| Ravensbourne | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1962 |
| Type | Public |
| Director | Robin Baker |
| Location | London, UK |
| Website | www.rave.ac.uk |
Ravensbourne (formerly Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication) is a university sector college innovating in digital media and design, with a vocationally focused portfolio of courses, spanning fashion, television and broadcasting, interactive product design, architecture and environment design, graphic design, animation, moving image, music production for media and sound design.. The institution, which was formerly Bromley Technical College, was opened in 1959 by the amalgamation of the Bromley School of Art and the Department of Furniture Design of the Beckenham School of Art. It was originally located at Bromley Common and Chislehurst before moving to a new purpose-built campus in inner London on the Greenwich Peninsula in September 2010.
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The Bromley School of Art opened in 1878 in Tweedy Road, Bromley. In 1959 it merged with the Department of Furniture Design of the Beckenham School of Art and in 1965 moved to purpose-built accommodation on Rookery Lane, Bromley Common. The site had originally housed the Rookery, an 18th century house that had been burnt out while in military occupation in 1946. As the college expanded it was unable to develop the Rookery Lane site any further, as it was part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. This resulted in the college moving in 1975[1], to a new site set amongst 18 acres (73,000 m2) of private parkland on Walden Road, Chislehurst. The Rookery Lane site was redeveloped for the Bromley College of Further & Higher Education.
It has offered higher level courses in design since the 1960s. In 1985 the Broadcasting department joined, replacing Fine Arts. It was amongst the earliest of institutions to be approved by the then CNAA to convert the traditional Diploma programmes in Art and Design into honours degrees during the 1970s. Following the demise of the CNAA in 1992, the College entered into a validating partnership with the Royal College of Art, which agreed exceptionally to take this responsibility because of Ravensbourne’s strong reputation and longstanding links with the RCA. This validation ceased when the Royal College of Art withdrew from offering collaborative provision.
Ravensbourne College was recognised previously as an affiliate College of the University of Sussex in 1996 and was re-recognised in 2002. As of 2009, however, the college's undergraduate provision has been revalidated by City University, London, which also provides validation to all postgraduate programmes. In April 2010 it shortened its name from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication to simply Ravensbourne.
After major consideration and long deliberation, it was decided that for Ravensbourne to expand and solidify its position as a provider of high quality education in the areas in which it specialises, the College would either have to merge with another institution, or relocate from its location in Chislehurst, Kent. The latter option was chosen and a new campus was constructed on Greenwich Peninsula, which opened in September 2010.[2]
The new campus is next to The O2, an entertainment district on Greenwich Peninsula, which has the intention of bringing the college closer to partner institutions and the industries to which it relates. With a striking exterior, the new building is designed to replicate the working environment of industry, with a high emphasis on student and industry collaboration.
The College offers Further Education, Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes divided and taught between two faculties: Design and Communication Media.
Within the area of Further Education, the College offers the Diploma in Foundation Studies for both Art & Design and Media, as well as the BTEC National Certificate in Art and Design.
At undergraduate level, there are Foundation degrees, honours degree level top-up years (for those having completed foundation degrees or equivalent), and Bachelor's degrees. A number of these Bachelor's degrees also offer a "Level 0" programme. Many of these degrees are currently undergoing a transition period with the introduction of newly validated programmes. The available postgraduate provision consists of 14 Master's level courses, each of which can be studied to MA or MSc (dependent on subject), or to MInnov or MFA level if desired. A range of subject areas are offered within the main disciplines of fashion, design, media and broadcasting.
Ravensbourne students have achieved success in national competitions such as the Royal Society of Arts Design Awards (RSA), British Design in Art Direction Awards (D&AD), New Designers Awards, Graduate Fashion Week Awards and Promax Awards.
The College enjoys strong relationships with the creative industries to which it relates . The College’s students are over-represented in its success rate for national prizes, competitions and awards and its graduates are highly employable.[3] Many undergraduate students also progress to postgraduate courses at highly reputable institutions such as Central St. Martins and the Royal College of Art.
Ravensbourne also provides a range of masterclasses and short courses, available to both students and industry professionals.
Ravensbourne benefits from endowments from the UK’s independent television companies as it is a preferred supplier of education and training. The College has a £10m industry-standard broadcast facility, and is also one of the few institutions in Europe with advanced post-production facilities, donated and supported by Quantel. Ravensbourne is one of seventeen national Skillset Media Academies.
Every year the college hosts a broadcasting event which is usually held at the college itself. The event is a showcase for both current and future broadcast technologies where large numbers of industry delegates attend on the day; it is the UK's largest Student Broadcasting event and is produced entirely by Ravensbourne students. In previous years, the event has been known as 'Rave On Air' and 'Rave Live' however, after the relocation to the Greenwich Peninsula, the degree show changed its format from a broadcasting focused event to an all course showcase event which incorporates the end of year fashion show - another event which is also held at the college and attracts industry delegates. The most current degree show was aptly named 'Ravensbourne 2011'
The Students' Union at Ravensbourne have recently undergone a full rebrand to become 'Ravensbourne Students' Union' or 'RSU' for short. The rebrand of the Students' Union coincides with Ravensbourne's new location and identity and builds on the college's branding, released in 2010.
The Students' Union Executive team is currently made up of the following roles and officers:
The Students' Union website may be found at www.ravesu.co.uk.
During Freshers week 2011, the Students' Union ran the following lineup:
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