Ravensbourne

Most university students swot up for their exams by poring over old textbooks in the library. At Ravensbourne things are a bit different.

Students on the art and design courses there learn by designing packaging for sandwiches at Marks & Spencer, or using a 3D printer to make real-life fashion accessories.

Some lucky students even got the chance to film the London 2012 Olympics. One (very famous) Ravensbourne graduate came up with the design for the athletes’ uniform at the Games, and another actually designed the Olympic torch.

So what’s Ravensbourne all about?

Ravensbourne is a digital media and design college where you learn by doing. Students get stuck in to projects with big names such as Google, BBC, Mozilla (the guys behind Firefox), The Tate Modern and Channel4 – this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The college is based right in the middle of London. Their campus has a really cool open-plan layout, where there’s a real buzz from all the creative projects on the go. Everyone’s encouraged to work together. So you can bounce your ideas off students from many different art and design courses, and share your creative know-how.

Jump on this virtual tour to see what it’s actually like there. Ravensbourne was named one of the UK’s most beautiful campus buildings this year – plus, it’s the 13th best place in Europe to study art and design courses. Not bad! 

Ravensbourne gains Silver award in Teaching Excellence Framework

The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) has awarded Ravensbourne with Silver for its excellent quality of teaching. The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) has been introduced by the government to monitor and assess the quality of teaching in England’s universities/higher education institutions. It is designed to give students clear information about where teaching quality is at its best and where students have also achieved the best outcomes.

Ravensbourne was commended for its commitment to recruiting students from a diverse range of backgrounds, for its practice-based approach to learning through activities such as industry projects, and for its excellent digital resources. These, together with extensive industry partnerships have resulted in 95.3% of our students being employed or going on to further study within 6 months of graduation - a figure higher than the national average.

How will they help my career?

Well, where do we start…?

Ravensbourne aren’t just about giving you an awesome experience while you’re in uni. They’re thinking about your future, too, by getting you ready to work in digital media and design – basically the jobs of the future!

Get work experience challenges from employers

By working with employers at the cutting edge, you’ll get all the specialist skills and experience you need for a career in digital media and design. Students recently worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company to stream Shakespeare live to schools around the world, while others worked to design new product packaging for Marks and Spencer.

The Marks and Spencer project was part of a “live brief” – a competition which challenges art and design students to pitch their ideas against others to win a brief set by a company. In 2015, digital advertising and design student Melissa won an award for tackling a brief from sci-fi TV channel “Syfy”, which asked participants to “Get the sci-fi audience to love the Syfy brand”.

A live brief is an awesome way to put your new skills into action by working on a real-life project – an exhilarating experience which looks great on your CV!

Get top careers advice and connect with employers

The college has an employment team which is there to give you loads of careers advice. You’ll have one-to-one meetings and workshops to make sure you’re fully prepared for working in the digital media and design industry. They’re there for you after you graduate too – helping you hone your CV, providing interview practice and offering help as you progress through your career.

Here’s a tip: Check out Ravensbourne Insights, a website which offers students and graduates a head start in the world of work. It also shows you where your subject could take you, and is the gateway to Ravensbourne’s job site, which hooks you up to real jobs and lets you showcase your portfolio to employers on your very own profile!

Start building your freelance portfolio

Working with so many big names, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to apply for placements, internships, freelance work and then permanent jobs in digital media, art and design. In fact, many people choose to build up their own freelance portfolio while they study – like the students who set up Rich Tea Films in their second year and went on to work with The O2 Arena, Graduate Fashion Week and car company MG!

And if you like a snappy stat, Ravensbourne has an impressive graduate employment rate of 95.3%.

Learn more on Ravensbourne’s website

There are a wide range of different art and design courses you can do at Ravensbourne. We’ll talk you through the grades you need in order to apply.

Entry requirements vary by course, but applicants are usually expected to have 64 UCAS points. Students should have five GCSEs (grade C or above) or equivalent (including English and maths) and also at least one of the following or equivalent UK or international qualifications:

• 2 A levels, grade C or above
• 4 AS levels, grade C or above
• 2 vocational A level, grade C or above
• Level 3 Foundation Diploma or National Diploma
• Advanced Diploma, grade C or above
• International Baccalaureate, 28 points or above

So what can you study at Ravensbourne? They offer everything from graphic design and coding to film production and digital photography. Here’s a full list of the digital media, art and design courses:

Undergraduate

School of Design

Department of Architecture

• BA (Hons) Architecture
• BA (Hons) Interior Design and Environment Architectures
• BA (Hons) Urban Landscape Architecture

Department of Design Practice

• BA (Hons) Design Products
• BA (Hons) Digital Advertising and Design
• BA (Hons) Design and Coding
• BA (Hons) Graphic Design
• BA (Hons) Illustration for Communication (accepting applicants from 2018
• BA (Hons) Motion Graphics 
• BA (Hons) User-Experience and User-Interface (UX/UI) Design (accepting applicants from 2018

Department of Fashion

• BA (Hons) Fashion
• BA (Hons) Fashion Accessory Design and Prototyping
• BA (Hons) Fashion Buying and Brand Management
• BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion

School of Media

Department of Content

• BA (Hons) Animation
• BA (Hons) Digital Photography
• BA (Hons) Games Design (accepting applicants from 2018)
• BA (Hons) Music for Media (last year for intake: 2017)
• BA (Hons) Sound Design (last year for intake: 2017)
• BA (Hons) Music and Sound Production (accepting applicants from 2018)

Department of Production

• BA (Hons) Digital Film Production
• BA (Hons) Digital Television Production
• BA (Hons) Editing and Post Production
• BSc (Hons) Broadcast Audio Technology
• BSc (Hons) Broadcast Computing
• BSc (Hons) Broadcast Systems Technology
• BSc (Hons) Outside Broadcast Technology

Postgraduate

• MA Environment Design
• MA Fashion
• MA Wearable Futures
• MA Communication Design
• MA Moving Image
• MA Visual Effects
• MA Interactive Product Futures
• MA Architecture
• MA/MSc Interactive Digital Media
• MSc Applied Technologies: Rapid Prototyping and Digital Technologies
• MDes Design Management and Innovation
• MDes Luxury Brand Management Innovation
• MDes Service Design Innovation
• MDes Social Innovation 

Further Education

• Pre-Foundation
• Foundation Studies
• Access to HE Diploma (Creative and Digital Media)

Foundation and access diplomas

Students applying for the pre-Foundation diploma will have:

• 5 GCSEs at grade C or above, including English and maths

Students applying for the Foundation Diplomas will have:

• A-level at grade C or above in a relevant subject area
• 4 GCSEs at grade C or above, including English and maths
• International qualifications equivalent to those above

Students applying for the access to higher education diploma will be assessed on an individual basis. No formal qualifications are required.

Undergraduate courses

For the undergraduate course at Ravensbourne, you will have at least one of the following (or equivalent) UK or international qualifications:

• 2 A-levels, grade C or above
• Level 3 Foundation Diploma or Level 3 Extended Diploma
• International Baccalaureate, 28 points or above

Students should also have:

• 5 GCSEs (or equivalent) at grade C or above, including English and maths

Postgraduate

If you’re applying for a postgraduate course, you should have either:

• A degree in a related discipline at 2:1 or above
• Or an equivalent recognised international qualification in a related discipline

Ravensbourne will also consider applicants who don’t have any standard qualifications, based on their experience.

Tell me about fees

Ravensbourne’s tuition fees are £9,000 in 2016-17, which is the standard amount for undergraduate degrees. As for all universities, there will be a slight increase in the 2017-18 academic year.

Don’t forget, if you’re a first-time university student, the chances are you’ll be entitled to a student loan to help with your tuition fees and living expenses.

There is also information about scholarships and bursaries on the Ravensbourne website.

Learn more on Ravensbourne’s website

Ravensbourne’s digital media, art and design facilities are where things get really interesting. Inside that beautiful campus building, they’ve got an amazing collection of top-rate equipment and kit, so you’re learning with cutting-edge gear.

So you could find yourself in the 3D prototyping suite, printing out 3D accessories, buildings, shoes – anything you can dream up! The room was even once used to print a 3D model of the London 2012 Olympic village.

What other kit do they have?

Ravensbourne also has a ‘Central Loan Resource’ which has more than 3,200 pieces of kit. You’ll get hands-on with cinematography cameras, lighting, microphones, and virtual reality headsets.

Ravensbourne’s Library Services allow you to access a huge range of information, covering print, online and audio-visual resources. You will find over 20,000 books alongside the collection of e-books and databases to support your learning.

How will the facility help me learn?

All this futuristic equipment lets you develop prototypes relevant to your art and design course, and allows you to learn really practical skills and methods that you can actually use in your career.

And there’s more…

Ravensbourne is also the first UK college to offer a materials library in partnership with Material ConneXion. It’s a collection of materials and technologies that help students on the product design, architecture and fashion courses.

The library holds 500 selected materials and is designed to encourage students to research material selection when creating and developing products for their courses.

Learn more on Ravensbourne’s website

Ravensbourne has more than a few mega famous faces among their alumni. The stars who studied Ravensbourne's art and design courses include musician David Bowie, fashion designer Stella McCartney (it was her who designed the Olympic uniform), artist Dinos Chapman, and Richard Howarth – who’s big on the industrial design team at Apple.

Learn more on Ravensbourne’s website

So where will you be living? London is an exciting and creative city to study in. Ravensbourne works with a range of providers to offer accommodation so students have a great home while they’re studying. Your brand new home could be anything from a studio or flat, to living with a host family.

Ravensbourne also partners with Scape Living to provide brand new stylish accommodation a short walk away from the campus.

Learn more on Ravensbourne’s website