The Courtauld Institute of Art Speciality : History
programme: History of Art and Architecture

I am definitely in two minds about my university – on one hand, I love it and am very proud to be attending it, but on the other I’m constantly frustrated with it and sometimes wonder if I should have gone somewhere else.

My reasons for these feelings are varied, so I’ll split them into good things and bad things.
Good things:
-World class research institute for Art History.
-Alumni tend to be very successful in Art History and Heritage fields.
-Very high teaching standard.
-Fantastic locations.
-Peope in the arts and heritage fields tend to be very impressed when they found out you went/go there.

Bad:
-So small – there’s max 65 students per BA year.
-Only one BA, hence it is a specialised institution.
-80% of students are privately educated, 80% are female.
-The curriculum could be more varied – many students would like more non-Western art to be included.
-Again, it’s a single subject institution so you can’t do modules from other departments, e.g. English or History, like you can at most other universities.
-We don’t have a student union bar.
-The admin and student services are incredibly disorganised.
-The range of mental health care could really be improved.