We're set in one the UK’s most beautiful award-winning natural locations; boasting spectacular gardens, beaches, forests and a Jurassic coastline classified by UNESCO as a world heritage site. But it isn’t just beauty, peace and tranquillity that students can take advantage of during their studies at AUB; as Bournemouth itself is also home to one of the fastest growing creative and digital hubs in Europe, with its digital sector supporting more than 7,500 digital jobs and contributing over £340million to the UK economy*. And at AUB, it’s not just a thriving digital and creative environment you’ll graduate into. You’ll be immersed into a richly artistic community right from the start.Arts University Bournemouth (abbreviated AUB) is a further and higher education university based in Poole, England, specialising in art, performance, design, and media. It was formerly known as The Arts University College at Bournemouth and The Arts Institute at Bournemouth and is the home of Bournemouth Film School AUB is the second largest university in Bournemouth and Poole, Bournemouth University being much larger and AECC University College being smaller. The university was awarded Gold in the 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework, a government assessment of the quality of undergraduate teaching in universities and other higher education providers in England. This award noted high levels of professional employment among graduates.The first art school in Bournemouth was the Bournemouth Government School of Art, established in 1880. There was a considerable demand in Bournemouth at that time for instruction in Art and the numbers in the art school soon rose to 180. In 1884, the school became a Science and Art school. In 1885 the Bournemouth School of Science and Art moved to 1 Regent's Terrace, in Old Christchurch Road, where it remained until 1890. When the Bournemouth School of Science and Art was forced to close due to a decrease in numbers and loss of grant in 1890–91, the majority of its students were transferred to the Bournemouth West School of Science and Art.In 1913, the two Science and Art Schools at Bournemouth East and Bournemouth West were incorporated into the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design along with the Technical and Commercial Schools. All art subjects then came under the umbrella of the School of Art within the Bournemouth Municipal College. In 1964, Bournemouth and Poole College of Art was formed through the merger of Bournemouth Municipal College of Art and Poole College of Art. The name was changed to Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design in 1979. The first new building on the present campus was opened in 1984 and built at a cost of £2.3 million.In 1998, the name was changed to The Arts Institute at Bournemouth (AIB) and won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for "Education in the film industry". In 2001 the AIB became a higher education institution.nThe AIB was one of only a few higher education institutions at the time that focused exclusively on creative work in contemporary art, design, media, and performance. In 2009 the Arts Institute Bournemouth changed its name to the Arts University College at Bournemouth following the acquisition of taught degree awarding powers in 2008. In June 2012 the Government announced that the qualifying threshold required by an institution in order to gain full university status was to be lowered from 4,000 to 1,000 full-time higher education students. The Arts University College at Bournemouth satisfied this criterion for full university title and officially became Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) following approval from the Privy Council on 13 December 2012.Most courses are based within one campus which is located in Poole, next to Bournemouth University and Wallisdown. The Campus covers around 3.7 hectares and houses 19 buildings with specialist workshops and workspaces, many of which are shared across similar courses. The BA (Hons) Dance course is partly based at Pavilion dance South West.AUB is governed by its board of governors. The principal and vice-chancellor, through the University Management Team, is responsible for the executive management of the university, supported by a number of executive committees. The academic board is the university's principal academic authority. Subject to the responsibilities of the board of governors and the principal and vice-chancellor, the academic board has oversight of academic activities. In 2020, Paul Gough was appointed principal and vice chancellor of the university, following the retirement of Stuart Bartholomew, who had served as principal and vice chancellor at the institution since 1997.The university offers short courses, Summer courses as well as Foundation Diplomas, BA, MA and Research (MPhil/PhD) degrees. The main focus of all courses lies within the areas of art, design, media, and performance. The institution runs 23 undergraduate and 10 postgraduate programmes organised in two faculties: the Faculty of Art and Design and the Faculty of Media and Performance. These courses are validated for a maximum period of five years and, during the final year, a periodic review is undertaken by a process similar to that for validation with the addition to the panel of up to two student representatives. AUB was awarded Gold ("provision is consistently outstanding and of the highest quality found in the UK Higher Education sector") in the 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework, a government assessment of the quality of undergraduate teaching in universities and other higher education providers in England. Further Education teaching at AUB was also rated Outstanding (with Outstanding ratings in all criteria) by Ofsted in 2018.All students of the Arts University Bournemouth are automatically a member of the Arts University Bournemouth Students’ Union (AUBSU), a registered charity affiliated with the National Union of Students. AUBSU runs over 30 clubs and societies, organises Freshers’ Weeks, volunteering and fundraising events, trains course representatives, and hosts annual general meetings for all students. Each year, elections are held for both sabbatical (President, Vice-President) and all volunteer (e.g. Events Officer, Communications Officer and Equality and Diversity Officer) posts.
Watch the videos to learn about the student life-cycle and the teaching environment at the University.
