Institutional Access is how a university, design school or studio brings a group onto UNI under one agreement instead of every student paying separately. You apply for it rather than buying it from the shop, and the team confirms your plan and its terms with you before anything is charged.
It is a different product from the Institutional membership sold in the UNI shop. If you are comparing the two, see the last section.
How to apply
- Open the Institutional Access page.
- Use Apply Now at the top of the page, or Get Started on the plan you are interested in. Both open the same application form.
- Fill in the institution, its size, your contact details, how many students you expect to enrol, the disciplines involved and what you want out of it. You can attach a supporting document.
- Submit. The form then sends you on to a paid product page. Do not complete that payment until the team has confirmed your plan in writing — paying before that can leave your pass mismatched with what your institution needs, and it cannot be adjusted after checkout.
If you would rather talk first, Request Demo books a call, and the top plan's button is Contact Sales.
Published plans
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Department | $499 |
| School | $1,499 |
| University | $3,999 |
| Network | Custom |
The larger plans add faculty evaluation tools, reporting and more mentor seats.
What that works out at per entry
| Plan | Price | Entries | Per entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department | $499 | 12 | $41.58 |
| School | $1,499 | 50 | $29.98 |
| University | $3,999 | 150 | $26.66 |
A typical competition charges around $80 for a student registration and $91 for a professional one, so a pass used in full is roughly half price per entry.
The saving depends on using the entries you buy. A Department pass with only six entries submitted works out at $83 each, which is more than registering those students individually. Size the plan to what your studio will actually submit.
Each plan includes a fixed number of entries, usable across a capped number of different competitions you choose from:
| Plan | Entries | Competitions | Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department | 12 | up to 3 | per semester |
| School | 40 | up to 6 | per year |
| University | 100 | unlimited | per year |
| Network | Custom | unlimited | annual partnership |
Entering a competition your pass has already used never counts against the competition cap — only entering a new one does. If your institution needs more than one pass covers, buy another pass. The start date and activation timeline are still worth confirming in writing with the team, since those depend on when your documentation is processed.
Verification and activation
The application should come from the mentor or faculty member. Verification is automatic if you apply with an institution email address. Otherwise the team asks for proof, such as an institution ID or a letter of authorisation, and activation takes up to 2 working days once that has been received.
Refunds
The Institutional Access pass is non-refundable and non-transferable. Confirm the competition details and the plan terms before paying.
Teams and entries
Students keep their own accounts and their own portfolios. An entry can be one student working alone or a team, up to the maximum team size the competition allows, and one student can be on more than one team. For an entry to count towards the institution the mentor has to be part of that entry's team, which is also how mentors review the work before it is submitted.
If your academic calendar does not line up
Pick a competition whose schedule fits your term. If you need a schedule changed instead, ask at least a month ahead so the team can check with the other participants.
Institutional Access is not the Institutional membership
The UNI shop also sells an Institutional membership at $536.42 for 365 days, which includes 12 competition entries. That is an individual membership on a single account, bought and activated straight away in the UNI shop. Institutional Access is the applied-for institution agreement described above. If you only need one faculty account with 12 entries, the membership is the simpler route.
Institutional Access pass prices are base amounts, with a 7.5% payment gateway charge added at checkout. The membership price is the total you pay, charge included.
Before you pay anything, get your start date, term and entry allowance confirmed in writing by the UNI team. A plan bought without confirmation cannot be corrected after checkout. Ask first, pay second.