Best universities for Illustration and good support?

[ArtyFartyQueen]

Hi there,

DS who is autistic is looking to apply for university for next year. Currently doing a creative arts course at college and has decided he wants to focus/study illustration.

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience of unis with good illustration courses but also with good support for ASD and mental health? Bonus if it’s very LGBT+ friendly too!

Thanks in advance!

My experience with art schools is that they are quite accepting of all people.
Is he considering a foundation year? Many kids do that do get their portfolio up to standard, but it's not essential.
You will really have to go uni by uni to answer your quite niche question. Make a short list of universities and do your research on each. There's is no substitute for visiting either - what they put out on their websites may not reflect what they are like at all.

@ArtyFartyQueen DS's partner is looking at illustration too with similar needs. Solent Uni is known for good pastoral and SEN support and has excellent art facilities. It's in the centre of Southampton so more of a city uni.

Norwich is another on their list and they recently visited for an open day and loved it. That's a campus Uni.

Have a look at University of Creative Arts. I went to an open day there at their Farnham campus and they looked like they may be good with support for ASD. They were focussed on teaching in small class sizes which I thought very positive.

I don't know where you're based OP. But Duncan of Jordansone in Dundee is one of the highest rated. Great pastoral support & a thriving LGB scene.

Norwich University of the Arts does Illustration. I have had a few ex students go there and they are very happy.

My DD is starting at Anglia Ruskin in September for illustration. It all looks good on paper and it has a great reputation, small class sizes. Its selling point is that it's focused on traditional drawing classes etc, which might or might not appeal to your DS. It also offer a sandwich course with a placement, which is unusual.

My DD didn't want London or other big cities, and her shortlist ended up being ARU, NUA, Sunderland, Derby, and Lincoln. Falmouth is also great for illustration, but Cambridge is already far enough from where we live! Happy to pass along any of our researches if that would be useful.

Thanks so much everyone for sharing your thoughts/experience - really helpful!

@HouseOfGoldandBones unfortunately Dundee is a bit too far from us, we're in the South East! It's a shame as we have heard great things about the uni's further north but I think Sheffield/Lincoln etc is a good distance for us

Thanks @Piggywaspushed Norwich is on our list and hoping to go to an open day after the summer holidays so good to know you rate it!

Anglia Ruskin wasn't even one we had considered so thanks @PhotoDad for highlighting it. Would be great to hear more of the ones you have considered - currently creating a spreadsheet to help us with our research.

Any others people can suggest, please do!

Sorry @easyday I'd missed you out - DS is currently doing a 2 year art course at college and had considered foundation but as he's already clear on what he wants to do, he wants to delve straight in!

Leeds Arts University?

Small and supportive environment in a very diverse and inclusive city

DeMontfort do Illustration and they usually run a summer school for autistic students before they start. They have autistic students who mentor other students when they start and they have a lot of academic support.

@ArtyFartyQueen the others she considered were De Montfort and Solent. We also did a spreadsheet and visited a few places. Her top two choices were Derby and ARU (the art-school there is also known as "Cambridge School of Art"), mainly because they are so small and friendly; her art teacher warned her off the super-big classes as you get very little contact with the lecturers. In the end it was the facilities which won her over to ARU, it's in a lovely Edwardian building with lots of art and craft stuff around including printmaking (which really appealed to her), plus Cambridge is a beautiful city and ARU/CSA students always do incredibly well in most of the annual illustration awards from publishers. They have a big emphasis on employment; students work on "live briefs" (real commissions) right from the first year, and they learn about the business of being a freelancer (e.g. invoicing, tax) which is a bit unusual. She's just hoping that it's actually that good when she starts!

If you're doing a spreadsheet like us, you'll want to look at discoveruni.gov.uk which has all the official data about satisfaction, employment, etc. Good luck!

Bristol

I'm not sire that NUA describes itself as a campus university - its buildings are dotted around the city centre.

UEA is a campus university, but afaik doesn't offer 'practical' art-related courses?

Hi - we are similar, thought I'd written the post and forgotten!

Looked at Norwich - loved it
Brighton - going to see in autumn
Anglia Ruskin - going to see in autumn
Arts uni Bournemouth - going to see in autumn
Nottingham - liked it, felt too businessy

We also considered uwe untill all the feedback was it was the most affected by drugs/had a reputation for drugs even amongst students who were into that

One other thing that might be relevant to your DS (or not!) is that some of those are standalone art schools, not attached to a bigger university. This has an impact on the range of societies/sports that they offer.

University of Worcester have a course and an excellent asd provision. Lovely city, small Uni. Have won top 3 for quality education past 2 years.

My daughter went to Falmouth a few years ago. Their illustration degree course is excellent. Lots if their students seem to go on to have successful careers.

I have no idea about the support they provide though. It's a lovely part of the country and obviously doesn't have the same big city challenges. A bit cut off maybe?

@OneFrenchEgg is that Norwich arts school or university of east Anglia?

Hi - Norwich university of the arts. Absolutely loved it, just very far away.

And now, a massive spanner, in that they are having a career panic and thinking they want to teach primary. Random. And stressful as we have Anglia Ruskin, Bournemouth and Brighton coming on.

I don't know what to do.

@OneFrenchEgg thank you,

Well, the good news is that ARU offers BA Primary Ed at its three main campuses, so you and she could at least kill two birds with one stone in Cambridge...?

aru.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/primary-education-studies?utm_campaign=nn-2022-ug-clearing-campaign&utm_source=google&utm_medium=dsa-rsa&utm_content=clearing-subjects&utm_term=&campaign_id=18028854653&gclid=Cj0KCQjwguGYBhDRARIsAHgRm48drZ0Gjf1_lUutV4jCsXvVRsQPuA52PZBWcVb0imk8I9Y2kA2bSGsaApWjEALw_wcB#course_introduction

Ohhhhh amazing! Thank you. That sounds like a plan.

Also Brighton, but different campus and open days?

www.brighton.ac.uk/courses/study/primary-education-5-11-years-ba-hons-with-qts.aspx

www.brighton.ac.uk/studying-here/visit-us/open-days/ug-campus-open-days/index.aspx

Thank you - am dreading Brighton just for the crowds etc so really one day ideally.

Arts University Bournemouth is a great uni for looking after it's students and it's illustration dept is very good.