If you are looking for a competitive edge in the highly competitive art and design industry or simply want to hone your skills as an artist or designer, a graduate program in art and design is something you should consider. In a field as large as art and design it is important to discover your niche and what you can uniquely offer the art world. As an international student, you will bring cultural experiences and heritage to any graduate course in Art and Design you enter into, which can only stand to enrich your art and design career.

Art and design is incredibly diverse. Broad subject definitions include Design, Fine Art and History, and Theory of Art and Design. Design-based graduate programs are offered in a huge range of disciplines from craft based areas such as Furniture Design, Ceramics, Textile Design, and Silversmithing and Jewellery, through Fashion, Graphic Design, Product and Automotive Design, to areas such as design for Multi Media and the electronic environment, including digital graphics and animation. Fine Art provides graduate courses ranging from those in traditional disciplines such as Painting, Sculpture and Printing, through programs concerned with Performance and Installation, and those which relate to lens-based and electronic media.

Graduate courses in the History and Theory of Art and Design range from those dealing with Art History, through courses in Curatorship, Conservation and Museum Studies, and those which combine the study of theory with other practical subjects such as painting, or with study of other disciplines such as philosophy, sociology or history. Most programs contain vocational elements, which can assist graduates in progressing to appropriate professional destinations, though these elements range in type and delivery from simple business, and professional study elements to specific subject-focused live projects.

A centrally important aspect of Art and Design education is the collective commitment to quality. All graduate programs should be subject to rigorous validation procedures within the institution and these procedures and the courses themselves are subject to inspection by national quality agencies. This process of inspection and the extensive quality processes of the institutions assure high standards in all aspects of course experience.

Graduate courses in art and design lead to a variety of career destinations, most directly related to the course experience, though since the course enhances creative and imaginative thinking, graduates move into many other commercial and professional environments. Huge opportunities exist internationally for artists and designers, either working as an independent professional designer, within design agencies and corporations, within national and international art organisations, museums and galleries, or as a teacher at all levels of education.

Studying a graduate program in art and design is an exciting and valuable enhancement of your skills, creativity, ideas and ultimately, your progression as an artist or designer. Studying art and design overseas can expose you to new cultures, teaching methods, resources, inspiration and challenges which can all be incorporated into your work and development as an artist/designer.

With thanks to:
Chris McIntyre, University of Hertfordshire, U.K.