Our degree courses with Foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster. Whether you do not feel ready for degree-level study, don’t have the right qualifications, want to change your subject specialism or return to study after an absence from education, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our Foundation year in order to progress onto their full honours degree with us.

Our foundation year in Art and Design is designed to provide you with an introduction to our range of subject areas, and to prepare you for the discipline of your choice. It will give you the opportunity to explore new ideas, opening up new perspectives on the key debates within the field. It begins in the first semester with the development of fundamental Art and Design skills, as well as practical exploration across all of the disciplines in our Art and Design foundation programme. In the second semester, you are encouraged to specialise in your own discipline and are supported at this stage by tutors from your host course. You will also benefit from workshops in our high-end facilities, and from working with leading academics who will encourage you to become a confident and creative thinker. Your practical development is accompanied by modules in both semesters on foundational academic skills – skills that will be essential as you progress to your chosen full degree.

On successful completion of the foundation year, you will be able to move on to study for the Illustration and Visual Communication BA Honours degree for a further three years. 

Our Illustration and Visual Communication BA offers a flexible, multidisciplinary, and multimedia approach to the study and practice of contemporary illustration and visual communication.

A supportive studio environment and learning community encourages you to develop your own distinctive visual practice through experimentation and inquiry.

A diverse range of studio-based projects provide you with the intellectual and creative space to explore and examine a range of processes and practices in both traditional and emerging technologies.

The course combines illustration and visual communication allowing you to build a range of visual and professional skills. This breadth of approach is designed to support creative agility, enable you to be flexible and resilient, and ready to adapt your practice to rapidly and ever evolving career opportunities.

Alumni and specialists contribute to the teaching programme alongside our dedicated course team of experienced professional practitioners.

Based in the leafy campus of Harrow, a creative hothouse for arts media and digital courses, you'll work alongside students from fashion, fine art, film, photography, music, animation, graphics and journalism

You'll enjoy generous studio space and excellent facilities for drawing, traditional and digital printmaking, lens-based media, 3D, ceramics, digital and emerging technologies.

The course has a strong professional focus and in conjunction with the University’s award-winning Creative Enterprise Centre, supports you in developing professional skills and providing opportunities for work experience and internships.

Through membership of the Association of Illustrators and D&AD, students also benefit from a range of professional opportunities and support, industry led briefs, networking events and a showcase at the D&AD New Blood festival in London's creative hub Shoreditch.

Many of our graduates operate independently as freelance, self-employed practitioners or work collaboratively in small business cooperatives, often with students they met during their course. 

Students have progressed on to job roles including:

• Animator
• Art director
• Art therapist (requiring further training)
• Company manager
• Event manager
• Gallerist
• Graphic designer
• Illustrator – editorial illustration/ decorative merchandising and interiors, branding and promotion, visual effects, concept art
• Teacher (requiring further training)