Explore your options
Study a certificate or diploma in landscape and garden design at Unitec and you’ll learn how to design and plant beautiful, functional and ecological green spaces.
Unitec’s green and leafy Mt Albert campus is the ideal environment to practise your skills. Our programmes focus on residential garden design and include relevant field trips and development of practical skills such as draughting, perspective drawings, plant identification, selection and care. Real-life projects will reinforce the fundamental design principles taught and the emphasis on accurate site analysis will provide a strong basis for creative design solutions for sites.
As a student in our New Zealand Certificate of Horticulture Services (Landscape Design) you will learn important skills of landscape design, representation and plant use in an introductory programme that offers flexible study options for full and part time during the 6 month programme.
While students in our New Zealand Diploma in Landscape (Design) will further develop their design and ecological plant knowledge as well as adding CAD/computing skills and design details during the year long programme.
Programmes and study path
| PROGRAMME | LEVEL | DURATION | CAREER OPTIONS | START DATES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand Certificate in Study and Career Preparation (Level 3) | 3 | Full-time for 16 weeks or part-time options available | Entry into further study at certificate or diploma level. | February or July |
| New Zealand Certificate in Horticulture Services (Landscape Design) | 4 | Full-time for six months or part-time options available. | Home garden designer, Garden centre salesperson, Private gardener, Home garden designer | February and July. |
| New Zealand Diploma in Landscape (Design) | 5 | Full-time for 1 year or part-time for 2 years | Landscaper, Landscape technician, Landscape draftsperson, Residential landscape designer, Garden centre design consultant, Garden journalist, Landscape maintenance manager, Plant consultant, Gardener | February |
Industry contacts
Unitec works closely with the following organisations to deliver seminars, awards and internships, guest lectures, field trips and prizes to Landscape and Garden Design students.
Public seminars
The Scala Seminar Series is a series of hour-long public lectures hosted by Unitec’s architecture and landscape architecture staff. Open to everyone, the seminars explore a range of topics relating to the multi-disciplinarity of architecture, landscape design and landscape architecture.
The seminar series provides a forum for current practice and research in landscape and architecture. CPD points are available to practitioners by the NZ Institute of Landscape Architects, the NZ Registered Architecture Board and Architectural Designers New Zealand.
