Abertay University vs Norwich University of the Arts for game art?

Hi TSR people,
I understand the intersection of people applying to Abertay in Scotland and NUA in England is probably quite low, but perhaps someone who is interested in game art or game development has some information about these two choices?
In tuition fees they end up being quite similar for me, but I wonder what people think of the cities (Dundee vs Norwich) and how welcoming they would be of international students, and about the courses and universities themselves - which has better ties to the games industry and has more opportunities to develop adjacent art skills? Thanks!

EDIT: I've chosen Abertay, in part for the lower cost, in part because the countryside of Scotland seems exciting, and in part because Dundee is one of the best places in Europe for video game jobs.

Hi! I’m in the exact same dilemma! NUA vs Abertay lol. How’s it going for you so far?

Hi sorry for the wait, my email sync seems to be a bit slow 😅
Abertay is going very well, I guess the biggest thing that surprised me was how easy it was for me to find many friends - I got into the freshers Discords other students were forming early, and so we kind of knew eachother by the time uni rolled around. Parker House is good student accomodations for a reasonable price, straight 5 minute path to the uni campus itself. I like the city centre location since everything is nearby, including the train and bus stations. Community very accepting of queer peeps, a bunch of fun societies, etc.

The course itself - it's pretty solid, has some so-so parts, idk about par for the course with a game arts uni. For term 1 we have three modules - hand drawn animation, 3D modelling and texturing, and observational drawing. There are no exams, learning is purely assessed based on project work, and although you are encouraged to strive for more and I personally overscoped my projects way too much and am now working on a deadline extension over the holidays, it is possible to get by with less effort assuming you have some experience in the subjects. The average level is not very competitive, reflecting the fairly high acceptance rate; this may be a good thing though, I've heard about the awful crunch conditions at some art universities, with people dropping out from repetitive strain injuries etc. (For the record it seems like NUA is similarly non-competitive, from what I have experienced).

I would very much recommend that you look at the uni websites for what you can expect from the modules, and look up the module leads online. At Abertay y1 we have Robin Griffiths (@Melophilus) for animation (definitely my favourite module lead, her approach to teaching animation fundamentals is unique and I learned a lot despite already studying the subject), Clare Brennan (@ClareDundee) for observational drawing and you can see based on her portfolio that she does know what she's talking about, and Ryan Locke (@Loakers on YT) for 3D who is maybe the least engaging for me but that is in part because over half of the students have never used 3D software before and the lectures are focused on them (still, I got to do my own very fun and complex 3D project for the module). If you can do the same sort of research for your potential future NUA teachers, that would probably be very helpful!

Some miscellaneous general bsckground info - Abertay is in Dundee, which has the highest concentration of video game jobs in the world. However, it is a small city of ~150,000 people, and so the total number of studios is still not that impressive. Norwich is similarly small, and is also not known for its video game industry at all - it doesn't seem like a very arty city, BUT it is close enough to London that you can expect guest lecturers to be coming from there and for you to have internship opportunities there (a few months ago I saw that one of my favourite artists (@boyan_k_) had done a workshop on character design at NUA, shame I missed that). NUA seems to be more tech savvy about administration, and also have a more commercial outlook as compared to Abertays more research-university tempered blend of cultural and commercial. NUA is infinitely better at advertising and outreach - they organised engaging portfolio reviews during admissions (Abertay just took my portfolio and sent me acceptance and scholarship emails a few weeks later, no contact with staff, although they did answer questions quite quickly via email - I think they just expect students to come to in-person open days), had more useful newsletters, and even hosted s completely free and very insightful weekly series of webinars during the summer, with industry professional guests who had experience working in some very prestigious studios and had amazing peesonal art. I don't know if this sort of pro artist lecturing continues in the actual course, but if it does, that could be a genuine plus and compensate for how NUA's Norwich location lacks in art opportunities. Whether you decide on going to Norwich or not, I really recommend joining in the summer webinars this year.
For what its worth, I think Dundee looks a bit better on google maps, Norwich gives me the heebie jeebies with its super manicured suburbia starting so close to the city center.

wOW. That’s incredible! Thank you so much! Imma be checking everything out. And it’s great to hear it’s good for the gays, gals and pals 😂

If you don”t mind me asking a bit more, was there anything else that tipped you more towards Abertay? And how are the elective/optional modules? They look quite good, especially for concept design : ) do they have good labs? (Software and hardware like cintiqs or anything?)

Sorry im asking so much, but thank you!! Good luck with your studies! : )