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University of the Arts London

NATIONAL
RANK

64.3%

FIRSTS
2:1s

87.1%

COMPLETION
RATE

Key Stats

n/a

TEACHING
QUALITY

123rd

STUDENT
EXPERIENCE

35th=

RESEARCH
QUALITY

109th

GRADUATE
PROSPECTS

Contact details

ADDRESS

272 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7EY View on map >

Telephone

020 7514 6197

admissions@arts.ac.uk

Website

www.arts.ac.uk

Open days

contact the colleges

University Profile

Students at the University of the Arts London (UAL) have access to the world’s best higher education building, voted thus in 2012 at the World Architecture Festival. It is quite some claim to fame given the capital spend within higher education globally, but it is testament to the outstanding quality of the £200m redevelopment of a Grade-II listed former granary in King’s Cross that is now the university’s flagship building and home to Central Saint Martins, one of the six colleges that make up this world-renowned university. The building accommodates a new School of Performing Arts as well as the college’s existing art, fashion and design courses. There is a 350-seat public theatre, studios and rehearsal spaces, as well as four levels of workshops, studios and exhibition space, with facilities for students from across the university. UAL is the biggest specialist art and design university in Europe, a federation of six colleges that also cover fashion and media, most of which are world-famous in their own right. Five of the colleges originally came together as the London Institute in 1989, becoming a university 15

years later. Almost 20,000 students are spread through 14 sites around central London. A global reputation attracts more than 6,000 international students and 2,700 from other EU countries. The five colleges became six when Wimbledon College of Arts joined in 2006, bringing an international reputation in theatre design and the UK’s largest school of theatre. The founding members, which continue to use their own names and enjoy considerable autonomy, are Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Fashion and London College of Communication (formerly the London College of Printing). Arts subjects – and institutions – suffered disproportionately from the introduction of £9,000 fees, but UAL saw a strong recovery in the demand for places in 2013, with a five per cent increase in applications and a bigger undergraduate intake. Central Saint Martins is not the only beneficiary of new facilities. A £70m development next door to the Tate Gallery produced prestigious new premises for Chelsea College, with extensive workshop facilities, studios and a new library. Another £32m was spent on new headquarters for the College of Communication at the Elephant and Castle, south of the Thames, where a Special Archives and Collections Centre includes the archives of the film director Stanley Kubrick. The college has Film Academy status. London’s largest open-air art gallery was launched in 2008 on the Parade Ground at the heart of the Chelsea College, and final-year students’ work is also showcased online at a virtual degree show. The university hopes to consolidate the London College of Fashion’s three East London sites, but there are no detailed plans yet. Consistently excellent ratings for teaching quality under the now-defunct system of academic assessment have not been matched by student satisfaction levels, leading to a fall in UAL’s standing in our university league table since the change in our methodology to accommodate the annual National Student Survey. Nevertheless, despite ratings in the NSS that have left UAL at or near the bottom of the table every year, the institution still ranks in mid-table overall thanks to outstanding research, well-qualified graduates and generous spending on student facilities and services. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise saw half of the university’s submission rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. All the colleges make good use of visiting lecturers, who keep students abreast of developments in their field. The university has also been running weekend classes and summer schools in an attempt to broaden the intake. The proportion of undergraduates from working-class homes is now more than 30%, while 95% come from state schools or colleges. Almost three-quarters of the undergraduates are female. The latest figures showed a sharp rise in the dropout rate, but this followed a succession of improvements. At 12%, it is still close to the national average for the university’s courses and entry grades. Students have access to the largest art and design specialist careers centre in the country, in the Student Enterprise and Employability Service, while the pioneering Emerging Artists Programme continues to support graduates in the early years of their careers. The university holds the only recruitment festival tailored to the needs of creative graduates, providing access to hundreds of industry professionals for networking opportunities and advice. The colleges vary considerably in character and facilities, although a single students’ union serves them all. The university’s student hub provides a central place for students to work, socialise and share ideas, as well as being the location for student services such as housing and careers. The university is not overprovided with residential accommodation, although there are 13 residences spread around the colleges, providing more than 2,400 beds. House-hunting workshops help those who have to rely on an expensive private housing market. The university owns no sports facilities, although it has arranged student discounts with a number of providers. Sport is not a high priority here; nurturing some of the best young artistic talent very much is.

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Detailed Statistics

PERFORMANCE