Schools at Kingston School of Art
Within Kingston School of Art there are three schools that share disciplinary synergies, offering a comprehensive architecture, design, fine arts, humanities, and performing arts portfolio. Students across the schools are given many opportunities to work together, in studio work and on live projects. The schools also support and facilitate high-quality research which informs the teaching within Kingston University as a whole.
The School of Arts
The longest-established disciplines from the founding of the Kingston School of Art: Architecture and Fine Art, are interestingly combined in the School of Arts, joined by the disciplines of Film & Photography and the Performing Arts (Dance, Drama and Music).
The School's structure enables students to develop subject expertise in distinct areas of study, whilst providing the opportunity to explore the intersection between the disciplinary, visual, spatial and social reach of each. The School is also home to a dynamic and growing PhD community of practice based researchers.
All of our performing arts courses involve professional practice and performance, and include training in physical performance skills as well as in understanding of the performance industries. You'll have plenty of opportunities to get involved in drama, music and dance through extracurricular activities like the International Youth Arts Festival and our music ensembles.
The School of Creative and Cultural Industries
This School supports a diversity of theoretical and historical study in creative disciplines including art, design, fashion and film within the Department of Critical and Historical Studies. These disciplines are offered as taught subjects and form a quarter of all degrees at Kingston School of Art.
This School also has the Department of Creative Industries that supports the development of critical, experimental and professional practice in the rapidly-growing global creative industries sector; preparing for careers in communications, marketing and art direction, art market and cultural sector leadership, curatorship, and creative project management. Both departments offer courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and research degrees.
The Department of Humanities disciplines are rooted in the analysis of culture and writing, and the practice of writing for creative, professional and scholarly purposes. In your study of any of these subjects, you'll be exposed to historically and culturally materialist approaches to literature, culture and history. You'll develop critical thinking, imaginative writing, undertake independent research and analysis, argument, problem solving, advanced communication and debate.
The Journalism, Publishing and Media Department has strong connections with industry and teaching is characterised by its professional orientation; you'll have opportunity to work on the university newspaper, magazine and online, and take work placements in relevant organisations, to support your studies and enhance your employability.
Finally, this School has the Department of Foundation Studies a nationally-recognised one-year programme to prepare students to step into the area of degree-level studies in art, design and architecture that suits their particular skills and needs.
The School also supports Kingston Language Scheme and English for Academic and Professional Development.
The Design School
We believe that tomorrow's designers need to be able to think critically and act practically; they are required to be contextually insightful and creative, and therefore well-placed to meet new challenges in a strategic, ambitious and perhaps entrepreneurial manner. The Design School engages in creative rigour in the context of Design education, practice, research and enterprise. It is a critically-engaged community of Design practitioners, educators, researchers and entrepreneurs. It is a school which is inter-disciplinary however also enables a rich discipline focused approach.
In the Design School we believe inter-disciplinary excellence and knowledge are key to the development of confident, agile, innovative and creative contemporary design practitioners, meeting and setting the challenges for society and industry. Thinking and doing underpin design practice across the school and supports students and staff as their work traverses disciplines and subjects in hybrid spaces defining the emerging roles and responsibilities for designers of the future.
We aspire to design practice that is vested with personality, purpose and vision, resulting from an appetite for life and a desire to make a difference. As a school we aim to graduate creative and innovative designers and researchers who are clearly engaging in and aware of ethical, moral, social and environmental responsibilities, as 21st century citizens.
Our departments are:
Heads of School
Research Centres
Kingston School of Art also has five cross-cutting dedicated Research Centres. All Schools have thriving relationships with partners from industry, culture and the community, in the UK and worldwide.
Find out more details about our research and teaching community.
