About Illustration And Visual Communication With Foundation BA Honours in University of Westminster, London

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.

The Foundation year is designed to give you the opportunity to explore new ideas, opening up new perspectives on the key debates within your chosen field. During the foundation year you will explore a range of creative disciplines and get a chance to develop in your chosen field, benefiting from workshops in our high end facilities and working with leading academics who will encourage you to become a confident and creative thinker. Core modules accelerate your academic and professional development and you will also You will also take modules within your chosen field, giving you the chance to develop a cross-disciplinary perspective on your course. 

On successful completion of the Foundation year (Year 0), you will be able to move on to study for the Illustration and Visual Communication BA Honours degree over a further three years study. 

The Illustration and Visual Communication BA Honours offers a flexible and interdisciplinary approach to the study and practice of contemporary illustration. Our premise is to provide learning in this subject within a wide choice of methods and technical approaches balancing the development of creative and professional skills and knowledge for application to client-led markets in the field of visual communication, with the individual ambitions and aptitudes of each student in finding their own creative voice.

The course provides dedicated studio space that forms the creative hub for learning, making and community. Individual work spaces are available with larger studios for figure drawing, and making work of an ambitious scale. Quieter areas for computing and digital work are also available within the studio areas. All studios are equipped with computing facilities running Adobe Creative Suite, Foundry with Wacom Cintiqs, scanners, printers and photocopying. 

Teaching and learning includes individual tutorial sessions, group work, presentations, workshops, online training, lectures and frequent trips into central London to see exhibitions. We invite practitioners and our esteemed alumni in to give professional talks and with our membership of the Association of Illustrators, Design and Art Direction and support from the Creative Enterprise Centre at Harrow we provide a comprehensive learning platform for entering professional work in this field on graduation. 

A large number of our graduates and alumni develop careers in illustration, graphic and decorative arts and art direction, often balancing their own practice with commissioned work or employments in the creative sector. Most creatives work on a freelance basis with some regular employment until they become established. The wide focus of the course prepares students with a range of transferable creative and professional skills to be able to work in other areas than illustration alone, this can be in publishing, branding, the Media, graphic design, advertising and creative merchandising as well as art-workers, visualisers and concept designers for industries related to music, entertainment, film, computer arts and fashion. Some graduates go into further study at postgraduate level or undertake teacher training or training to work in arts and health. We encourage all students at some point to undertake work experience and internships that also can lead to full-time employments later on.

​​​Academic qualification equivalents

• HSC XII: CBSE, ICSE, Kolkata, or Tamil Nadu boards with an overall average of 70% or above*
• HSC XII: West Bengal board with an overall average of 58% or above*
• HSC XII: Maharashtra or Gujarat boards with an overall average of 75% or above*
• HSC XII: All other state boards with an overall average of 80%+ or above*
• a recognised International Foundation course from a UK institution or an Indian institution following a validated UK syllabus. Entry requirements vary but we normally ask for between 60% and 65%

English language requirements (one of the below):

•  IELTS: 6.0 overall with a minimum 5.5 in each component
• TOEFL iBT : 78 overall with a minimum of 17 in Listening, and Writing, 18 in Reading and 20 in Speaking 
• PTE:54 average with 51 in each component

University of Westminster, London Highlights

University of Westminster Cost of Attendance

The average estimated annual cost for 2020/2021 session is presented on the table below: