Art & design

By Neda Mostafavi

Published: 15 August 2004

What do you come out with? BA

Why do it? Most artists and designers are driven to create. They have an uncontrollable desire to express themselves and to have their work exhibited. Then there's the glamour and excitement of the creative industries and maybe joining the ranks of Brit Art.

What's it about? Depends on the course. Fine art at Glasgow School of Art includes painting, environmental art, sculpture, photography and printmaking. In the first year, you take a general introductory course; in the second year, you begin to specialise and can opt to do a second subject within the specialism. Fine art at Leeds is ideas-led and is a four-year degree. At London Guildhall, you can take degrees in silversmithing and jewellery, furniture, textiles and musical-instrument technology.

How long is a degree? Three years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; four years in Scotland.

What are the students like? Motivated. Arty - which doesn't mean they're all deeply pierced and have purple hair. Outrageousness is a thing of the past, says Sandy Moffatt, chair of the school of fine art at Glasgow. Students today are like 1950s beatniks, dressed in black, with big woolly jumpers. Some have beards.

How is it packaged? Leeds assesses studio work by end-of-year exhibitions. Degrees at London Guildhall are modular, and students are assessed on eight units a year. Students are continually assessed at the end of every year at Glasgow, and are passed or failed, according to their performance. They write essays and dissertations as well as practise their art.

How cool is it? Among the coolest. Traditionally, art students have fed the pop-music industry.

How do you get in? Either via A-levels or the equivalent, or through a foundation course. Most students gain entry via the latter route. For fine art and most design courses, you are selected by portfolio. And it helps to shine in an interview and show potential and commitment. Leeds requires BBC at A-level. In reality, many students have three As.

Will it keep you off the dole? No. Poverty is almost a prerequisite for a young artist. It can be therapeutic, giving plenty of time for art and for plugging into existential angst. But most art colleges give tutoring on how to survive as an artist. Some go into the creative industries.

What do students say? Ellie Thompson, 19, doing a foundation year at Guildhall. "It's a really good course because its much more diverse by way of what you're taught and what you experiment with."

Ed Cook, in his second year of fine art at Leeds. "The course is quite modern and forward-thinking and you are given a lot of freedom. I like the interaction between the academic and the practical."

Hoagy Dunnell, 20, doing a foundation year at Kingston. "There is a good atmosphere here where you feed from you peers, not copy them"

Where's best for teaching? Falmouth College of Arts, Central School of Speech and Drama and Oxford scored 24 out of 24. So did Newcastle College for its HNDs. Leeds, London Guildhall and Wimbledon School of Art, UCL (Slade), Royal College of Art (postgraduates only), City, City College Manchester, Oxford Brookes, London Institute, University College Northampton, Lancaster and St. Helen's scored 23. UWI Cardiff and Swansea Institute of Higher Education were rated excellent.

Where's best for research? Top is UCL (Slade), Bournemouth,, Brighton, City, London Institute, Open University, Sheffield Hallam, UWI Cardiff, UWC Newport, Ulster and Goldsmiths College London with a 5. Then come Brunel, UCE Birmingham, De Montfort, East London, Kingston, Loughborough, Manchester Metropolitan, Newcastle, Northumbria at Newcastle, Sunderland, Southampton and Oxford with 4s.

Who are the star academics? Professor Griselda Pollock and Fred Orton of Leeds University. She writes on feminism, Jewish and cultural studies. He is an expert on Jasper Johns.

Glittering alumni: Fashion designer Zandra Rhodes and enfant terrible; Tracey Emin (she of the unmade bed) were at Kent Institute of Art and Design; fashion designers John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Katharine Hamnett, Nicole Farhi, Stella McCartney, Bruce Oldfield and Vivienne Westwood were at Central St Martin's; artists Antony Gormley, Lucien Freud, Bridget Riley and Damien Hirst were at Goldsmiths; furniture designers Michael Marriott and jewellers Alan Craxford and Howard Fenn were at London Guildhall; cartoonist Steve Bell was at Leeds.

Added value: Kent Institute of Art and Design runs a four-year European fashion degree whereby students spend a year in a fashion house on the Continent.

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