The United Kingdom has a tradition of art
and design education which is many hundreds of years old, and based
on this tradition, continues to offer a wide range of courses of
the highest quality, in an environment which gives excellent support
to every aspect of study.
Subjects and Levels of Study
Post-school art and design courses are offered in a range of subject
areas, and at three levels. Foundation, Access and Diploma courses
accept students directly from school or college at ages between
16 and 18. Degree and Honours Degree programmes accept students
who already have Foundation or Diploma qualifications, and also
accept the transfer of students into the second or third year of
courses if they have appropriate diploma or higher diploma qualifications.
Further study is offered at post-graduate level, ranging from taught
Masters degree programmes, through Masters by research, to Doctoral
qualifications by research or practice, or a combination of the
two. Foundation level courses are usually one year long, degree
courses are usually three years in duration, and post-graduate programmes
last between one and three years, depending on the qualification
and subject. Many courses allow professional placement opportunities,
and a variety of part-time and flexible learning possibilities exist.
Art and design education in Britain is remarkable for its diversity.
Broad subject definitions include Design, Fine Art and History,
and Theory of Art and Design. Design based courses are offered in
a huge range of disciplines from craft based areas such as Furniture
Design, Ceramics, Textile Design, and Silversmithing and Jewellery,
through Fashion, Graphic Design, Product and Automotive Design,
to areas such as design for Multi Media and the electronic environment,
including digital graphics and animation. Fine Art provides courses
ranging from those in traditional disciplines such as Painting,
Sculpture and Printing, through courses concerned with Performance
and Installation, and those which relate to lens-based and electronic
media.
Courses in the History and Theory of Art and Design range from
those dealing with Art History, through courses in Curatorship,
Conservation and Museum Studies, and those which combine the study
of theory with other practical subjects such as painting, or with
study of other disciplines such as philosophy, sociology or history.
Most courses contain vocational elements which assist graduates
in progressing to appropriate professional destinations, though
these elements range in type and delivery from simple business and
professional study elements to specific subject-focused live projects.
British institutions are noted for the high quality of the resources
provided for education. Courses are offered in specialist studios,
workshops and lecture rooms, and the best of the facilities have
excellent technical support, including Information Technology and
Computer resources. Library and Learning Resource provision is also
excellent, with many universities providing large new facilities
which combine the storage of thousands of books and periodicals
with the best of technology-based learning support and teaching
aids. The staff resource is also first-class, with most teachers
maintaining professional practice and research within their disciplines,
as well as a teaching role. It is not unusual to be taught by staff
who are internationally recognised specialists in their own field.
The employment of large numbers of professional artists and designers
on a part-time basis ensures that contemporary professional issues
are brought directly to students in the normal course of their education.
The high quality educational resource is supported by a range of
other facilities. Many towns and cities have excellent libraries,
galleries, design agencies and specialist shops, and suppliers who
provide excellent intellectual and practical resources to students
of art and design. It is hard to imagine a better environment in
which to study these subjects than a major UK city like London,
Edinburgh or Liverpool, and most smaller towns and cities have both
excellent resources of their own and ready access to larger centres.
Course Structure and Academic Quality Arrangements
Courses are usually structured within modular frameworks. In most
cases credit is allocated to different levels of courses against
a standard UK model of 120 credit points per year, and credit transfer
and accreditation of previous learning (APL) mechanisms apply to
facilitate transfer between courses.
A centrally important aspect of British Art and Design education
is the collective commitment to quality. All courses are subject
to rigorous validation procedures within the university or college,
and these procedures and the courses themselves are subject to inspection
by national quality agencies. This process of inspection and the
extensive quality processes of the institutions assures high standards
in all aspects of course experience.
Career Destinations
Art and Design courses lead to a variety of career destinations,
most directly related to the course experience, though since the
courses enhance creative and imaginative thinking, graduates move
into many other commercial and professional environments. Huge international
opportunities exist for British educated artists and designers,
working as independent professional designers; within design agencies
and corporations; within national and international art organisations,
museums and galleries, and as teachers at all levels of education.
British-trained Designers in all disciplines including Fashion,
Product, Interiors, Graphics, Theatre, Model-making, Multi Media,
Textiles and Three-Dimensional Design are sought after all over
the world, and British graduates from Fine Art and other Art and
Design disciplines have unparalleled influence in the visual arts,
based on the high quality and professional relevance of their educational
experience.
Author: Chris McIntyre, University of Hertfordshire, U.K.
This article first appeared in TransWorld Education
