World’s Best Design Colleges

University of Southampton

The University of Southampton is a “red-brick” British public university located in the city of Southampton, England. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902 the Institution developed into the Hartley University College, with degrees awarded by the University of London. On 29 April 1952, HM Queen Elizabeth II, granted a Royal Charter to give the University of Southampton full university status. This was the first Royal Charter granted by HM Queen Elizabeth II on her accession to the throne.  

  University of Central Lancashire

The University of Central Lancashire (or UCLan) is a university based in Preston, Lancashire, England, UK.
The university has its roots in The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge which was founded in 1828. In 1992 it was granted University status by the Privy Council. The university is the fifth largest in the UK in terms of student numbers.e.ac.uk/

  Manchester Metropolitan University

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers behind the Open University and its neighbour Manchester University. It is a member of the University Alliance and is classed as a new university.

  Northumbria University

Northumbria University is an academic institution located in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England. It is a member of the University Alliance[4] – which claims to represent the majority voice in British Higher Education, with 22 ‘research engaged and business focussed’ member institutions educating 26% of all UK students.
In terms of student numbers the University is the 5th biggest in the UK [5] and the largest in the North East. It also includes the North East’s largest community of taught postgraduate students, ranking in the top 10 biggest providers of taught Postgraduate degrees in the UK.

  Heriot-Watt University

Heriot-Watt University is a university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name commemorates George Heriot, the 16th century financier to King James, and James Watt, the great 18th century inventor and engineer.
Originating as the School of Arts of Edinburgh in 1821, Heriot-Watt is the eighth-oldest higher education institution in the United Kingdom.[2] Women were welcomed as early as 1869, 20 years ahead of other institutions.[citation needed] It received its university charter in 1966.

  Coventry School of Art and Design

Coventry University is a post-1992 university in Coventry, West Midlands, England. Under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992, the institution’s name was changed from Coventry Polytechnic to Coventry University. However, its roots can be traced back to 1843 with the Coventry College of Design.

  University of Sunderland

The University of Sunderland is located in Sunderland, North East England. The University has more than 17,500 students, including 7,000-plus international students from some 70 countries.
The University was named the ‘Best English University for student experience’ by the Times Higher Education Supplement in December 2005.

  University of Westminster

The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom.
Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it is one of Britain’s first educational institutions and the first polytechnic institution to open in the UK.
The University currently serves more than 20,000 students from 150 countries and offers more than five hundred course offerings and a broad range of research study options. These range from more than 150 Bachelor’s degree combinations, and one-year intensively taught Master’s degrees. MPhil and PhD degrees are also available in every academic department.

 University College for the Creative Arts

It is a large art and design institution, by UK standards, with around 7,000 students, and offers courses in a very wide range of art, design, fashion and architecture subjects. These are at further education, degree and doctorate level.

 Central Saint Martins College of Arts & Design 

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (often abbreviated as Central Saint Martins or CSM) is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. The school has an international reputation for being one of the world’s leading design institutions, and is particularly renowned for its degrees in Fine Art and fashion design.

 Chelsea College of Art & Design 

Chelsea College of Art and Design, the erstwhile Chelsea School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, and is a leading British art and design institution. It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, spatial design and textile design up to PhD level.

 University of the Arts London 

The University of the Arts London, formerly known as the London Institute, is a collegiate university comprising six internationally recognised art, design, fashion and media colleges in London, England, UK.[2] The constituent colleges are Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art. The University is Europe’s largest provider of education in art, design, fashion, communication and the performing arts.

 Nottingham Trent University

Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as Trent Polytechnic (later Nottingham Polytechnic) in 1970 before gaining university status in 1992. Its roots can be traced to around 1945 (however some of its origins can be loosely associated with the founding of University College Nottingham, now the University of Nottingham). It is one of the largest universities in the United Kingdom, serving more than 24,000 students.

 University of Leeds

The University of Leeds (informally Leeds University, or simply Leeds) is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Originally named The Yorkshire College, a successor to the Leeds School of Medicine, it became part of the Victoria University alongside Owens College (which eventually became the University of Manchester) and University College Liverpool (which became the University of Liverpool).[5] In 1904, a royal charter was granted to the University of Leeds by King Edward VII.

  Southampton Solent University

Southampton Solent University is a university of 17,000 students based in Southampton, United Kingdom. Its main campus is located on East Park Terrace near the city centre. It is a centre of applied research in design and advanced technology, maritime, fine art, history of collecting, film, media and cultural studies, political and international studies, law and a broad range of business disciplines. The university strives to work with local business and professional bodies (for example the British Computer Society and the PTC) to keep the qualifications it provides relevant and immediately useful upon graduation.

  West London College

West London College (WLC) is an independent college of further and higher education, located in the Mayfair district of Central London and has a student body of 1,500 full time and 500 part time students. The college specializes in the tuition of degree programmes awarded by British universities. It is part of the British Study Centres Group of Colleges.

  Birmingham Institute of Art & Design

The Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (officially abbreviated as BIAD) is the largest British university art and design teaching and research centre outside London. It is a faculty of Birmingham City University and the largest, most successful department of the university.

  Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

Ravensbourne (formerly Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication) is a specialist higher education sector college founded in 1962 and based in the United Kingdom, on Greenwich Peninsula, an urban entertainment district in the London Borough of Greenwich. It specialises in design and broadcasting, and with a strong creative tradition in both, has a reputation as one of the country’s best digital design colleges.The College is also very highly regarded for its fashion courses and won River Island Gold Award during Graduate Fashion week 2008.

  Swansea Metropolitan University

The University was formed as Swansea Institute of Higher Education (“SIHE”) in 1992, when it achieved its status as an independent Higher Education Corporation. It had previously been known as the West Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, which itself had been formed in September 1976 from the amalgamation of three colleges, the origins of which date back to the mid-19th century. Its predecessors were Swansea College of Art, Swansea College of Education (a teacher training college), and Swansea College of Technology.ve.ac.uk/

  Royal College of Arts

The Royal College of Art (RCA) is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). The University is located in South Kensington and Battersea in London, United Kingdom

The College has an international reputation for its teaching in the fields of architecture, automotive design, photography, industrial design, communication design, interaction design, fashion, ceramics and silversmithing. An M.A. in design history is offered in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, while an M.A. in Innovation Design Engineering is offered jointly with Imperial College London.

  The Glasgow School of Art, Scotland

Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is one of only two independent art schools in Scotland, situated in the Garnethill area of Glasgow.Departments include Fine Art photography, founded by Thomas Joshua Cooper in 1982, Painting and Printmaking,Sculpture and Environmental Art, Product Design, Product Design Engineering, Textiles, Silversmithing and Jewellery, Interior Design, Visual Communication and architecture. The School of Architecture is named after GSA’s most famous alumnus Charles Rennie Mackintosh and highly rated by the architecture profession.

  De Montfort University, Leicester

De Montfort University is a university situated in the centre of Leicester, England. It currently receives more funding for its research than any other post-1992 university,[3] and has the second highest number of National Teacher Fellows of all UK universities.[4] It is composed of two campuses; Leicester City and the outlying Charles Frears. The former has seen recent developments, such as the new £35 million Hugh Aston Building; constructed to bring students from the Faculty of Business and Law closer to the centre of the university’s infrastructure.

 London College of Fashion

London College of Fashion (LCF) is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, offering undergraduate, postgraduate, short courses and business-training in fashion, make-up, beauty-therapy and lifestyle industries. It is the only college in Britain to specialise in fashion education, research and consultancy.

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The University of Brighton is an English university with a community of 21,000 students and 2,600 staff based on campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. It has one of the best teaching quality ratings in the UK and a strong research record, factors which contribute to its reputation as a leading post-1992 university.[4] Its roots can be traced back to 1859 when the School of Art was opened in the Brighton Royal Pavilion. The university’s focus is on professional education, with the majority of degrees awarded also leading to professional qualifications.

Richmond University, London

Richmond is a town in southwest London, England and is part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) west-southwest of Charing Cross. The formation and naming of the town are due to the building of Richmond Palace early in the 16th century. The development of Richmond as a London suburb began with the opening of the railway station in 1846. It was formerly part of the ancient parish of Kingston upon Thames in the county of Surrey and it became a municipal borough in 1890 that was enlarged in 1892 and 1933. It has formed part of Greater London since 1965.

  Sheffield Hallam University 

Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a Higher Education institution in South Yorkshire, England, based on two sites in Sheffield. City Campus is located in the city centre, close to Sheffield railway station, and Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away, adjacent to Ecclesall Road in south-west Sheffield.

  University of Wolverhampton

The University of Wolverhampton is a British university located on four campuses across the West Midlands and Shropshire. The city campus is located in Wolverhampton city centre with a second campus at Compton Park, Wolverhampton; a third in Walsall and a fourth in Telford. There is a fifth campus at Burton; where many of the Nursing Students reside.

  University of Manchester 

The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a “red brick” university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group. The university was formed in 2004 by the dissolution of the Victoria University of Manchester (which was commonly known as the University of Manchester) and UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) and the immediate formation of a single institution inaugurated on 1 October. The University of Manchester and the constituent former institutions combined have 25 Nobel Laureates among their past and present students and staff, the fourth-highest number of any university in the United Kingdom (after Oxford, Cambridge and London).

  University of East London 

The University of East London (UEL) is a university located in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, based at two campuses in Stratford and Docklands areas. The university has more than 26,000 students from 110 countries worldwide.[3] It is the 3rd largest university in London in terms of student numbers and the 18th largest in the United Kingdom.

 University of Huddersfield 

The University of Huddersfield is a university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It currently has over 23,000 students.

The University traces its roots back to a Science and Mechanic Institute founded in 1825[3]. Some nineteenth-century students earned qualifications as external students of the University of London.