Our learning environment
Creativity is about thinking as well as making. In fact, we believe making is thinking. That’s one of the reasons we’re proud to be based in Sheffield. With its long tradition of fusing innovative thinking with a tough, practical edge, our city has always been rooted in the industrial crafts and the possibilities of materials. In fact, Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA) has been at the forefront of our city’s recent regeneration. Through our teaching we’ll develop your ability to think creatively.
Changing the way you think
We’ll help you to develop confidence in dealing with uncertainty, and learn how to navigate around the boundaries of a problem. We’ll encourage you to think flexibly and originally; this is valued by employers, because creative solutions provide a competitive edge and can help to mould an organisation for success. Our graduates quickly become agents of change in the workplace and the wider world.
Think and work independently
We nurture an atmosphere which says that anything is possible, so our students quickly become confident and persistent high-achievers. You’ll soon learn to twist and turn; to side-step, jump over and duck under obstructions in order to create a meaningful and workable solution.
Think and work together
As a traditional art school, we also believe in the power of the creative community. That’s why our priority is to provide you with the space and resources you need to collaborate and share ideas in a lively and eclectic atmosphere. There are opportunities to collaborate not only with students in other creative disciplines but even from completely different parts of the university—such as Engineering or Health and Social Care.
Learning with your hands
We focus heavily on practical experience, because there’s nothing like getting hands-on when you want to test out your thinking and explore your ideas. We provide a culture of exploring through making, and offer the resources you need to make things happen:
- traditional techniques, so that you can understand the history of your discipline and fuse the old with the new
- state-of-the-art hardware and software, which replicates what you’d use in the workplace and lets you hit the ground running when you graduate
- access to technologies which will let you venture beyond the traditional confines of your own discipline
the opportunity to learn about exhibiting and curating through Creative Spark, our public exhibition of students’ final-project work.
Learning from industry
Businesses value our creative thinking and recognise the importance of design as a transformational management tool. That’s why they bring us live briefs: real problems from the workplace, needing workable solutions; that means opportunities for you to get involved—which is great news for your CV. Our students also benefit from visiting lecturers and speakers from business and industry.
