University Name:
See all universitiesArts London
UCAS Code: U65
Location: Mostly in central London Show on Map
Site: Six constituent art colleges across London
Europe’s largest university for the creative arts, a federation of six prestigious London art colleges. Member of the UKADIA group of universities.
Student Population
| Total Students: | 19,844 |
| Undergraduates: | 66% |
| Postgraduates: | 17% |
| FE Students: | 17% |
Undergraduates
| Total undergraduates: | 13,034 |
| Male: | 27% |
| Female: | 73% |
| Full Time: | 97% |
| Mature on Entry: | 28% |
| UK Students: | 62% |
| State school entry: | 95% |
Teaching Staff
Nearly 3000 (including 2000 associate lecturers)
Broad study areas
Art, design, fashion, media, communications, performing arts.
Freshers
| Points on Entry (Mean): | 322 |
| Drop Out Rate: | 4% |
| Accommodation: | Most first years housed in university halls. |
Institution
| Founded: | 1986 as London Institute; university status in 2004. The colleges' histories date back to the nineteenth century. |
| Structural features: | Europe’s largest university for the arts, bringing together six celebrated colleges of art, design, fashion, performance and communication. The colleges all have their own strong traditions and distinctive character, and each admits its own students. All students benefit from access to university resources and services. You can look up college profiles separately: Camberwell College of Arts; Central Saint Martins College of Arts & Design; Chelsea College of Art & Design; London College of Communication; London College of Fashion; Wimbledon College of Art. Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon (CCW) co-operate in delivering one foundation course and also have a joint graduate school. |
| Site: | Numerous sites across London, from Oxford Street, to King's Cross, Hackney, Wimbledon and Southwark. |
| Special features: | The centrally-located Arts Gallery (open to the public) hosts a programme of work by university alumni; also 2 SU-run galleries showcase current students' work and another 2 planned; large open-air gallery, the Rootstein Hopins Parade Ground, at Chelsea College has rolling installations and hosts the college's annual degree shows. Students collaborate with major brands as part of their studies, giving them them contacts and experience, eg working on live briefs for eg ASOS, Adidas and Louis Vuitton. London College of Fashion students collaborated on a new beauty collection with The Body Shop; Chelsea College students have worked on live briefs for eg Nokia, Channel 4, Alexander McQueen; Central Saint Martins students work with L'Oreal on hairstyling at catwalk shows. |
Student services & facilities
| Student advice & services: | Student services provide advice and guidance about accommodation, careers and finance plus advice for students with disabilities and counselling. Also chaplaincy and prayer rooms. |
| Amenities: | College shops sell art and design materials. Central social and learning space for all university students in the Student Hub. Discounted access to many sporting, social and cultural facilities (including 200+ galleries and museums). SU runs sports clubs and societies (martial arts to ballroom dancing), a number of college bars and organises events and parties, including pathfinding week; also helps students with academic and accomodation issues, complaints and general advice. |
| Sporting facilities: | Central student activities studio. Student discounts at gyms and sports centres across London. |
| Accommodation: | 2768 places in 13 residences across London. Rents £92−£240 per week, including internet access; contracts 42 or 51 weeks (depending on residence). Privately-rented accommodation available at £90−£350 pw plus bills. |
Study opportunities & careers
| Library & information services: | 6 libraries, with 470,000+ titles, 15,000 journals and periodicals (of which 7700 e-journals), 25,000 videos and DVDs; 175+ databases and 885 electronic books. Information provision: £47 pa spent for each student (FTE). Ratio 1:6 workstations to students; circa 12,000 internet access points, including 422 wifi points. IT help in open access areas and drop-in support sessions for electronic resources. Library and IT induction for all new students and IT skills courses available. Centrally located Learning Zone for students across the uUniversity, combines traditional and modern learning facilities including open-access computing, key texts, wi-fi, laptops, projectors, whiteboards and light-boxes, in a flexible and informal space. |
| Other learning resources: | Public theatre; multi-media workshops and specialist equipment both traditional and digital; newsrooms, TV and broadcast studios. Over 50 unique collections including the Diaghilev Costume Collection (at Camberwell), 800+ paper dressmaking patterns (at London College of Fashion), Stanley Kubrick film archive and Comic Book Collection (at London College of Communication). |
| Study abroad: | Increasing numbers of students complete part of their course abroad. |
| Careers: | Student enterprise & employability service (SEE) aims to help students, graduates and alumni develop their practice, products, innovative ideas and knowledge and intellectual capital. It provides enterprise and employability advice, one to one and targeted support, information and opportunities. |
Money
| Living expenses budget: | Minimum budget of £6000–£10,000 pa (excluding tuition fees) recommended by university. |
| Term-time work: | No official university policy on term-time work. Students are encouraged to be aware of study needs and, if work is necessary, to seek work related to their course of study; careers service helps and provides some jobs within the university. |
| Financial help: | 309 scholarships of £3000 in Year 1 (£1000 pa thereafter), open to English students whose family income is up to £25k pa (priority given where it is up to £16k pa); bursaries of £1000 for students eligible for, but not awarded one of these scholarships. Also, a range of privately-funded scholarships, ranging from £500 to £25,000. |
| University tuition fees: | Home students pay £9000 pa for first degree courses. International students pay £13,300 pa |
Courses
Academic features:
The university offers a distinctive education in art, fashion, design, communication and performance. Learning is practice-based, creative and strongly linked with the creative arts through live briefs, placements, exhibitions and performances. It forges strong links with the creative industries by employing nearly 2000 practicing professionals as associate lecturers, all leading practitioners in their fields. Courses range from access and first diploma to PhD. Students often progress from a foundation course at one college to a degree course at another. New Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon graduate school offers large range of postgraduate courses in the art and design sector.
Awarding body:
University of the Arts London
Main undergraduate awards:
BA, FdA
Length of courses:
3 years; foundation degree 2 years
Student view
Living
It’s one of the most exciting creative institutions in the world. Made up of six colleges spread across London, Arts is a great place to study a wide range of disciplines. Regardless of which college they study at, every student has access to all the university’s facilities, including the new Student Hub development at Davies Street. Collectively, the college libraries are the best art and design resource in Europe, with thousands of books, journals, periodicals, videos and DVDs. Brand new SU office at Davies Street. Students’ union has a constantly growing number of sports clubs (including men and women’s football, rugby, basketball, netball, hockey teams) and various faith and cultural societies; also other services, including a social mentoring scheme for international students. Pathfinding week (university’s version of freshers week) is university-wide, as are Christmas party and summer fayre. Alumni include huge names in every area of art and design, many of whom remain close to the university through lectures, events and even, in some cases, tutoring. Although London can be a very daunting place, it has such a massive cultural diversity, it is anything but boring.
Summary
Housing: University halls of residence. Private accommodation: look in Loot, noticeboards, housing office at Davies Street; expect to pay £100 per week in shared house in zone 2. Eats: College cafeterias (meal for £2.50+); various sandwich shops around each college site. Drink: College bars and various pubs and bars near colleges. Nightlife: University SU runs parties and regular bar events; bar football, Sky sports. And there’s London. Student nights at venues across London every night; most clubs offer student discount. Locals: Mixed (depends where you live); SU and housing office can advise on a safe place to live. Sports: No university sports facilities but student rates at sports centres near most colleges. Travel: No travel scholarships. Travel in London cheaper with student card, but a bike will save you £60 a month if you don’t mind getting wet. Financial help: Access fund; hardship loans. Jobs: Plenty of part-time work in London. Tutors can sometimes help (good contacts). SU bar and design work, restaurants, NFT and other cinemas; retail hours easier than bar work. Informal name: Arts. Best features: It’s big, yet friendly and very well respected place to study. And worst: Lack of interaction between courses and cost of living.
Past Students
Trevor McDonald (broadcaster), Stella McCartney, Hussein Chalayan (fashion designers), Amish Kapoor (sculptor), Shonagh Marshall (fashion buyer); Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik (shoe designers); Peter Blake (artist), Pierce Brosnan (actor).
More info?
Contact SU President on tel 020 7514 6270, email president@su.arts.ac.uk or check out website www.suarts.org.
Contact
Address:
University of the Arts London
272 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7EY
Tel:
020 7514 6000
Email:
Website:
Student enquiries:
By phone or through website
Application:
To the individual colleges through UCAS.
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