At Brighton, we pride ourselves on offering History of Art and Design courses that encourage our students to critically examine how politics, culture and society influence design, art and art-making.
With access to local collections and our wonderful team of expert tutors, studying at Brighton is the perfect place to build your expertise for a rewarding career in fashion, design, museums, heritage and many more areas.
Read on to discover our top reasons to choose Brighton for your Art and Design degree…
1. Access to internationally important collections
The University of Brighton is home to the Design Archives, the Dress History Teaching Collection and Screen Archive South East. Collections in Brighton and Hove include The Keep, home to the Royal Pavilion & Museums Local History Collections, and the Mass Observation Archive.
Throughout your studies, you’ll be able to make use of all of these collections and there will be plenty of opportunities for field trips beyond Brighton too!
2. Learn from our team of industry experts
Across both our Fashion and Design History and Art History and Visual Culture courses, you’ll be taught by our team design historians who bring decades of experience to their teaching.
Our staff include academics who develop leading research as part of the Centre for Design History in the museums and heritage sector.
Throughout your time here at Brighton, our course teams will mentor and guide you as you develop your own interests and knowledge.
Visit our Fashion and Design History BA(Hons) and Art History and Visual Culture BA(Hons) course pages to learn more about the specific team of experts you’ll be learning from.
3. Exciting industry placement opportunities
The optional placement in Year 2 enables you to directly work with artefacts in the context of an archive, museum or public collection and gain valuable, relevant experience.
You will work closely with professionals on focused tasks including curating, cataloguing, collections management, publications and other areas of cultural practice.
The placement also enables you to explore career options, make contacts and provide topics for your final year research projects.
4. High graduate success
Choosing to study a History of Art and Design degree at Brighton has opened incredible doors for our graduates, and you could be next!
Our graduates have gone on to find success in a wide range of roles at prestigious museums and institutions including:
- The Victoria and Albert Museum
- The Royal Ontario Museum
- The Edinburgh College of Art
- Christies Auction House
5. Brighton Boost package
At the University of Brighton, we’re here to support you in making the best start to your university journey.
With our new postcode checker, you can quickly see if you’re eligible for our Brighton Boost financial support package, designed to help you with the cost of living and make everyday things just that little bit easier.
Depending on your circumstances, you could be eligible for:
- Up to £1,250 to help with accommodation or travel costs
- Free laptop loans
- Support with finding part-time work
- A lower grade contextual offer
Simply enter your postcode in our postcode checker to see the support available to you.
6. Our courses set you up for a range of industry roles
Graduates from our history of art and design programmes go on to a variety of roles in the museums, galleries and heritage industry, such as:
- gallery manager
- exhibition officer
- archivist
- conservator
- museum education officer
Or there will be opportunities in roles in areas such as:
- marketing
- PR
- education
- journalism
- publishing
This degree also opens up postgraduate study options. At Brighton, for example, you could progress on to our Curating Collections and Heritage MA, and our History of Design and Material Culture MA.
You could also choose to complete your PhD at Brighton alongside our team of world-leading researchers in our Centre for Design History.
7. Opportunities to showcase your work
At the end of your studies, you’ll participate in a Graduate Show which is a large-scale exhibition. There you will exhibit your dissertation and accompanying poster!
Opportunities like this will build your confidence in putting your work out there and is also a nice way to celebrate your achievements.
Join us here at Brighton
Visit our Fashion and Design History BA(Hons) and Art History and Visual Culture BA(Hons) course pages to find out more about the application process.
Unsure if History of Art and Design is the right discipline for you? Explore all of our Humanities and Social Science courses and find what fits your passion.
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