684 University for the Creative Arts reviews

The course itself is well-organised with a defined timetable schedule for the first year. This is a total opposite of the general arrangement at the uni, as firstly the APEL application took so long and it caused my visa application to be delayed, not saying other general enquiries throughout the studies.

It’s so convenient and just 4-5mins away from the fashion design studio! I absolutely love the location.

I was disappointed with this course. The first year was difficult because of Covid, so we had a lot of online sessions, but the level of actual tuition throughout the course remained poor. For example, we had 2 life drawing sessions in three years! The digital tuition was almost non-existent, I was expecting at least a session a week - digital skills are important now. I learned more from Youtube. There was a lack of materials and resources. The facilities are excellent, e.g. ceramics room, print room, but they do not actually form part of the course! You have to book your own sessions. Demos like screen printing were not done by someone who knows how to screen print!

The inherent inequality between the international foundations students and home foundations students at this university is unacceptable. Although both labelled as "integrated" foundations, the home students received lectures, projects, and workshops that were tailored to degree specific topics with their own designated classrooms, studios, and workspaces. All of the international students were dumped in a single classroom with hardly any resources or workspace. They had to struggle week to week to find rooms available for lectures and fight to arrange tutorials and inductions for studios. Students who were non-degree seeking were lumped together with students who had been promised a specialized foundations course for their specialism as well as students who had already completed a bachelors degree and were prepping to enter a master's program. The students were given minimal instruction in four specific specialisms with shallow content and completely ignored all others. As an international graphic design student, not once was I taught anything even remotely close to the basics of typography, layout, publication, printing, elements of design, branding, visual communications, 3D modelling, motion graphics, photography, client relations, etc. Anything I learned or accomplished this year in relation to my specialism was sought out and arranged completely on my own, while similar things were readily available to home students and part of their standard lessons. Our only meaningful lectures were part of our contextual studies class and these lecture were often given in a classroom intended for the home graphic design foundations students. All year I got to see the kind of work I should have had the opportunity to do or create instead of wasting my time in this useless international course. For students who pay over double what the home students are required to pay, we should receive at least equal education opportunities, if not double! On top of all these issues, we were mislead to believe that the school would listen to our thoughts regarding this course. We were asked to appoint course representatives who would go to course meetings and provide feedback from the students in order to improve the course and tailor it to the students who were paying thousands of pounds to be there. When the students shared their opinions of how poorly the course was going and their frustrations about being promised specialized education, the program director got defensive and angry instead of listening and being open minded. They argued with the students and gaslight them, telling them that the course was fantastic and well organized. They also never properly reported any of the students complaints or issues with the course to the school board. I don't recommend this program at all. If you are an international student, stay away.

The rooms are tiny, mouldy, and run down. Everything in the flat is constantly falling apart and the accomms office is always trying to charge the students for it. No issues are documented properly and they don't inform the students when people are coming into the flats. There is no storage anywhere in the flat or in the rooms. They put locks on the lifts and you have to register with the accomms office to be allowed to use them and you are required to prove a disability for it.

Lectures are incredible Work experience not so much

My course is handled extremely well, my lecturers utilise both face to face and virtual teaching in order to ensure maximum effectiveness of learning.

Professors try to teach us as much as they can. But I don't think each of the subjects are not good quality

It was really dirty.

We didn’t really have any contact time with tutors even after the pandemic. They were hard to contact for help and even when they did reply it was rude and unhelpful. We wasn’t given any opportunities to help us after we leave. The degree was pretty self taught.

Best - learn lots of little bits of the industry so we hopefully have a good breadth of knowledge Worst - communication

You have lots of takeaways but not much that’ll take you away from the hustle and bustle of the town

Most - wifi worked really well and problems were quickly fixed Worst - couldn't recycle easily

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Actually, in the course there is a lot of interaction and exchange of ideas between the students

No i love the place in Canterbury

Safety