Immersing yourself in design summer programs in Europe for high school students is a practical way to turn creative passion into an advanced skillset. You will work directly with the tools and concepts professionals use every day, gaining hands-on experience with 3D modelling software, architectural sketching, quick prototyping, and design thinking.

These programmes can act as a foundation for a high schooler’s college journey, giving you a taste of what university life is like at a top institution, in person. Beyond the creative work, you also gain a clearer sense of campus life as you share ideas with peers, join group reviews, and experience the energy of a real college design studio.

You will experience studio-based learning, portfolio reviews, project presentations, and mentorship from practising designers and university faculty. If you are still deciding whether architecture, fashion, graphic design, or product design is the right path, this exposure can be valuable before applying to college.

Why study design in Europe as a high school student?

Europe has long been one of the world’s most influential centers for art, fashion, architecture, and design. One of the biggest advantages of studying design in Europe is the environment itself. Cities like Milan, Paris, Florence, Barcelona, and London function almost like open-air classrooms, where students can draw inspiration from architecture, museums, fashion districts, galleries, and centuries of visual culture. 

For high school students interested in design, joining a summer program in Europe can be an opportunity to experience creative education in a far more immersive and practical way than a traditional classroom setting.

Choosing the right design summer program, however, can be difficult. To help narrow down the options, we’ve put together a list of 15 design summer programs in Europe for high school students.

For related options, consider the online architecture program and summer programs in London.

15 Design Summer Programs in Europe for High School Students 

1. Pre-College Summer Course Milano Design Lab

Location: Milan, Italy
Cost: €1,600
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not selective; cohort size not specified
Dates: July 6-16
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school and beginner-level students from around the world

In this program, you explore observation techniques, ideation methods, prototyping, and visual research while developing a mini design project inspired by both Milan’s creative culture and your own personal perspective. The first week focuses on building foundational design skills through user research, empathy mapping, sketching exercises, sustainable design concepts, and rapid prototyping workshops.

During the second week, you continue refining their projects while learning about branding, user experience, and storytelling techniques used to present design ideas effectively. You will also visit places such as the Brera Design District and selected concept stores to analyse how design operates in real environments.

Why it stands out: It combines studio workshops with multiple field trips across Milan’s major design districts and museums, allowing students to directly connect classroom concepts with real-world design culture and industry environments. 

2. Immerse Education’s London Architecture & Design Summer School

Location: University College London, London, UK
Cost: Varies; summer school scholarship available through our bursary programme
Dates: 2 weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: Multiple summer cohorts with rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school students around the world aged 15-18

With your interest in architecture, you probably have design ideas in your mind, and this Immerse Education program can be a suitable place for you to learn the skills and techniques needed to turn that vision into a reality. The program will introduce you to some fundamental concepts in architecture, including but not limited to spatial design, structural engineering, and sustainability. Apart from the theoretical part, this summer school will also engage you in hands-on design projects, studio sessions, and site visits. By having you participate in different activities, this program aims to enhance certain aspects of you, like creativity, technical skills, and visual thinking, that are highly valued in the world of architecture. 

Why it stands out: In addition to preparing you for a college major in architecture, this program also gives you a chance to explore architectural research and design theory. 

3. Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) – Creative Art and Design (ages 15-18)

Location: Arts University Bournemouth, Bournemouth, England, United Kingdom
Cost/Stipend: £1,799 (course only); £2,635 with residential accommodation and full-board catering; £2,970 with accommodation, catering and return London-airport taxi transfers
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open-enrollment; specific cohort size not specified
Dates: August 3-14
Application Deadline: Rolling until fill
Eligibility: Aged 15-17 at the time of attending; no formal academic qualifications required; intermediate-level English recommended as the course is taught in English; open to international students

In this program, you join a two-week intensive studio course at Arts University Bournemouth, exploring design alongside related creative disciplines to build or expand a personal portfolio. Working through themed group and individual projects, you experiment with typography, composition and collage, graphic design, layout, and 3D design, while also sampling illustration, fashion and textiles, and photography and film.

You develop ideas in sketchbooks, sharpen drawing and observational skills, and learn the safe use of a wide range of media, materials, and technologies for creative problem-solving. Tutor-led portfolio reviews give you structured feedback and can lead to an AUB pre-application interview. 

Why it stands out: It pairs hands-on studio experimentation across multiple design and art disciplines with one-to-one portfolio reviews that can result in a pre-application interview, and even an offer to study at AUB.

4. Style and Share by IED Italy

Location: Rome, Italy
Cost: €400; early-bird enrollment discounts and special promotional rates are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 15-20 students
Dates: 1 week in June
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Students between ages 14-18 interested in fashion styling and digital content creation (Instagram/TikTok); open to international students

This course introduces you to the role of a Fashion Stylist through hands-on creative activities that combine fashion, photography, and visual storytelling, giving it a distinctive place among the various design summer programs in Europe for high school students. Starting from a project brief, you will learn how to develop mood boards, build outfit concepts, and shape a personal visual identity inspired by your own style and creative direction.

Throughout the program, you will work on styling exercises, photo studio sessions, and outdoor shoots while learning how fashion content is created for platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. The course also focuses on producing editorial-style content optimized for social media, helping you understand how fashion and online branding intersect in today’s industry.

Why it stands out: It combines fashion styling, photography, and social media content creation into a single program, giving you practical experience in building fashion-focused digital portfolios for platforms like Instagram and TikTok. 

5. University of the Arts London (UAL) – International Summer School for 16–18 Year Olds Short Course

Location: London, England, United Kingdom (Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London)
Cost: £3,670
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Non-selective; cohort size not specified
Dates: Multiple three-week courses in July and August
Application Deadline: Open until places fill
Eligibility: Students aged 16-18; open to international students

In this program, you spend three intensive weeks in an art school studio at Chelsea College of Arts, working much like a foundation-year student in art and design. You move through research and idea generation, drawing, sketching, mark-making, and hands-on 2D and 3D collage and modelling, experimenting with scale, texture, and colour across a series of design projects.

Guided by experienced UAL tutors, you develop and refine a body of work suited to a portfolio for further study, drawing inspiration from London’s cultural and social diversity. You strengthen practical design skills and confidence while expressing ideas through critique and discussion with tutors and peers. You finish with a digital badge and a certificate of attendance.

Why it stands out: It immerses you in a genuine UAL art school environment structured like a foundation course in art and design, letting you build a university-ready portfolio while experiencing London’s creative culture firsthand.

6. Instituto Europeo di Design (IED) Barcelona – Global Design Junior (English)

Location: Barcelona, Spain
Cost: €1,300
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open-enrollment; specific cohort size not stated
Dates: Two weeks, part-time, on campus, starting July
Application Deadline: No fixed deadline; applying well before the session begins is advisable
Eligibility: Students aged 15-18; open to international students

In this program, you spend two weeks in Barcelona exploring design as a hands-on, cross-disciplinary practice, moving across product, interior, and graphic design before committing to any single academic path. Working through six progressive units, you study design history and sociology, run experimental workshops on colour, material, form, light and body–space, and work inside product, interior and visual design studios.

You learn fabrication techniques spanning subtractive, additive and manipulation processes, plus an optional digital fabrication workshop. The course closes with a collective exhibition presenting a prototyped product, a constructed exhibition space, and a fanzine with a process video, producing work that can form a first portfolio.

Why it stands out: It lets you sample product, interior, graphic and visual design within a single guided two-week studio experience in Barcelona that ends in a collective exhibition and portfolio-ready work, helping you choose a future design path before university.

7. University for the Creative Arts’ International Summer School – Art & Design Portfolio Development (ages 16–17)

Location: UCA Farnham campus, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Cost/Stipend: £2,690 full fee (£2,420 early bird fee, payable in full by March 31st)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrolment; specific cohort size not stated
Dates: Programme 1: July 13-24 (open to 16-17-year-olds applying independently or as a group); Programme 2: August 3-14 (16-17-year-olds by group booking only with an appointed chaperone)
Application Deadline: March 31st
Eligibility: Aged 16-17 at the start of the programme with passport verification of age; open to international students

In this two-week design-focused programme at UCA Farnham, you build a standout creative portfolio for future art and design applications. Working with industry-connected academics and technical staff, you develop visual language skills that translate what you see and think into a cohesive personal visual statement. You move through workshops spanning traditional printmaking to contemporary digital techniques, exploring a broad range of art and design disciplines and processes.

You learn UCA’s portfolio content requirements and how to present and discuss your practice confidently. The course culminates in a student-curated exhibition and graduation ceremony, plus cultural study trips to London, Brighton, and Oxford, leaving you with a unique portfolio project.

Why it stands out: It pairs studio-based portfolio building with full residential student life on UCA’s Farnham campus and guided cultural study trips to London, Brighton, and Oxford.

8. Ravensbourne University London – Games & Character Design Summer School (ages 16+)

Location: Ravensbourne University London, England
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Non-competitive; small hands-on cohort
Dates: June 30th – July 2nd
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Students aged 16 or older; open to international students

In this program, you spend three hands-on days alongside the university’s Games tutors and current students. You develop original characters, explore concept art, and experiment with turning your designs into assets for video games, while also touching on cosplay and game development as creative directions. Working collaboratively, you move ideas from initial sketches toward game-ready concepts and build a project you can use in a portfolio for applications to creative university courses.

Because no prior experience is needed, you focus on strengthening visual design skills, character ideation, and creative confidence. The free, beginner-friendly format makes it an accessible first step into games-focused design.

Why it stands out: It is a free, three-day, beginner-friendly summer school where you design game characters directly alongside Ravensbourne’s Games tutors and students and leave with a portfolio-ready project for creative university applications.

9. Nottingham Trent University’s Summer School Courses for 15-17s – Graphic Design Portfolio for 15 to 17 Year Olds

Location: Nottingham Trent University City Campus, School of Art & Design, Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
Cost/Stipend: £545; on-campus single-room accommodation optional at £259 per week
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open-enrollment; limited class size
Dates: July 27-31
Application Deadline: Open until the course fills
Eligibility: Students aged 15, 16 or 17 at the time of the course; open to international students

In the School of Art & Design at NTU’s City Campus, you spend one week working through the fundamentals of graphic design with a focus on making, experimentation, and visual communication. Each day brings a practical task built around a current social, political, or environmental brief, where you explore colour, layout, composition, and typography to craft messages for your audience.

You design a piece a day, produce work such as zines and posters, and use IT suites equipped with Adobe Creative Cloud, gaining hands-on Adobe Illustrator skills. Across 25 contact hours with a practising designer-tutor, you build portfolio-standard work in a collaborative studio culture. You leave with an understanding of what design admissions tutors want.

Why it stands out: It pairs portfolio-building studio work with hands-on Adobe Illustrator practice across 25 contact hours taught by a practising designer who runs his own print and workshop studio, giving you a realistic taste of life as a university design student.

10. Rome University of Arts Creative Summer Camp

Location: Rome, Italy
Cost: €1,250 (Discounts available: 15% by Dec 31, 10% by Feb 28)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; 20 students
Dates: Session 1: June 22nd – July 3rd; Session 2: July 6-17
Application Deadline: First-come, first-served basis
Eligibility: All high school students, including international students

As one of the more multidisciplinary design summer programs in Europe for high school students, this program combines drawing, painting, design, photography, and art history through a curriculum that blends studio practice, workshops, and cultural exploration. In the design module, you will explore ideas surrounding sustainability and urban identity by collaboratively creating futuristic city concepts through hands-on laboratory activities and three-dimensional design work.

The photography component introduces you to photographic language, composition, light management, and visual storytelling through both classroom sessions and outdoor projects across Rome. By the end of the workshop, you will come home with a digital portfolio featuring the images you captured during the course.

Why it stands out: The program combines multiple creative disciplines, including drawing, painting, design, photography, and art history, with immersive cultural experiences across Rome while creating a multidisciplinary creative portfolio. 

11. University of the Arts London – Art and Design for 16 to 18 Year Olds Short Course

Location: London, UK
Cost: £520 – £750
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; typically around 10-15 students
Dates: Multiple one-week courses between June 29th and July 31st
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Students aged 16-18; open to international students

This course is designed to help young creatives strengthen their artistic skills, expand their portfolio work, and gain confidence through hands-on projects. Throughout the course, you will engage in observational drawing exercises, life drawing sessions for on-campus participants, and exploration of different materials, techniques, and artistic methods.

The course is structured to support you, especially if you are considering a future study in art and design, while also giving you space to explore new techniques and creative directions in a studio-based environment. By the end, you will receive a certificate of attendance and a digital badge while gaining portfolio-ready work.

Why it stands out: It combines portfolio development, studio experimentation, life drawing, and gallery research with direct exposure to art school teaching, making it especially useful for students preparing for foundation courses or future creative study. 

12. University of the Arts London – Textile Design for 16 to 18 Year Olds Short Course

Location: London, UK
Cost: £940
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Non-selective; cohort size not specified
Dates: August 24-28
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Students aged 16-18; open to international students

This course offers you a practical introduction to textile printing and surface design through a hands-on, project-based learning experience. Throughout the program, you will experiment with patterns, colour, form, repeats, and composition while developing ideas on both fabric and paper surfaces. At the start of each day, different textile techniques and materials are demonstrated to encourage experimentation and help you explore a range of creative processes.

As the course progresses, you will create samples, develop visual references, and refine your own potential textile collections while building a portfolio of creative work. By the end of the course, you will receive a certificate of attendance and a digital badge.

Why it stands out: It introduces students to multiple professional textile printing techniques while combining studio experimentation, portfolio building, and visual research inspired by London’s creative and cultural spaces. 

13. IE Pre-Design Foundation Program

Location: Segovia and Madrid, Spain
Cost: €5,900
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; cohort size not specified
Dates: July 5-17
Application Deadline: Rolling admission until it’s full
Eligibility: Graduating high school student and under 18 years of age graduating in program year or the next; open to international students

In this program, you explore how creative ideas influence the spaces, products, and garments that shape everyday life. For students comparing design summer programs in Europe for high school students, it offers exposure to the creative process through lectures, workshops, portfolio exercises, and project-based learning. Throughout the program, you are introduced to areas such as design thinking, creative problem-solving, technical drawing, visual communication, and spatial design.

The curriculum also focuses on portfolio development and personal reflection, helping you identify your creative interests. By the end of the program, you will have a complete portfolio-ready project, receive mentorship from experienced faculty and professionals, and gain a clearer understanding of creative higher education pathways.

Why it stands out: It combines architecture, fashion, and design in one interdisciplinary studio experience while giving students direct exposure to university life across both Madrid and Segovia campuses.

14. Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) – Fashion, Textiles & Costume Design (15–18 Years)

Location: Arts University Bournemouth, Bournemouth, England, United Kingdom
Cost/Stipend: £1,799; optional residential package (course fee plus accommodation and full-board catering) at £2,635, or £2,970 with private return London airport taxi transfers; bookable with a 25% deposit
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; around 15-25 students per course
Dates: August 3-14
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Students aged 15-17 at the time of attending; open to international students

In this program, you spend two weeks moving through the full design process, from concept development, mood boarding, and trend forecasting to fashion sketching, fabric sourcing, and sample making. Working in AUB’s fashion studios under specialist tutors, you experiment with textile manipulation techniques like dyeing, printing, and embellishing, then progress to basic pattern cutting, technical flats, and garment or costume prototypes.

You build practical skills in fashion illustration, surface decoration, and styling while developing a mini collection for display. The course closes with a student-led fashion showcase, and you leave with a digital and physical portfolio plus an official AUB Summer Course Certificate for 100% attendance.

Why it stands out: It pairs hands-on studio training across fashion, textiles, and costume with a culminating showcase and direct portfolio reviews that can lead to a pre-application interview and a place on AUB’s full-time creative courses.

15. University of the Arts London (UAL) – Streetwear Fashion for 16 to 18 Year Olds Short Course

Location: London, England (Central Saint Martins, 1 Granary Square, King’s Cross, N1C 4AA)
Cost: From £610
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open-enrolment; a small studio-based group
Dates: July 6-10; July 13-17
Application Deadline: Rolling first-come basis until each session fills
Eligibility: Students between ages 16-18; open to international students

In this course, you explore London’s streetwear and street-fashion scene as a creative starting point, taking trips to museums, street markets, and fashion hotspots before translating that research into your own designs. You work through core fashion design techniques, including research and concept building, illustration, 2D-to-3D translation, hand-making, customisation, and upcycling of streetwear classics such as T-shirts. Daily studio tasks build a body of work for your portfolio, supported by sketchbook methods, group and peer critiques, and styling and presentation.

You also receive an introduction to the Central Saint Martins library and tailored advice on portfolio development and progression to Foundation and degree-level study. The course emphasises hand-sewing, studding, and embellishment rather than patternmaking or machine sewing.

Why it stands out: It is taught at Central Saint Martins by industry-experienced designers and CSM graduates, pairing real London street-fashion field research with hands-on customisation and upcycling so you leave with genuine art-school portfolio work.

Turn Creative Projects Into Career Clarity

Design projects can reveal more than creative taste; they show how you solve problems, respond to feedback, and communicate ideas visually with purpose and clarity.

Across the 15 design summer programs in Europe for high school students discussed in this guide, you encounter architecture, fashion, graphics, product design, textiles, and games pathways.

Sketches, prototypes, portfolio reviews, and site visits can help you recognise which creative settings, materials, and industry challenges spark genuine ambition.

Curious where that ambition could take you next? Head to our Career Exploration blogs for creative career guidance, skills insight, industry pathways, and clearer decisions before applying ahead.