The collection of world-famous art, design, fashion and media colleges that constituted the London Institute became a university in 2005.

With more than 20,000 students spread through 20 sites around central London, it is the largest arts university in Europe. Unlike the other new foundations of that year, it has a research remit and is already becoming a powerful “brand”.

The five component colleges became six when Wimbledon College of Art joined in 2006, bringing an international reputation in theatre design and the UK’s largest school of theatre.

The founding members, which continue to use their own names and enjoy considerable autonomy, were Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London College of Fashion and London College of Communication (formerly the London College of Printing).

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Related Links

• University of the Arts London

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• University of the Arts London official site

Development

Big changes were already under way before the change of title was agreed: a £70-million development programme has produced prestigious new premises for Chelsea College next door to the Tate Gallery, on Millbank, with extensive work-shop facilities, studios and an impressive new library.

Another £32 million was spent on new headquarters for the College of Communication at the Elephant and Castle, south of the Thames, where a newly built Special Archives and Collections Centre will include the archives of the filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. The college now has Film Academy status.

London’s largest open air art gallery was launched in July 2008 on the Parade Ground at the heart of the Chelsea College of Art and Design, funded by a £1.5-million gift from the Rootstein Hopkins Foundation.

Summer 2008 also saw the launch of University’s first virtual degree show, showcasing final-year students’ work online. The next major project will bring Central St Martins together on one site for the first time, when it moves to the new King’s Cross development in 2011.

Assessments

Published assessments have barely done justice to the eminence of the colleges. But the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise saw half of the university’s submission rated as world-leading or internationally excellent – albeit one that involved a relatively low proportion of the academics.

Chelsea and London College of Fashion were jointly awarded a national teaching centre for the arts, focusing on practice-based teaching and learning. All the colleges make good use of visiting lecturers, who keep students abreast of current developments in their field.

But Arts London has had the lowest score in the last three National Student Surveys, the level of satisfaction falling in 2008, when there were rises elsewhere. Art and design students are among the least satisfied nationally, but the university was not among the top 15 for those subjects alone.

The figures have not affected applications, which have risen every year since the university was established. There had been another 6 per cent increase at the official deadline for courses beginning in 2009. A number of two-year Foundation degrees have been introduced, including one in interactive games production and another in fashion styling and photography.

The university has been running weekend classes and summer schools in an attempt to broaden the intake, as well as organising a national event to help students with their portfolios, and the proportion of undergraduates from working-class homes is now over a quarter. The projected dropout rate of 14 per cent is slightly higher than average for the subjects on offer.

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