Landscape Architecture MLA

The Master’s in Landscape Architecture (MLA) programme is a two-year, full-time, professionally accredited landscape architecture masters programme.

We were awarded the Best International School of Landscape Architecture prize in 2018 and continue to deliver on this legacy by constantly re-examining our teaching and research practices to respond to our current context and to student feedback.

This programme is for creative students with a strong interest in landscapes and an acute socioenvironmental awareness, with or without a background in landscape architecture.

Why landscape architecture?

Landscapes are vibrant, complex entities which are always changing. They sustain us. They are powerful sensory spaces we inhabit or simply traverse. They are also the sites of some of the most pressing challenges of our times.

Landscape architects plan and design landscapes. They work across urban and rural environments, often in exciting multi-disciplinary teams.

Landscape architecture is deployed on spatial scales ranging from the garden to the region, and timescales ranging from seasons to centuries. Being a landscape architect gives you the tools to make sense of complex socioecological contexts, as well as the skills and agency to contribute to a more sustainable and just future for all.

Why choose our programme?

The question of how to design with landscapes and their multispecies communities in a climate and biodiversity crisis underpins our programme.

We are in an art college with a distinctive design culture and exceptional workshop facilities. We are therefore uniquely placed to support you in developing your own making-thinking practice which will enable you to critically understand and apply environmental theory to practical contexts.

Taught by dedicated academics and practitioners, you will actively engage with urgent socioecological questions through site-specific and design-led learning. You will explore how to formulate meaningful design responses in our time of crises.

The programme aims to empower you to imagine and advocate for the change you want to see, by supporting you in developing your own socially and environmentally aware design practice.

If you are curious, creative and motivated to grow your landscape architectural voice, we would love to have you on our programme.

Accreditation

Our MLA programme is accredited by the Landscape Institute (LI), which provides national and international recognition to your degree.

Upon successful completion of the MLA you will have an accredited degree, which is the first step towards being a Chartered Landscape Architect in the UK.

The LI accreditation is recognised in the UK and worldwide.

These entry requirements are for the 2025/26 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2026/27 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2025.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in landscape architecture or a related subject such as architecture, design, art, geography, planning, ecology, horticulture or other degrees which evidence content relevant to the MLA programme.

We also welcome applicants who do not meet these academic entry requirements. Your application will be considered on the basis of portfolio and/or relevant professional experience.*

To apply to this programme, you should have a strong interest in Landscape Architecture, an acute environmental awareness, and show creative potential.*

You must submit a portfolio of recent work as part of your application. Your portfolio should include the following:

• A CV. Applicants who do not meet the academic entry requirements listed above should use their CV as an opportunity to evidence other relevant experiences.

• A personal statement. This should include (but is not limited to) a 300-word summary addressing the following points:

  1. What is your field of interest within Landscape Architecture?
  2. How do you see your experience on our programme informing your approach in landscape architecture? You need to make direct references to this specific MLA programme in this part of your statement. Please use this as an opportunity to provide additional insights beyond the information available on our webpage.
  3. What are your ambitions following your successful graduation from this programme?

If you do not meet the academic entry requirements you should use the personal statement to articulate how your previous experiences (academic, professional and self-directed) have led you to Landscape Architecture, and why you feel this programme is relevant to your trajectory.

• A sample of your work. This should be sourced from your own work produced during a relevant first degree, relevant professional experience, or through extra-curricular activities or self-led projects. The work displayed in your portfolio should:

  1. Demonstrate creative skills.
  2. Showcase your potential ability to visualise your design ideas.
  3. Display design and/or socio-environmental work that clearly links to landscape architectural concerns.
  4. Evidence an awareness of place, communities and ecologies.
  5. Communicate your work through clear visuals and writing.

Students from China

This degree is Band C.

• Postgraduate entry requirements for students from China

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency which will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 92 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 176 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 65 with at least 59 in each component. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
• Oxford ELLT: 7 overall with at least 6 in each component.

Unless you are a national of a majority English speaking country, your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start of the month in which the programme you are applying to study begins. If you are using an IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL, Trinity ISE, or Oxford ELLT test, it must be no more than two years old on the first of the month in which the programme begins, regardless of your nationality. (Revised 14 January 2025 to include Oxford ELLT.)

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements

Our graduates are sought after by landscape architecture design practices in Scotland, the UK and beyond with a 100% employment rate, often working in leading design studios.

We support you to move towards the type of landscape-related practice you are passionate about. Beyond landscape architectural design studios, your landscape architectural skillset can also be deployed in other contexts including:

• Planning
• Landscape advocacy
• Policy writing
• Conservation and rewilding
• Environmental activism
• Community engagement
• Landscape-related art practice
• Research

Examples of organisations our graduates work at or are affiliated with include:

• Connecting Threads, an ambitious cultural project in the River Tweed
• Glasgow and Edinburgh City Councils
• Harvard University Graduate School of Design
• NatureScot, Scotland’s Nature Agency
• Trees for Life, a charity working to rewild the Scottish Highlands
• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
• SUSTRANS, Scotland’s Active Travel charity