The Inchbald School of Design was founded with the specific intention of educating committed students of design in the principles and techniques required with a view to a future role as Interior Designers, not only well educated and talented but conscious of their responsibility to their clients, both domestic and commercial.

In 1960 the specifics of Interior Design had not been resolved into professional status.  Inchbald’s pioneering programmes and clearly defined aims served to establish the status of Interior Design as a serious profession; this was re-enforced by the establishment of the BIDA, an institution generated by the Founder of the Inchbald School, Jacqueline Inchbald.  In 1972 the curriculum was extended to the education of Garden Designers.  Inchbald now comprises two Faculties, Interior Design and Garden Design, with an extensive number of highly successful graduates working around the world.

The School constantly develops its courses, refining and enhancing content and method, particularly in the light of technological advance.  Such improvements and revisions are based on the needs of the profession as a whole and the development of the student as an individual.

The Inchbald School, the first of its kind in Europe, now provides courses at Certificate,  Diploma, BA Hons and Masters level, (academic levels 4,5,6 and 7) validated by Wrexham Glyndwr University, alongside its own world-renowned diplomas in both disciplines. Students are taught by professional designers in classes of eight with one tutor, a ratio which provides the maximum support and allows the individual to develop their own design voice. Lecturers are drawn from both the profession and academe and are all experienced teachers.

The commitment of the School to develop a student’s individual view of design remains paramount.

In 2006 the members of BIDA voted Jacqueline Duncan (formerly Inchbald) as having done more than anyone to establish and support the profession of Interior Design.   She accepted this Lifetime Award with huge pleasure on behalf of the School and the teaching staff. This was followed in 2013 by an O.B.E for services to design.

In 2020 The Inchbald School is celebrating sixty years of dedicated and professionally informed education, and continues to look to refining and improving programmes that have long been demonstrated as outstandingly successful.