Studios-Workshops

The environment, accommodation and workshops at West Dean are unique, providing the facilities to equip students with advanced practical skills. Tutors practise at the highest level in their field and the small groups of students means a high degree of personal tuition.

Tutors at the College are expert practitioners with outstanding international networks from professional contacts. All students are allocated individual workspaces in dedicated studio-workspaces. The purpose-built workshops, specifically designed to support advanced practice to each specialist area, are open 15 hours a day, seven days a week.

Tutors, technicians and administrators work closely together in order to support an environment that is focussed upon the achievement of individual goals.

Resources

The quality of resources, range of professional expertise and exquisite location combine to make West Dean distinctive and different from any other place of learning in the United Kingdom, thanks in great part to the vision and remarkable legacy of Edward James.

IT facilities are available within each studio-workshop, including a scanner, digital camera and Internet access. Additional computers are sited within the college library and IT suite. There is also a photographic studio and fully equipped lecture rooms. Some basic tools are provided at the beginning of the programme as well as some specialist equipment. Students are encouraged to build up their own set of tools while all basic materials are supplied.

Not only do students have access to the extensive range of artefacts in West Dean House, but also to the excellent related primary source material from a large number of private and public collections and from members of the British Antique Dealers' Association.

There is a well-stocked library that provides an inter-library loan service and access to electronic information sources via the Internet. Each programme publishes an indicative reading list and the library holds copies of these texts. A small number of books are recommended for purchase.

There is a computer suite located in the main building, which has nine workstations with
Microsoft Office applications, Adobe Photoshop imaging software, Internet access, scanners, colour inkjet printers and an overhead data projector. The workstations support CD Recordable, CD Writeable, DVD-Rom and Iomega Zip 100 media