Sheffield Creative Industries Institute (SCII) Foundation Year

A laboratory for shaping ideas, building creative confidence and forming foundations.

Develop and apply creative thinking and making skills,
Learn how to initiate, interrogate, communicate and develop ideas
Complete individual and collaborative creative projects
Build creative confidence with guidance and support from expert tutors
Enhance your employability skills by learning in a dynamic and collaborative studio atmosphere.

The SCII Foundation Year enables you to develop the practical, organisational and creative thinking skills required for entry onto a range of degree courses within the Sheffield Creative Industries Institute. You will join a dynamic community of students and staff with access to technical facilities, expertise and teaching excellence. By successfully completing the SCII Foundation Year you gain direct entry onto the degree you have chosen to study without having to re-apply.

Teaching and learning

Summary of the SCII Foundation Year

Prepare for your chosen degree in the Creative Industries with an extra cross-disciplinary foundation year.

Module 1 (100% Coursework) introduces broad foundational skills and understanding in developing creative work. You learn through experimenting with, and exploring a wide range of materials, methods and processes.

Module 2 (100% Coursework) provides time and space to apply what you have learnt with a longer project-based approach to learning. There is more of a disciplinary focus with a choice of briefs from each degree route.

Throughout you have the freedom to build on your strengths, use imagination and interpret tasks in your own way. Workshops encourage creative risk-taking, exploration and experimentation. You will become familiar with being a student and learn how to navigate the different facilities and services on offer to you. After successfully completing your foundation, you’ll have the skills and knowledge you need for full honours degree study, and progress directly onto your chosen course.

How you learn

You learn in an immersive studio environment alongside other Foundation Year students from across the Creative Industries Institute. Practical workshops encourage experimentation through a range of materials methods and processes enabling you to grow your knowledge and apply what you’ve learnt in new ways. A collaborative environment enables you to make connections between different creative disciplines and discover what interests you most. Tutors provide support, feedback and encouragement on a regular basis to help you build confidence in new approaches, develop skills and broaden knowledge. Personal learning is extended when you develop work and practice skills independently in your own time.

You learn through:

Practical workshops
Technical inductions
Short focussed creative tasks
Longer creative projects
Short written pieces
Technical Inductions
Lectures and seminars
Self-directed study
Self-directed practice
Presentations
Field trips
Regular formative feedback
Group and individual tutorials
Guided critical reflection

Your assessment is 100% coursework and includes all the work you do on the Foundation Year. Typically, you will produce a portfolio of work by the end of the year which showcases your learning and creative outputs. This includes digital documentation of your work, creative journals and sketchbooks. You receive formative feedback throughout the year enabling you to build on your strengths and develop other areas of core creative practice. Staff get to know you and provide personalised feedback on a continuous basis, you also have two summative assessments at the end of each semester.

Knowledge Applied

The Foundation Year teaches core creative thinking skills and methods, project management and independent study strategies enabling a smooth transition onto the degree of choice. Students apply their learning through project briefs, in-studio workshops and through self-directed study time. Practical skills, creativity, imagination and exploration are developed through making, research and critical reflection. The Foundation Year has strong links with all the degree routes within the institute where students benefit from work placements, live projects and competitions. Foundation Year students are agile, adaptable and collaborative, applying their cross-disciplinary foundational awareness to their chosen degree route.

See below to see which courses the SCII Foundation Year leads onto:

Preparing for work

Once you have completed the Foundation Year you will be more flexible, adaptable and independent. These qualities allow you to make the most of discipline focussed learning within the degree course. Our Foundation Year students move onto the degree with cross disciplinary experience, increased confidence and a familiarity of being in Higher Education. Foundation Students often go onto become some of our most successful graduates. Please see the separate degree routes for specific careers and where our graduates have gone on to work.

Equipment and Facilities

On the SCII Foundation Year you will have access to:

Digital communication software
Digital manufacturing methods such as laser cutting and 3D printing
Traditional manufacturing methods, such as ceramics, screen printing, sewing and metalwork.
Image manipulation software
Desktop publishing software
Photographic equipment
Traditional and digital printing methods
Stop-motion animation equipment

For more specific guidance on what equipment and facilities you will work with, please see the specific degree routes.