Game Art Postgraduate University Decision
Hello! I am currently at my senior year at the university and want to do my MA in 3D modelling (MA Games Art). But I feel a bit indecisive over which university I should go for to get the best education in my field of focus. I would greatly appreciate the advice. Here are the universities I am considering:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Goldsmiths, University of London
University of Hertfordshire
University of Staffordshire
Escape Studios
Anglia Ruskin
University for the Creative Arts
University of Plymouth
Manchester Metropolitan University
Goldsmiths, University of London
University of Hertfordshire
University of Staffordshire
Escape Studios
Anglia Ruskin
University for the Creative Arts
University of Plymouth
This may be a relevant thread for you, specifically for details about Herts & Escape.
My picks from your list would be Herts, Staffs, Escape or UCA, somewhat dependent on how much you want to specialise (Are you interested in characters or environments more? What about niches like VFX, lighting, technical art?) , what your previous experience is, what kind of places you want to live, whether you have concerns about your living costs, etc. If you have some other info & what you did for your BA/where you did it, that might help to give you some more specific advice.
Some of these masters are designed to be conversion masters for people who took something tangentially or unrelated at BA and some are designed to upskill people who have come off a specialised undergrad (i.e. Game art or game design), so that plays quite a big role.
But these 4 have good industry ties, are well-established and are well-accredited by organisations like Unreal academic partnership, Rookies, TIGA, ScreenSkills etc. Look into those if you haven't already - not the be all and end all but generally markers that courses are maintaining modern standards and keeping up to date with progression in the industry.
My picks from your list would be Herts, Staffs, Escape or UCA, somewhat dependent on how much you want to specialise (Are you interested in characters or environments more? What about niches like VFX, lighting, technical art?) , what your previous experience is, what kind of places you want to live, whether you have concerns about your living costs, etc. If you have some other info & what you did for your BA/where you did it, that might help to give you some more specific advice.
Some of these masters are designed to be conversion masters for people who took something tangentially or unrelated at BA and some are designed to upskill people who have come off a specialised undergrad (i.e. Game art or game design), so that plays quite a big role.
But these 4 have good industry ties, are well-established and are well-accredited by organisations like Unreal academic partnership, Rookies, TIGA, ScreenSkills etc. Look into those if you haven't already - not the be all and end all but generally markers that courses are maintaining modern standards and keeping up to date with progression in the industry.
Original post by aspalax
This may be a relevant thread for you, specifically for details about Herts & Escape.
My picks from your list would be Herts, Staffs, Escape or UCA, somewhat dependent on how much you want to specialise (Are you interested in characters or environments more? What about niches like VFX, lighting, technical art?) , what your previous experience is, what kind of places you want to live, whether you have concerns about your living costs, etc. If you have some other info & what you did for your BA/where you did it, that might help to give you some more specific advice.
Some of these masters are designed to be conversion masters for people who took something tangentially or unrelated at BA and some are designed to upskill people who have come off a specialised undergrad (i.e. Game art or game design), so that plays quite a big role.
But these 4 have good industry ties, are well-established and are well-accredited by organisations like Unreal academic partnership, Rookies, TIGA, ScreenSkills etc. Look into those if you haven't already - not the be all and end all but generally markers that courses are maintaining modern standards and keeping up to date with progression in the industry.
My picks from your list would be Herts, Staffs, Escape or UCA, somewhat dependent on how much you want to specialise (Are you interested in characters or environments more? What about niches like VFX, lighting, technical art?) , what your previous experience is, what kind of places you want to live, whether you have concerns about your living costs, etc. If you have some other info & what you did for your BA/where you did it, that might help to give you some more specific advice.
Some of these masters are designed to be conversion masters for people who took something tangentially or unrelated at BA and some are designed to upskill people who have come off a specialised undergrad (i.e. Game art or game design), so that plays quite a big role.
But these 4 have good industry ties, are well-established and are well-accredited by organisations like Unreal academic partnership, Rookies, TIGA, ScreenSkills etc. Look into those if you haven't already - not the be all and end all but generally markers that courses are maintaining modern standards and keeping up to date with progression in the industry.
Thank you for the reply! I am currently a digital game design student. I have no concerns regarding living costs. All I am looking for is quality education in modelling with good industry ties that can help me land a job after I graduate. But another concern I have in my mind is that the rankings of the universities you advised me (according to QS and Times Higher Education). The highest rank holders among all the universities I shared in my list are Goldsmiths and MMU in QS and THE. Is there a reason why you didn't recommend them?
Cool - this is good context. Are they "highest rank" in terms of overall academic achievement? Is it specific to digital art? Is it specific to games? How about employability rates in relevant fields as a postgraduate?
I would probably drop at least UCA from my list with the context of your previous course given they are primarily a conversion masters.
No course will help you "get a job"- they may help set you up with good connections, they may allow you to build a great portfolio, but there is a huge degree of presumption when it comes to these kinds of courses and the fact is they can only ever set you on the right path and a huge amount of being successful in finding a role is self-initiative. You can be a great artist and flunk every interview and I know 'cause I've seen it. Succeeding in finding a job in games is about repeated exposure to failure and rejection until you become immune to it 🙃
In my experience, a lot of "good" (i.e. high academically rated) universities have started offering games courses within the last five years. This is because they have seen that it is a desirable job that people want to do and that applications to games-related courses are very high. It makes the university a lot of money. Did you look at the thread I sent? It does have some further insights from people who work in academia (which I do not).
Herts, Staffs - we are talking universities that have offered games courses for a lot longer than other places. This means they have more successful graduates, more graduate work to showcase, more resources, more established ties to industry and often longer-standing academic staff (so with more teaching experience and more experience helping people land their first position in industry).
Escape is a slightly different case being a newer university, but they are highly specialised to the industry - they have worked really hard to integrate themselves with strong industry connections.
Something else you can try... Look up your favourite UK games companies on Linkedin and tab to "People" - it will give you a list of the most common places people studied. A) this will likely back up (at least some of) what I said and B) it may give you some other universities to consider that you perhaps haven't already. Out of curiousity I did this for my own company recently (a AAA studio in the UK) and it features my university at #2, but Staffs and Herts feature in the top 5.
I would probably drop at least UCA from my list with the context of your previous course given they are primarily a conversion masters.
No course will help you "get a job"- they may help set you up with good connections, they may allow you to build a great portfolio, but there is a huge degree of presumption when it comes to these kinds of courses and the fact is they can only ever set you on the right path and a huge amount of being successful in finding a role is self-initiative. You can be a great artist and flunk every interview and I know 'cause I've seen it. Succeeding in finding a job in games is about repeated exposure to failure and rejection until you become immune to it 🙃
In my experience, a lot of "good" (i.e. high academically rated) universities have started offering games courses within the last five years. This is because they have seen that it is a desirable job that people want to do and that applications to games-related courses are very high. It makes the university a lot of money. Did you look at the thread I sent? It does have some further insights from people who work in academia (which I do not).
Herts, Staffs - we are talking universities that have offered games courses for a lot longer than other places. This means they have more successful graduates, more graduate work to showcase, more resources, more established ties to industry and often longer-standing academic staff (so with more teaching experience and more experience helping people land their first position in industry).
Escape is a slightly different case being a newer university, but they are highly specialised to the industry - they have worked really hard to integrate themselves with strong industry connections.
Something else you can try... Look up your favourite UK games companies on Linkedin and tab to "People" - it will give you a list of the most common places people studied. A) this will likely back up (at least some of) what I said and B) it may give you some other universities to consider that you perhaps haven't already. Out of curiousity I did this for my own company recently (a AAA studio in the UK) and it features my university at #2, but Staffs and Herts feature in the top 5.
(edited 2 months ago)
Goldsmiths and MMU's rank is based on QS's Art & Design ranking. In there, Goldsmiths is ranked as 21st in the world and MMU is ranked as 51-100 in the world, while neither of Herts or Staffs is listed on there. It is why I got confused. Also, would you mind sharing the university you graduated from with me, if that is okay? I would like to check it out too 😊
Original post by pinozor
Goldsmiths and MMU's rank is based on QS's Art & Design ranking. In there, Goldsmiths is ranked as 21st in the world and MMU is ranked as 51-100 in the world, while neither of Herts or Staffs is listed on there. It is why I got confused. Also, would you mind sharing the university you graduated from with me, if that is okay? I would like to check it out too 😊
Ah - that would make sense. Well, ultimately it is your decision to make and MMU and Goldsmiths are well-funded universities, but I warn you because their games courses are new - that ranking is going to primarily based on their results from Fine Art and so on. It may not be reflective of the quality of teaching on the course you want to do. Be sure you have thoroughly looked at examples of student work and it is of a quality you would be proud to present to someone in an interview.
Yes, I went to De Montfort University and studied BA Game Art, but they do not offer an MA in Games.
Original post by aspalax
Ah - that would make sense. Well, ultimately it is your decision to make and MMU and Goldsmiths are well-funded universities, but I warn you because their games courses are new - that ranking is going to primarily based on their results from Fine Art and so on. It may not be reflective of the quality of teaching on the course you want to do. Be sure you have thoroughly looked at examples of student work and it is of a quality you would be proud to present to someone in an interview.
Yes, I went to De Montfort University and studied BA Game Art, but they do not offer an MA in Games.
Yes, I went to De Montfort University and studied BA Game Art, but they do not offer an MA in Games.
Alright, thank you very much for help!
Original post by pinozor
Hello! I am currently at my senior year at the university and want to do my MA in 3D modelling (MA Games Art). But I feel a bit indecisive over which university I should go for to get the best education in my field of focus. I would greatly appreciate the advice. Here are the universities I am considering:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Goldsmiths, University of London
University of Hertfordshire
University of Staffordshire
Escape Studios
Anglia Ruskin
University for the Creative Arts
University of Plymouth
Manchester Metropolitan University
Goldsmiths, University of London
University of Hertfordshire
University of Staffordshire
Escape Studios
Anglia Ruskin
University for the Creative Arts
University of Plymouth
Hi @pinozor, thanks for considering Manchester Met for your postgraduate Games Art study. Our MA Games Art course is not a conversion course so it's aimed at those studying a related subject such as games design, so your undergraduate degree would be perfect.
Whilst the MA course may be newer than others offered elsewhere, our School of Digital Arts is well established with exciting industry partnerships, as seen here: SODA industry partners, as well as our academics who have strong links to creative media, arts and digital tech industries throughout the country and beyond. Our SODA Industry Advisory Group is also chaired by Oscar-winning director, Danny Boyle and Chief Exec of Quay Street Productions, Nicola Shindler.
Most of the course delivery centres around developing skills in 3D software and game engines, such as Autodesk Maya and the Unity and Unreal engines.
If you're able to it'd be worth attending our next Postgraduate Open Day on Wednesday, 7th May 2025 as you'll be able to speak with the SODA academics in person as well as attend a specific subject talk. You can book on here: Postgraduate Open Day: book your place.
There is also a SODA postgraduate course webinar coming up on Wednesday, 12th March at 1pm, that may be of interest to you. You can book on here: Postgraduate Subject Webinars: book your place.
I hope this helps.
Mel 🙂
Reply 8
Original post by pinozor
Hello! I am currently at my senior year at the university and want to do my MA in 3D modelling (MA Games Art). But I feel a bit indecisive over which university I should go for to get the best education in my field of focus. I would greatly appreciate the advice. Here are the universities I am considering:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Goldsmiths, University of London
University of Hertfordshire
University of Staffordshire
Escape Studios
Anglia Ruskin
University for the Creative Arts
University of Plymouth
Manchester Metropolitan University
Goldsmiths, University of London
University of Hertfordshire
University of Staffordshire
Escape Studios
Anglia Ruskin
University for the Creative Arts
University of Plymouth
Hello @pinozor !!
I'm Jodie, a 3rd year Game Art student at University of Staffordshire and I think I might be able to give you some advice / general knowledge of what we have to offer here in regards to a masters in Game Art
For starters, most, if not all of the lecturers and teaching staff here have had some industry experience and are super knowledgeable in what they teach. They're also really open and want to help you with your studies as much as possible and constantly give feedback on your work to make sure you achieve your absolute best
When it comes to facilities, all of our labs are equipped with dual monitor setups, a Wacom tablet of some sort and the latest industry standard software. You can also hire out equipment such as Wacom tablets, pens for the tablets, VR headsets, cameras etc - so if you were ever working on a project and needed some equipment the uni has you covered! On top of that we also have 3D printers and a laser scanner which students can access when they have the training for it
I may not be a masters student myself, but after doing 3 years here the quality of content I have been taught has been nothing but the best. I chose to focus on the environment art route (so I do all the maps and props for games), and the course content stays focused solely around the areas that I chose to do, meaning I can spend maximum time learning what I want to learn without having to go to classes and cover topics that don't really suit me. I couldn't recommend UoS enough
If you have any more questions, want some areas I've gone over explained a bit more or anything else, don't hesitate to reach out!! Would love to help
All the best with whatever you do, and I hope your senior year goes smoothly
Jodie - Games Artist and Student Content Creator 💫
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