UK Art and Design Portfolios

Art and design education in the UK is recognised throughout the world as being of an exceptional standard. This high quality has lead to the UK becoming a world center for all sectors of art including - notably - fashion design and the design of computer games. London has become the leading center fashion with many of the leading fashion houses employing British designers. John Galiano, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney are three famous examples heading up the design teams of major European brand names. In the field of computer games Liverpool and Abertay have become leading world centers with Sony and other major organisations developing their products in these areas. The standard is just as high in the other areas of art and design taught in the UK. Architecture, graphic design, interior design, jewelry design, fine art, sculpture and just about every other area of art and design can be studied at all levels up to Ph.D at British institutions.

There are many art and design departments at universities and also specialist art and design colleges such as Kent Institute of Art and Design. Qualifications are recognised worldwide and standards are guaranteed by the same rigid Quality Assurance Assessments that the rest of the British education system is subjected to.

Applications for art and design courses are the same as other courses with one exception, a portfolio is required at all levels to show that the student has artistic ability. A portfolio is a selection of the students art-work. Usually the portfolio will cover several different aspects of art and design. For example the student may prepare pencil sketches, watercolors, photography and sculpture as examples to show that they have real artistic flair. Usually several examples of each area are reproduced in the portfolio.

Portfolios are needed to enter courses at all levels of art and design education from foundation study to PhD. They are usually sent to the UK in photograph form - either print or slide. Slides are sometimes preferred by the academics judging the portfolios as it allows them to project the works onto a screen and judge them more accurately. Examples of successful portfolios can be viewed at your local UKEAS office.

For those students without a portfolio wishing to embark upon a career in art and design courses can be taken which allow students to gain the necessary skills and develop a portfolio so that they can apply for admission onto an award giving course.