Firstly, thank you for the constructive way you have approached this theme. I have been reading about why design schools are ‘failing their students’ since I was a student and have grown tired of the clichéd responses, usually about out-of-touch tutors, lack of industry support, lack of relevant commercial and business ‘nous’ etc, etc, and I am equally frustrated by the ‘need experience/can’t get experience’ and ‘I shouldn’t have to work for free’ cries from graduates. Platforms like this ought to be informing and inspiring course leaders to adapt and refine their programmes in order to ensure that their students are ‘market ready’ when they graduate. Unfortunately, they are not.

I run a graphic design course at an F.E. college and send a cohort of mostly eager, often passionate, occasionally excitable and regularly surprising students off to universities around the country every year. At this point I like to see them as open books, with just a few chapters written, ready for a plot to develop and be revised, the ending not yet considered. I work hard within the limits I am bound, both by the awarding bodies and the institution, and invite practicing designers (often ex-students) to share their experiences, give demonstrations and hold workshops. I take them to relevant exhibitions and places of inspiration, information and (as I have been regularly informed) pleasure! I relate most of what I teach to my own work, past and present, to my experiences as an employee, freelancer and employer, make them aware of some of the realities of ‘real’ design work and try to sow the seeds of moral responsibility too; in drawing attention to the role designers can play to the benefit of the wider community.

In the last few years I have had many of these students calling back into college to say hello and show the work they have done so far. They are also keen to share their experiences with current students, and recognise the value of a little ‘real’ advice, as opposed to the more assumed advice of the tutors. This is as it should be. I value this input from my recently departed students; without their regular input each year I would be really out of touch.

More distressingly, are the numbers of ex-students returning with less encouraging news. These are students who, having done their research, made their visits, and worked hard to achieve more than the minimum acceptance grades to get to their first choice university – often the prestigious ones (I’m not mentioning any names here, but I will indicate at least four highly respected institutions) only to be hugely disappointed with what they have experienced. Now I am realistic about this. Nothing will ever live up to expectations and disappointments are inevitable. This aside, I have seen students who have left college as very encouraging designers, individuals and thinkers, return to tell me about how their university tutors have dismissed their thoughts and ideas without consideration, and enforced a house style approach to teaching that does not allow for individuals to develop outside of the tutors comfort zone. Some of these students have switched universities (and have blossomed as a result) and some have persevered (I have always encouraged a ‘stick with it and make it work for you’ attitude but am beginning to doubt this) but these students have often ended up with a mediocre degree and a lack of real ambition, or have just given up all together. This really pisses me off.

This is not a bad thing if we are wheedling out the weak and ineffective from the hoards of graduates flooding the market each year (this is another problem, but very much out of the control of institutions and likely to get worse under the latest government proposals) but I am talking about good quality students, switched off by these highly recommended, ‘top level’ universities (at great expense I might add) who don’t want them to be individuals, free-thinkers, mould-breakers and innovators, but merely more ‘institutional output.’

As I said before, this really pisses me off. Universities need to reconnect with the industries they provide the energy and innovation for, in the form of their graduates. I’m not saying that universities should be at the beck and call of the industry; that would only result in creating more Mac clones I feel, but there are some of our more ‘prestigious’ institutions that could do with a bit of a reality check.

It is the responsibility of the institutions to prepare students for the next stage (whatever that may be) and the responsibility of the industry to inform those institutions what it really needs – I’m not talking about knowing PhotoShop and Illustrator inside out and all that jazz, but the real human requirements, about thinking, analysing, questioning and reasoning, as well as the means to respond to them all, in new ways and unusual combinations.

The design industry is a very hungry animal; it demands more and more from graduates each year and appears to offer little more in reward to what it did 10 or 15 years ago. I am only 9 years older than you, but can remember how the design industry worked (albeit in the provinces) and how many individual specialists there were; visualisers, illustrators and photographers, typographers, designers, typesetters, and artworkers, checkers and proofreaders, and because the web was only a twinkle in Tim’s eye, it was off to the repro house for scans and films (they joy of Rubylith!), chromalins, then plates and press proofs (if the budget or deadline allowed), then assembled by a team of largely good-natured back-room boys (usually old ladies in my experience!) before the job was done. I mention all these roles because much of this work is routinely expected from designers these days.

Ok, so where am I heading with all this? I certainly don’t want to start saying that everything was better in the old days, but there did used to be a much more formal link between education and industry, especially in Polytechnics. I recall that each course had to have an industry link nominated by the awarding body, and that representatives from these design companies would be involved in some live or speculative projects with students, offer paid (not much but at least it was something) work placements and help develop the structures and direction of the courses. In return for their input, these companies got the opportunity to develop their prospective workforce and play an important social function within their communities (which is invaluable public relations) and the institutions got the up-to-date guidance and input that appears to be so sadly lacking these days.

Pretty much every institution is financially shaky these days, and as I said before, that will likely continue, but links between industry and education don’t have to cost lots of cash, but will take plenty of time and effort on both sides.

Course leaders and tutors need to be less defensive and more willing to embrace commercial practices and practical input by active designers, rather than purely research-led academic endeavour. The industry needs to stop moaning about education and get involved; adopt and nurture a local course (not just the so-called prestigious ones), and ensure that they are turning out the type of graduates they need.

Phew! I’m glad I got that off my chest.

If you don’t want to publish this response (it is a rather long outburst) I fully understand, but could I suggest a new thread for your blog, this time directed only at design companies: just what do they want from graduates? And how much are they willing to get involved to help guide the institutions so that they get more of what they want? But also, if there is much more of what they wanted coming into the market each year as a result, how will they accommodate them? Maybe another thread could follow directed at Course Leaders depending upon the response of the industry.

It’s just a thought. Thanks for reading.

Christopher Skinner

After the first 1,5 years students have to organise their own education: the school just gives you the tools for the job/contacts you need. If they haven’t got the expertise you need inhouse, they’ll have contacts in the workfield to support you. Most if not all of the tutors have their own businesses/activities and are up to date with/in the workfield. Naturally this needs a lot of self-discipline and knowledge/interest of the students to keep an eye on the workfield (like this blog is one source for me).

Coming from a webdesign background myself I’m exploring “traditional” graphic design now. My tutor is a schooled graphic designer himself and I learn things from him which I missed in my own explorations.
I may miss a lot of the basics this way (and that thought does scare me from time to time), but it allows me to specialise in the things I prefer.

In the end school is just one way to grow into design: there are a lot of “amateurs” out there who kick the proverbial collective ass of schooled designers by sheer passion, self-education and talent (David Carson comes to mind, a trained sociologist who did some graphic design courses). In the end the real school is working with/at agencies, clients and fellow designers.