The Best Universities for Art in the UK

This is about the best ranked universities for art in the UK 

Every year the Guardian produces a University Guide for those applying for degree places to start the following year. This

• ranks universities overall 
• provides a ranked listing for every subject - including art
• provides a profile of how a subject is typically taught and what you should look out for

University School of Art, Aberystwyth

General Rankings

Below are links to

• The best UK universities 2021 – league table
• Methodology behind the Guardian University Guide 2021 i.e. how they came up with the tables

Rankings for Art

Below are links to

• The league table for Art - which identifies the overall ranking for the university as well as the ranking for Art
• What the subject is about - a profile of what is taught, who teaches it and how it is taught. Somewhat anecdotal but it's better than nothing and gets you started if you want to find out more

However I got the table below by putting Art into the subject filter and then pressing search - which provides a much more accessible view - complete with active URL links to each of the 230 courses available at the 72 institutions - of which these are the top 8. You need to do what I did to get the active links.

For the record the institutions ranked as follows. There are some low rankings for courses which prospective students should pay attention to in what are otherwise relatively high ranked universities i.e. their place in the overall table is being dragged up by the overall ranking of the university. 

For example: both Edinburgh and the University of the Arts in London rank below 70 for satisfaction with the course - which if I ran those universities I'd find worrying

Places which get universally high satisfaction rankings across the board (i.e. all above 80%) for the subject of art include:

• Trinity St David (That's in south west Wales) - every satisfaction rating is in the 90s
• Aberystwyth (Wales) - I have noticed a lot of graduates from Aberystwyth do well in open exhibitions and art competitions
• Chichester
• De Montfort
• Westminster
• Sunderland
• Liverpool John Moores
• Loughborough
• Robert Gordon
• Bolton
• Kingston
• Salford

It's well worthwhile doing some research and finding out what makes each place different.  

After all, ten years down the line, it's going to be about what you learned and how you have applied yourself since that really matters - and not where you studied.

I can name you any number of successful artists who don't have an art degree from well known universities - but do have an art education at degree level.