So I just got back from Art University College Bournemouth. It’s the second open day I’ve attended (the first being Nottingham Trent) and I liked it a lot. It’s my top choice, but they are quite a small university (3,500 students) so they don’t take on many students. Anywho, I thought I’d do a little review on my day.
We arrived in Bournemouth at 9am ish, it’s only about an hour away, so it’s far away enough but not too far if anything goes wrong (opposed to Nottingham which is a good 5 hours away). They did a park and ride from the town center as there aren’t many parking spaces on the campus. We had a tour guide pointing out hotspots in the town which was nice as I haven’t really visited before.
Hospitality was good, they offered free tea and coffee all day to open day goers, as well as Churro’s, a donut like snack that was pretty nice.
We had a campus tour, which lasted about 30 minutes, as the campus is fairly small. I quite liked the size, it’s a really nice friendly atmosphere, and for someone who isn’t a fan of busy, hectic places, I quite preferred the surrounding offered.
The accommodation offered on site is very little, with priority going to disabled and overseas students. I was a bit worried about this, as I didn’t really want to rent a house until my second year, however after talking to a student ambassador I was very happy with the way they run the accommodation. The university is very supportive and have several landlords who affiliate with them, to rent out places to students. They also have a website set up, where you can select the kind of accommodation you want to live in. They then compare each students preferences, and send each student a list of emails of other students who chose similar options, so they can then talk through social networking ie facebook, to find people they like to share houses with. In addition to this, they also hold ‘Accommodation Days’ where prospective students can go and take place in ice breakers and other activities, in order to find others to live with.
The department I looked at was Textiles design, a fairly new course at the University. I was really impressed by the course content, as they do a lot of print and stitching, something I’m really interesting, as well as looking at knit, something I haven’t really had a chance to explore much of yet. They have brilliant contacts with Textile businesses, and they seem really supportive with their students and getting them into work experiences, making their own contacts and building the starting points for their careers. The course teachers seemed really friendly and enthusiastic, and a lot of them work part time, running their own businesses alongside, something I find really good, as they then have experience of the industry, and they know the skills you need to get going in the Textiles industry. Overall I was really happy with the course, and would love to get a place here.
We attended a talk on Student Services and The Application Process, where they talked about fees, support for students, and applying. Minimum requirements for this course are 5 GCSE’s including Maths and English, and 260-280 UCAS points. They recommend foundation courses in Art and Design, but as I’m studying 3 Art A Levels and I have a BTEC in Art and Design, I feel I have enough practical work and experience behind me to jump right into a degree. That and the fact that I am positive I want to pursue Textiles, makes me want to get started straight away.
AUCB seems like a wonderful place to study, they had a beautiful campus, in the lovely location of the Seaside town, complete with beaches and pier, it’s close to home, has a brilliant Accommodation scheme and fantastic resources and courses.
I’ll keep you updated with my University process, and I’ll be writing reviews on both Nottingham and Falmouth, who’s open days I have/will also attend.
Dress: H&M Garden Collection
Lanyard: AUCB
Bye :)