Why study Creative Media at UCEN Manchester?

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From getting your work out there to the many projects and links with Industry partners, Matt explains the benefits of joining the School of Art, Media & Make-Up at UCEN Manchester.

Matt chose to study Creative Media and Visual Communication because the many industry links on offer would help to get his work out there, and those links have been the highlight of his time on the course so far.

Matt says that facilities such as the screen printing room and large format printer have helped to take his work to the next level. 

When he graduates, Matt wants to join a graphic design agency. He says that the amount of networking opportunities he's received has helped to prepare him for work in the industry.
 

Video Transcript

Hello. My name is Matt Robinson. I'm studying creative media and visual communication.

So I chose to study at UCEN Manchester because it seemed to offer the most in terms of industry links and actual work I'd be producing, and actually getting me out there.

It probably would be how much we work with industry. So last week we got to go to an event called two plus two, which is basically hundreds of students all got given a one day brief to work on, and we'd have mentorship from different people working in different agencies, which is quite good, and it was quite a confidence boost.

So a project I worked on last semester was, we got to work with an agency called 'Kin + Carta', and that was to produce a project which would be based on a brief they would be given. So in this case it was by Co-op and we'd have quite a large project to work on.

I'd say what's impressed me most about these facilities is things like the screen printing room and the large format printer, it just kind of helps take work to the next level and makes it feel a lot more valid.

I'd say I feel more prepared for industry when I leave here just because of how much industry experience we're getting with this course. We're getting to meet a lot of different companies and agencies and network, and it's very helpful.

I specifically want to go into graphic design and I want to join an agency when I leave. I feel like this will give me the most experience in my field. It'll help me work alongside others, and it'll help take me to the next level.

The tutors on my course have helped me. We've got a lot of different links with different people from ex-students who have ended up in quite big companies. I've recently just got an interview with a pretty big company thanks to one of our ex-students, and that would only be possible through the links that are kind of kept going after the course ends.

In first year, I had to use a bursary because I had quite a bad experience with accommodation I was in unfortunately, ended up quite low on funds and the bursary was the only reason I was able to keep on going with the course. It was definitely a huge help.

The thing I like the most about UCEN Manchester, which kind of came up a lot in this, was the industry links we got and the hands on experience, it feels a lot better than any other universities where you just have lectures a lot. You get a lot better experience.

I'd say the one piece of advice I'd give to someone who's looking to study at UCEN Manchester is definitely look at what this course offers compared to all the others. A lot of the other courses that are going on in different places they'll maybe just go to one event a year, maybe speak to a company if they're lucky. Whereas in this one, we're constantly engaging with industry and we're given as many opportunities as possible.