927 reviews for Arts University Bournemouth

The lectures and speakings talk a lot about the future, and what we can do. I wish there were more suggestions on internships/ small jobs to prepare for the future. For online classes, sometimes the students are a bit too carefree. Maybe social etiquette needs to be worked on.

The entire class is divided into two groups. On Mondays,  we don't have classroom sessions as such but more of experimenting and learning new skills, so we come in and create something. It's more studio time. Tuesdays are the main taught sessions for the week, so everyone's in the entire year group. On Wednesdays, we have Group A for the entire day, and on Thursdays, Group B.   The lectures are on three days, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays are for self-directed study. Our tutors are available on teams throughout the week, and we also have the facility for one-on-one sessions if needed.  The teaching is good, every semester is different, and we get a chance to learn so much more. We also have a day trip every unit, and depending on the course of that unit, we move forward and visit a place. There are a lot of guest talks as well that we get to attend. And we have industry practices starting in Unit 3 of Year 2. and actual real-life clients that we work with throughout the year.  The only thing that I would change would be more tech sessions. We normally only have them once a week, but if we just had more sessions outside our course to learn different types of software, that would be really cool, and getting access to more software outside our course as well, like software that a 3D modelling artist would use or something for editing to help us become more creative and help us open up to other industries as well.

not anything as such

Overall a good course, I mentioned before about communication. Its sometimes hard to tell what I need to hand it as someone tells me one thing and then another tells me another. Some students get passed for lack of work and even though I similar. Just feels not clear sometimes. The course itself is good, the context. The amount of time we get in each thing feels fine tuned and sometimes I do wish I had a bit more but then it kind of pushes me so yeah. Feels good.

The illustration course is very self-driven, you are given lectures and workshops in the first half of the week and expected to finish the work from those in time for the review on Friday. The last part of the unit involves a longer project of 3-4 weeks where your given group or “1 to 1” tutorials leading up to the deadline. The studio is always open to come in and work and ask for feedback from tutors who are in on the day. The workload is quite light but that allows for a lot of creativety outside of class time to work on personal projects. Sometimes the course can feel too “hands-off”, like you aren’t learning anything specific and you’re just going through the motions but it is what you make of it. The briefs are almost always vague to allow for creativity but that can be paralysing in its own way so it depends on how you take it. Overall, if you’re looking for a course that allows a lot of freedom outside of the course and creativity in the course this would be a good place to look into.

The course leader is highly dedicated and knowledgeable , as are all of the teaching staff on the MA team; all are very supportive, approachable and professional. The contact hours are good and the course offers a flexible approach to learning for those with external commitments, providing a range of in-person workshops, lectures and tutorials, but with the option to access tutorials online and recordings of lectures where one is unable to attend. This flexible approach has helped hugely when juggling a job as well as living an hour away from campus.

More teachers to student ratio in my course specifically, I don’t feel I get as much time with teachers as a smaller course would, as there are 130 in each year of just illustration course

Good to have 24 hour security although some workers were more helpful/friendly than others. Worst was the infestation of silverfish and that they didn’t do anything when students were gone to help it

I can only speak for 1st and 2nd year, but the Fine Art course has room for improvement in both years in my experience. First year really pushes painters into being abstract, but there is good support for sculpture and performance practices with good workshops and tutor support. If you don't like abstract painting, maybe look elsewhere for Fine Art courses. Opportunities and placements are really limited if you don't have sufficient financial support. The university is also disappointingly bad at offering financial aid so if you are from a low-income household, you wont get the most out of the course which is disappointing. During both years, myself and my peers have found ourselves wondering where our £9250 goes. You will struggle to find a piece of paper and a pencil in the studios. Pretty much everything you have to pay for, however they do subsidize a lot of materials which makes it somewhat affordable. We still do not get enough supplies though. During first year, most teaching was online with limited lectures. There are more in person lectures and seminars in second year which is positive. Both years struggle to help students integrate though and there's still about 20 students on the course that I've never met. Career prospects are good if you're good at networking, otherwise it can be quite difficult. The facilities are pretty poor, though there are plans to rebuild the North Light studios. Hopefully it will get rid of the drainage issues and foul smell in the sculpture space. I am glad that I decided to study at AUB, however I don't think that the Fine Art course is their strength.

There is no affordable option for accommodation at AUB, this one claims to be yet it was £165 weekly for me and was not in the slightest bit worth it. The location is great but that's about it. They have tight rules on guests coming to stay and will take your key card away if you don't sign someone in. They say this is to keep us safe, yet we still had someone break into our flat during term 2 of first year and steal a load of our belongings. They did nothing about our complaint. The kitchen checks are ridiculous and they tried to charge us a fine for leaving an elastic band on the floor in an otherwise immaculate kitchen. I cant say much for room allocation as they put me next to the bins on first floor and I got woken up at 5am everyday by the bin men. I stayed up until the tenancy ended and had security walk into my room without permission. They told us the incorrect day for last move out so I had to pack up my whole room in a few hours as they didn't email us with the correction. The fuse in our kitchen kept blowing if we used the kettle or microwave, but they stopped coming up to reset it and insisted that it was our fault so throughout July we had no power in the kitchen, all of my food rotted and had to go in the bin but they offered no compensation and still refused to fix it so I had to cook my food at my part time job and live on takeaways. Please go elsewhere if you can. Other accommodations have gyms and aren't silverfish ridden for pretty much the same price. Extremely poor accommodation and its terrible that AUB have not stepped in.

The hours for my course are really great, there's a good balance between class time and learning at home, which gives me enough time to complete my uni work and also go to my part time job on free days. The content of my course is not really what I expected when applying but I think it will still be definitely beneficial for my working future. The lecturers are lovely and super easy to contact when you need help. The community aspect is pushed with group working and socials set up for out of class which I think is great. I also think that the placement opportunities and help with this that's offered is one of the best aspects of this course.

Overall i do like bournemouth as a town. The beach is great and a go to place in the summer. The town has all the facilities you need like shops, buses, train station, near to motorway if you drive etc. I think i would have preffered to go to uni in more of a built up city but thats personal preference. Its not too expensive here but obviously cost of living is going up everywhere. My student house is in a really great location with amenities and the uni both in walking distance. I found it quite difficult to find a job in first year but ive got one now and its steady and enjoyable.

I stayed in a private halls near to Bournemouth town centre. They were great! The location was perfect as there was a regular uni route bus directly outside, but I was next to the train station and a huge food shop. Probably the best location available. The facilities and staff were amazing. Communal spaces and a gym, as well as really modern, clean and good quality rooms. For what the halls were, they were good value, especially comparing to some of the others offered, however, I think all of the student accoms are overpriced.

Some of the modules have been far too restrictive and could be catered better towards the individual. But overall the final year has been an amazing opportunity to figure out what work I want to be creating.