IED Barcelona European Institute of Design

• Location: Barcelona, Spain,
• Network founded: 1966,
• Network: The European Design Institute (IED),
• Network status: The world's largest private network of schools of fashion, design, visual arts and communication,
• Languages of instruction: English and Spanish,
• Programs: 4-year Bachelor’s Degrees in Design,
• Network founder and current president: Francesco Morelli,
• Education in Barcelona: The highest quality,
• Methods and educational approaches: The most modern.

• Location: Gràcia district, Barcelona,
• Academic structure: Five schools,
• Bachelor’s Degrees in Design: 4-year programs.

In 2026, Raffaella Perrone was Director of IED Barcelona, and Marina Ojan was Head of Master School.

IED Barcelona courses combine the educational traditions and innovative methods. Universities in Barcelona are very attentive to all modern trends in the world. IED Barcelona graduates are really qualified, in demand, cadres who successfully build their personal careers in the world community.

In the Barcelona building, students can obtain a Bachelor's and Master's degree, pass a semester or short-term summer profile courses. There are 4 faculty departments in total at the undergraduate level:

• Design,
• Fashion,
• Visual arts,
• Communication.

IED Barcelona is taught in English and Spanish (most often the language depends on the chosen program, there are also bilingual courses).

Barcelona is a well-known European and world center of culture, industry and finance. Here, a lot of attention is paid to the issue of globalization: graduates of the Institute of Design can work in any country of the world, easily orienting themselves in the abundance of modern trends. Students learn to recognize and catch even the smallest changes, to understand the complexity in designing and managing processes, to analyze the market and conduct profile research - all this forms qualified specialists, fully ready to work immediately after receiving the diploma.

The institute offers Fashion, Design, Visual Communication, and Management & Design Strategies.

Students from different disciplines work on collaborative projects. Multidisciplinary Workshops Week is a weeklong program devoted to design methodologies, techniques, and tools. In the 2023 program, Rejeter was conducted in collaboration with Trilla, and Still Photography and Fashion with Munich. Other partners included Guarro Casas and Lorente. Selected projects were eligible for special mentions from an expert jury and a final exhibition.

IED Barcelona established Fusion Point with ESADE and the Technical University of Catalonia as a meeting point for students and companies. Interdisciplinary teams in Attract Academy and Fusion Point projects address real challenges in engineering, business, and design. Fusion Point projects include Challenge Based Innovation by IdeaSquare@CERN, which focuses on solutions with a positive impact on society. Students also have access to the Erasmus program.

Every course uses the Virtual Campus, which students access with a personal password. It provides:

• Educational materials,
• Tests,
• Group assignments,
• Forums,
• An events calendar,
• Class schedules,
• Announcements,
• Software documentation,
• Rules for reserving spaces.

The IT department helps students create user accounts and install the Adobe, Autodesk, and Microsoft Office packages provided by the school. The Academic Secretariat manages student registration and academic documentation, including diplomas, certificates, and school records.

Throughout their education, a team of professionals provides individual support with academic skills and personal growth. Student Services helps arriving students adjust and obtain information about residence permits, the Health Card, and language courses. Legal advice talks address visas, rental contracts, and work permits. BXC Advisors and Barcelona Students are the external Legal Advisors.

Students have access to confidential professional support for social, emotional, and psychological concerns, including three free visits. Sessions address stress management and emotional well-being. Career Services provides continuing support for students and graduates by managing work experience agreements and job offers, organizing professional development courses, and arranging events with employers. Alumni Barcelona keeps graduates informed about news, events, vacancies, and mentorship, and helps them maintain professional connections.

Foundation programs:

• Foundation in Global Design,
• Foundation in Fashion Design.

Bachelor’s degree and diploma programs:

• Fashion,
• Graphic Design, pathway in Art Direction — a 4-year Bachelor of Arts program,
• Product Design,
• Graphic Design,
• Fashion Design, pathway in Fashion Styling and Communication,
• Interior Design,
• Graphic Design, pathway in Motion Graphics and Video,
• Graphic Design, pathway in Media Design,
• Fashion Styling,
• IED Diplomas,
• University of Westminster Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degrees in Fashion Design and Fashion Marketing and Communication.

Master’s and postgraduate programs:

• Fashion Systems,
• Wedding and Ceremony Dresses Design,
• Strategic and Creative Brand Communication Management,
• Interior Design for Commercial Spaces and Retail,
• Fashion Marketing and Communication — January and October intakes,
• Design for Sustainable Transitions,
• Design for Interaction and Extended Reality,
• Brand Design and Hospitality,
• Strategic Design Management,
• Creative Direction for Graphic Design,
• Physical Spaces and Digital Environment Design — an official master’s program,
• Fashion Product Management,
• Master in Fashion Design,
• Master in Fashion Creative Direction,
• Master in Fashion Business Innovation,
• Master in Interior Design for Hotels, Gastronomic and Commercial Spaces.

Continuing education and summer courses:

• Interior Decoration and Styling,
• Interior Design and Conceptualisation,
• Graphic Design in Branding — a summer course,
• Fashion Product Management,
• Fashion Styling,
• Innovation and Future Thinking,
• Design Thinking for Business Transformation,
• Graphic Design,
• Sustainable Fashion,
• Creativity and Artificial Intelligence,
• Image Consultant.

Courses for teenagers:

• Global Design - Junior — a summer course also available in English,
• Fashion Design - Junior,
• Interior Design - Junior.

At the annual Fashioners of the World show, filmmaker Isabel Coixet presents the award for best fashion film. An IED graduate founded Future Days and serves as its Managing Director.

In 2024, IED Barcelona was an artistic collaborator of MIRA Digital Arts Festival. The student installation Distorted Reality explored the relationship between digital perception, reality, nature, and data. It used multi-layered projections, video mapping, triangular mapping, point cloud animations, and scanning animations. Brief Encounters explored the fleeting nature of human connections through air traffic data.

• IED Barcelona is the only school in Spain offering courses in Business Design and Transportation Design,
• Alumni of the Barcelona campus join the wider IED Alumni Network, which brings together over 100,000 graduates of 100 nationalities and 150 professional profiles.

IED Barcelona works with providers of different types of accommodation. Student Services helps arriving students find accommodation. Options include partner residences:

• ERASMUS Gràcia — about 5 minutes away by public transportation, with short-term and long-term accommodation available,
• XIOR The Lofttown — a mixed residence about 20 minutes away by public transportation,
• XIOR Collblanc — a mixed university residence about 25 minutes away by public transportation,
• ONIX — about 25 minutes away by public transportation, with individual and group study rooms, indoor leisure areas, and a terrace with a swimming pool,
• UNIHABIT Ciutat Vella — about 35 minutes away by public transportation,
• MiCampus Residencias — about a 40-minute walk, with rooms and apartments, a gym, swimming pool, cinema, dining hall, and study areas,
• The Social Hub Barcelona — about 45 minutes away by public transportation, with rooms, coworking and event spaces, restaurants and bars, a gym, and lounges,
• Residencia Universitaria Sarriá — about 45 minutes away by public transportation, in the Sarrià–Sant Gervasi district.

Shared accommodation is available for students and young professionals. Private rooms in shared apartments are available. Utilities, Wi-Fi, and cleaning of communal areas are often included in the price.

Additional options are available for short visits:

• RESA Pere Felip Monlau Residence — about a 20-minute walk, with round-the-clock security throughout the year,
• Atiram Hotels — about a 30-minute walk, with rooms, a business center, event spaces, cafés, free Wi-Fi, and fitness facilities,
• RESA Torre Girona Residence — about 40 minutes away by public transportation, with round-the-clock security throughout the year.

Subject list: Advertising and PR, Art, Business and management, Creative industry, CSP EN BRAND STORYTELLING, CSP EN COLOR & TRIM, CSP IN FASHION AND VISUAL MERCHANDISING, CSP IN FASHION COMMUNICATION, CSP IN FASHION STYLING, CSP IN FOOTWEAR DESIGN, CSP IN GRAPHIC DESIGN, CSP IN JEWELLERY DESIGN, design, Entrepreneurship, Fashion, graphic arts, marketing, MASTER IN DESIGN MANAGEMENT, TÍTULO SUPERIOR EN DISEÑO DE INTERIORES, TÍTULO SUPERIOR EN DISEÑO DE MODA, TÍTULO SUPERIOR EN DISEÑO DE MODA, ESTILISMO Y COMUNICACIÓN, TÍTULO SUPERIOR EN DISEÑO DE PRODUCTO, TÍTULO SUPERIOR EN DISEÑO DE TRANSPORTE, Visual merchandising

Student Services organizes guided tours of museums, exhibitions, and cultural events. The Studentfy app brings together around 15,000 local and foreign students in Barcelona and offers trips, excursions, sporting events, and parties.

In 2023, Multidisciplinary Workshops Week offered 23 interdisciplinary workshops for nearly 400 students. These included:

• Breaking Moulds,
• Data-Driven Music Machine,
• Gastronomy of the Future: Food Design,
• Imprints of Nature,
• Light Matter: Interactions,
• Maquillaje Expresión.

Moritz Feed Dog 2025 included two screenings of nine films that had won the IED Barcelona fashion film award. Screenings of Morriña, Recreo, Lunch at the Tennis Court, and A Tragedy — the winner and three finalists from the latest competition — were announced for Moritz Feed Doc 2026. Styling Slam was designed for students to create fashion looks live using the clothing provided. Pilar Pasamontes, Scientific Director of the Fashion area, was announced as a participant in a round table on tradition as a language of innovation.

At MIRA Digital Arts Festival 2024, students from the Master in Design for Virtual Reality and the Master in Interaction Design presented Brief Encounters and Distorted Reality.

The 2023/2024 master’s and postgraduate welcome events included an in-person workshop by Giulia Sonetti for Fashion Design, Fashion Marketing and Communication, and Interior Design for Hotels, Gastronomic and Commercial Spaces, followed the next day by an official welcome and networking session. In 2023, the undergraduate Welcome Week offered workshops and collaborative creative activities. The 2024 welcome program included a graduate’s talk on applications of design in the present and future, and Welcome Week workshops and collaborative activities.

The 2026 undergraduate welcome program was designed to include talks by a current student and a graduate about education and the IED community, as well as workshops and activities introducing the labs, student services, and Barcelona. A Designing for the Many workshop was planned for students in six master’s programs. A welcome talk by Thais Ruiz de Alda of DigitalFems, a specialist in data science from a gender perspective, was also announced for 2026. For the Foundation in Fashion Design and Foundation in Global Design courses, the welcome session was to be followed by Welcome Week activities introducing the program, school, and community.

• The quality of IED Barcelona’s 4-year Bachelor’s Degrees in Design is certified by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency.

Classrooms, labs, and networking space occupy 7,000 m². Specialized facilities include Fashion Labs, Render Lab, Media Lab, XR Lab, Textile Lab, and Mobility Lab. The library in the Point Two building provides materials on applied arts and design.

Lesseps and Fontana metro stations are approximately 5 and 10 minutes away on foot, respectively. The Estació del Nord and Sants bus stations are about 20 minutes away by car. The airport is approximately 30 minutes away and is connected to the school by public transportation.

The price of the course is not included and is paid additionally:

• Registration fee,
• Round trip flights,
• Roundtrip transfer,
• Accommodation and meals,
• Personal pocket expenses,
• Visa fees and services, translation and certification of documents,
• Consular fee,
• Medical insurance.

Flywire allows foreign students to pay for courses from their home country and can help reduce bank charges and currency conversion costs.

Prospective students can visit the school or meet with Advisors online. These individual meetings provide an opportunity to discuss program choices, career prospects, and general admissions questions. The Orientation and Admissions Department considers prospective students’ needs and motivations when helping them choose a program.

The requirements for applicants differ depending on the chosen program.

1) Basic programs (1 year):

• TOEFL certificate (450 points) or its equivalent
• Secondary education certificate.

2) Undergraduate:

• TOEFL certificate (500 points) + a certificate of sufficient knowledge of the language in which education will be conducted Italian, from advanced
• Secondary Education Certificate

3) Master:

• TOEFL (from 500 points) or its equivalent
• Personal Portfolio (not less than 10-15 works on design with detailed description and the date of implementation of each)
• Diploma of Higher Education (Bachelor's degree)
• Personal resume
• Experience from 2 years in the chosen specialty is desirable (in some cases it can replace the Bachelor's degree)

4) Summer programs:

Additionally, applicants pass a telephone interview with a representative of the Institute, so that he can be convinced of the level of the language.

Please note that all basic documents (certificates, medical certificate) must be translated into Spanish and notarized. In the diploma and the certificate should be a list of studied disciplines, the number of hours each.

A package of documents from applicants for the next year is accepted from December to August (minimum 3 months before the expected start of classes). The package should include:

• A completed application form
• Passport and its copy, 4 passport-size photographs
• Medical certificate
• Receipt for prepayment of the studying course
• Secondary school certificate
• Certificate of sufficient level of English + the language of instruction (Spanish)
• Portfolio.

• Guardianship services during the studies
• Student supervision