UCA Foundation Course

As a current student of Farnham campus I can tell you that the foundation course itself is really good, I don't know a single person who's studied that course who didn't come out of it happy with the course, and I know a lot of people who've done the course. Farnham itself is a tiny town with very little in it, nothing to do, not many places to buy your stuff from. The uni accommodation is a joke, if you can avoid staying on campus as the halls are atrociously bad, and only due to get worse. The uni itself isn't too bad, boring and quiet but it's not too bad. Some of the people here are awesome. If you only want to stay here the half a year for the foundation degree then I'd say it's not too bad for that.
What are the main things that concern you or that you want to know? Any specific areas or things that are most important to you?

Hello !

I received an offer for the foundation course in Farnham and had similar inquiries as the OP so I am glad I found this post!

the accomodation weren't great, where can you stay appart from on the campus? Is it possible to get a job in the town or would you have to go to another city? Do they have a car park in case you have a car?

It annoys me a bit if there's not much to do but I guess like that I will focus 100% on the work ^.^

I'm currently studying this very course and like you I'm moving onto another uni for my degree. I've had mixed experiences with the course. It is a very useful course and I feel that I've bettered my skills through it and I feel more prepared for a degree. It is good that they offer taster and access to some of the degree course workshops which puts you in an advantage if you go on to do a crafts degree (as my friend will do). Having said that, as we approach the end of the year it is clear that the university cares less about this course than the degrees, which is totally understandable but it's very inconvenient at points - it feels poorly organised, there are a lot of misunderstandings and information doesn't reach everyone always. I personally have not had too many issues with my tutor (after five weeks of trying all pathways you pick one pathway and specialise, I chose 3D design) but mid year you constantly hear people complain about tutors. There is a workshop dedicated for foundation but it is small and there is only 1 technician running it (who comes across as cynic and rude at first) and because this 1 technician was away with medical leave, lots of people couldn't complete all the tasks they needed because the workshop was barely ever open (including me!). The laser cutter is now free, so you can just book a time (this is great for me as I do architectural models), however there's only one cutter for the whole uni and I imagine that for degree students that definitely need this it's very inconvenient.
I realise I'm replying rather late and you may have already made your choice. If you chose UCA don't feel worried because of my comments, here's my best advice; for part one work hard and be on all tutors good books regardless of weather you'll pick their pathway, sign up for the workshops during the course, they give you really good skills with awesome machines and you'll learn where most workshops are in the uni, get to know the foundation workshop technician at the start of the year and have a go at the workshop early on (this will put you in the technicians good books and you'll know your way around the workshop, also it's very busy just before deadlines), there isn't enough computers on busy days for everyone so if like me you don't have your own laptop don't leave using the library until last minute or on busy days, book resources well in advance (sometimes things are booked up for a whole month and the tutors/technicians truly won't give a **** if you haven't been proactive), finally try to be on top of your work especially for part 3 and understand everything that is required for assessment criteria! (It was all very obvious to me but lots of people don't get it I don't know how). This is all I can think of, they have a trip to Amsterdam which was awesome (a little poorly organised but great), I picked 3D design and I focus on spatial and architectural design so my resource use is based heavily on that. Overall, foundation course was a really well spent time for me before my degree, the issues I had were extremely inconvenient and irritating but it made me realise I have to drive myself and be as organised as I can cos you never know when issues will come up! You'll love foundation and you'll miss it even though it was far from perfect!