Want to go to art and design school?

If you’re currently considering further study options, or looking for a career change, the creative degrees at this Hong Kong university campus will give you some inspiration.  They cover a huge scope of courses including film, animation, game development, fashion,  jewellery and furniture design.

Savannah School of Art and Design (SCAD), an innovative global university with locations around the world, prepares students to work in art,  design and other creative industries. There are two campuses in the US (in Atlanta and Savannah), one in Lacoste in France, and – much closer to home – a campus in Hong Kong, in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. SCAD also has e-learning options.

The school prepare students for careers in fashion design, interactive design and game development, luxury and fashion management, motion media design, and photography. There’s a SCAD course for all types of creative career paths, the school offers over 100 programmes of study across more than 40 major and 75 minor courses. At SCAD Hong Kong, you can study one of 22 bachelor’s and master’s programmes, which are each fully-accredited locally and in the US. The best part is, you learn from and get to work directly with successful design experts. Professors at the Hong Kong campus have all excelled in their own careers before teaching, they have won Emmy and Obie awards, held positions at global companies and even contributed to Academy Award-winning movies.

Classes take place in the SCAD-restored North Kowloon Magistracy Building, which has been recognised by UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards. While the building may be steeped in history, the learning environment boasts advanced technology, such as high-tech digital labs, darkrooms, fashion and interior design resource labs, a green screen studio and more.

Creating careers in art and design

If you’re worried that creative studies won’t lead to tangible employment after graduation, SCAD aims to put those concerns to rest. A focus on career preparation underpins every aspect of its courses. As many as 99 percent of the spring 2017 alumni gained employment or were pursuing further education (or both!) within 10 months of graduation.

The university maintains a number of collaborations with multinational companies and organisations, from Apple, Ogilvy & Mather and Saint Laurent Paris to MTR, The Walt Disney Company and The Ritz-Carlton. These relationships allow students the chance to work in real world environments – leading to some extraordinary portfolios and job opportunities. Students also participate in large-scale events such as Art Central Hong Kong, and in its own signature events, including a Hong Kong Fashion Showcase.

Global recognition

The rigour of its academic approach has earned SCAD a number of accolades. The university’s motion media design programme, for example, was named number one globally in 2017 for the second year in a row by The Rookies, an international competition known as the “Oscars for creative minds”. And it’s undergraduate and graduate interior design programmes have also been ranked number one for 2018 by DesignIntelligence, which honours university design programmes that prepare students for professional success. Over the past seven years, the university’s undergraduate and graduate interior design programmes have received a first-place ranking five times.

To learn more, visit scad.edu.

Courses of study are registered with the Hong Kong Education Bureau, registration numbers: 261958-261971, 262196-262202 and 262909. It is a matter of discretion for individual employers to recognise any qualification to which these courses may lead.

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This article first appeared in the February 2019 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase a copy or subscribe so you never miss an issue!