimum range of required scores and particular departments may seek grades at a higher level.

English language requirements 

• IELTS : 6.5 overall (minimum 6.0 in all elements)
• TOEFL IBT: 92 overall (minimum 20 in all elements)
• PTE : 62 overall (minimum 56 in all elements)