Scotland’s graphic courses win

Scottish graphic design education has been given top marks over other subject areas in a batch of reports into teaching quality by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. English colleges offering design courses face similar tests next year.

The assessments cover building and surveying, graphic and textile design, sculpture and painting, printmaking, fine art, hospitality studies and consumer studies.

The design courses at five Scottish colleges and universities were all rated “highly satisfactory” or “excellent” – the best performance out of the subject areas assessed. “It’s an impressive portfolio of results,” says a SHEFC spokeswoman.

Duncan of Jordanstone College, which became part of the University of Dundee last year, proved to be rated the best of all, garnering the only “excellent” rating awarded from all the assessments.

The “highly satisfactory” grade was met by Edinburgh College of Art, Glasgow School of Art, the Robert Gordon University and the Scottish College of Textiles.

Georgina Follett, head of the School of Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College, says: “We believed we had got it right, but it’s really good to have it confirmed by an independent panel.”

Follett says a big part in the college’s success is played by the involvement of the design industry in Scotland in the work of the college and other Scottish colleges: “We get enormous support from the design industry.”