Developing the skills you need for future employability, whether in industry or in your own practice, is a very high priority for us.
At Leeds College of Art, there’s a vocational bias to the curriculum and employability issues play a key role in your project work. During your studies, you will engage with professionals and practitioners in variety of different ways, including:
• Competition briefs
• Work placements
• Trade shows and sector-specific professional events
• Mentoring with creative professionals
• Collaborative international projects
• Studying abroad with the Erasmus programme.
To help you to prepare for your career or improve your career potential, our learning and assessment methods will develop skills vital to your future employability. These include working effectively in groups, reflecting on your own strengths and developmental needs, identifying and evaluating opportunities, planning and delivering major projects, and presenting and communicating ideas to audiences.
To further develop your skills
Each year there brings a wide range of extra-curricular events and activities which will build your business confidence, engage you with professional practice, and develop your capacity to be enterprising and to become a sought-after employee.
Employers particularly value soft skills such as self-motivation, independence, the ability to analyse and problem-solve, and a high level of self-confidence.
In your final year of study, as you become an emerging professional, you will be invited to join a monthly event which
helps undergraduates to build knowledge, understanding and a network of peers to further prepare you for professional practice and to help you gain a competitive advantage in the world of work.
Close links with industry
We recognise the benefits of strong links with industry and the public sector for your future progression and career success. We work hard to develop excellent relationships with some of the country’s leading creative businesses, which helps to ensure that our graduates have the skills and attributes which meet employers’ needs.
Once a month, we host Creative Networks, one of the most popular professional networking opportunities in the region, which sees up to 150 representatives of every sector of the cultural and creative industries coming together to exchange knowledge and information, collaborate on projects and make new business contacts. This provides a perfect launch pad for graduates who choose to stay in the region and start their own practice.