University of the Arts London, MA in Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures
Reviewed on Mar 15, 2025(Enrolled 2024)What Students Say
Likes
- My college's (LCC) facilities are impeccable. The library is great, digital studios are amazing, there are all kinds of labs to implement all our ideas and the fact that I can visit all the colleges under UAL and use the resources and labs there makes it even better.
- The faculty members I have interacted with are extremely open-minded, considerate and helpful. Most of them don't think twice before going out of their way to help us out.
- The university promotes a culture of independent study, where students are encouraged to choose their own fields of research and work at their own pace. Which I think helps us in becoming more confident designers.
Dislikes
- Sometimes our campuses at UAL can get overcrowded, especially in areas like the workshops, library, cafeteria etc. making it difficult to access the equipment and the resources.
- Cost of education is really high, especially for foreign students! This leads to the question whether the value to education provided to us matches its expense and if true economic diversity is being maintained in the university. This added to the fact that London is one of the most expensive cities in the world makes it challenging even for students from affluent backgrounds.
- UAL offers various academic and personal support services for the students, but some students have expressed their dissatisfaction with the effectiveness, responsiveness and availability of the academic as well as the mental health support.
Course Curriculum
8
- I would rate the difficulty of my course 7/10. It is a research based course with practical methods integrated with it.
- I think the most positive aspects of my course is the freedom and independence I experience when it comes to choosing my research topic, ways to approach and implementing it.
- I generally have classes 2-3 times a week. Mostly on Wednesday and Thursday. Timing 1-4 or 10-1.
- I have a total of 51 students in my class.
- I have 5 Indian students in my class.
Admission Experience
- I applied to a total of 3 colleges which were; London College of Communication (University of the Arts London, Accepted Kingston University, Nottingham Trent University. The status of my admission was "Accepted" for all three.
- I had received confirmed admission from all these three colleges and did not receive any rejection.
- Like mentioned above i didn't receive any rejections but i've noticed that not focusing on a project's design process in your portfolio can make a huge difference.
- The University of the Arts London ranks as the 2nd best university in the world in the art and design realm, for my masters my priority was to get acquainted with a college that could ensure exposure to quality learning with a curriculum that prioritised future studies.
- The admission process for UAL, ranged across three major steps. The first was submitting a Statement of purpose stating why you want to get enrolled into a chosen course, if shortlisted you are required to build a portfolio (for management courses the requirements can differ) and finally an interview with someone from your course teaching panel.
- Some courses require previous work experience, IELTS with a minimum score of 6.5 across all 4 parameters is compulsory.
- My admission process was very simple and seamless and didn't face any challenges as such.
- I applied to the September 2024 intake, i graduated from my Bachelor's from NIFT Patna in 2022 and wanted to get some work experience. I worked for a little over 2 years and decided to switch to a strategy based role in Sustainable development, which is what influenced my decision to pursue a masters in London at the University of the Arts London.
- The process lasts about 2-3 months. The first round of submission of SOPs happens in December, upon hearing whether your application is shortlisted or not you're required to submit a portfolio for round 2 in mid January. If shortlisted further a final interview happens in February after which you receive news on your final admission status.
Faculty
8
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There are 6 Faculty members for a class of 51 Students. I think all are faculties bring new and fresh ideas and perspectives to the table.
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This is not a STEM course, teaching methods differ from teacher to teacher and topic to topic, we have alot of guest lectures and industry experts in our classes. We often do activities to develop and improve our ideas along with workshops and focus groupings.
Campus Life
8
- My college has only one campus located in Elephant and Castle, London.
- Facilities available in my college are library, printing lab, digital and hand, medical services, cafeteria, cafe, bar, studios, computer labs.
- We had a graduation show for the passing out batch of 2023-24. All the students from all the courses and branches had displayed their work in college and were present to attend to people visiting their work to explain their working and thinking about it.
- We dont have any extracurricular activities organised in the college. We have different groups and societies which students are free to join and attend in their own time.
- such as drama society, poetry club ,gym club, walking and running groups, along with a number of language groups like Hindi, Chinese, Spanish etc.
Part Time Jobs
- There are very few Teaching Assistant (TA), Research Assistant (RA), or Departmental Assistant (DA) positions available for students in UAL although I am not sure about the exact number.
- Pay range for TA/RA/DA position ranges from GBP 12-18/hr
- We have a few other on-campus jobs available for students like lab helpers, cafeteria helpers, library helpers etc. The hourly wage for these roles vary from GBP 12-15/hr.
- We are allowed to work 20hrs a week.
- It is very difficult to secure an on campus part time job as there aren't many jobs available for students on campus.
- Students typically earn around GBP 9-15 per hour in their part time. It is very difficult for students to secure part-time employment while studying as most roles available for such roles are retail service roles and not design or office roles. Looking for jobs on Linkedin and Indeed is how I generally look for prospective roles. Other than word of mouth via my friends who are already working somewhere. The process generally includes Identifying job openings, Submitting my resume, Multiple rounds of interview, Practical knowledge round, final decision.
Placement
8
- I am really unsure about the percentage of my graduating batch that secures employment within 6 months of completing the course but i think it is upwards of 70% as most of the seniors I have come across are working in the industry.
- Average salary range that most students can expect to earn upon graduation is roughly around GBP 35,000-40,000.
- Students generally find jobs through references, online job seeking platforms etc. Many students in design field also prefer working as freelancers and independent designers.
- There are no proper placements in our college, students are expected to find jobs for themselves. But we have certain internal platforms for UAL which we can use to look for jobs.
- Google, Apple, Microsoft, EY, Condenast, Samsung are some of the companies that are known to hire graduates and post graduates from our college.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- I live in a college accommodation provided by UAL. I applied for it from our college student portal.
- My rent is GBP 262/ week. I have basic facilities like hot running water, cinema room, common room, laundry, kitchen, prayer room, game room.
- I did not encounter any challenges while looking for my accommodation as UAL has a very hassle free system for providing accommodations provided you apply timely.
- I would suggest students to apply for accommodations early and try looking for one close to your college to minimize time and money spent on commuting.
- My college is a 30-35 mins bus ride from college. I have no idea where most indian students stay. In my area I find a balanced population of almost all ethnicities.
Exams
- IELTS is an exam that is required for admission to the university of the arts london.
- Documents like Statement of Purpose, 2 LOR, CV, X & XII results, Bachelors transcripts, Bachelors degree, Passport front and back, and a portfolio is necessary to complete the admission process.
- Yes an interview is a part of the application process, the nature of the interview is largely conversational. It is conducted by someone who's a part of your course teaching panel and they're interested in knowing your motives to pursue the course. They like to know about your background and what it is that you'll be bringing to the course. A discussion about your previous projects or work experience is also something that the interview constitutes.
Fees
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My Total Tuition Fee is GBP 28570
My Total Student Accommodation Fee is GBP 12850College fee is paid via Flywire in Installments every quarter.
Whereas the Accommodation Fee is debited straight from my saved bank account via the provided credit/debit card. -
My monthly expense ends up being around GBP 350-450.
It includes
GBP 75-90 for Transportation
GBP 200-250 for Grocery/ Other shopping
GBP 50-70 for Stationary, Prints, Books etc.
Scholarship
- Yes, I did receive a scholarship for my course. Name of the scholarship is UAL International Postgraduate Scholarship Sep/Oct. The eligibility criteria for the it required us to be Post Graduate Students from the given list of countries. We were required to write essays on the given topic and make our case for the scholarship.
- The award amount I received of the scholarship was GBP 7000.
- I am not aware of this statistic but there are a few students who have received this scholarship.
- I am not aware of how many students receive this scholarship but I do know that the amount received via this scholarship is GBP 7000 only.
