Students from the Isle of Man College of Further and Higher Education are displaying creative work at the end of year exhibition 2016. This will be the last year under the name of lsle of Man College, the College has had this title since 1991 and in the time since has seen student numbers grow. The College originated in 1880 with the Douglas School of Art, and was founded by the then Lieutenant Governor Sir Henry Loch. So it is quite fitting that in this transition to University College Isle of Man the exhibition is to be opened by the new Lieutenant Governor Sir Richard Gozney.

With our degree shows at the Market Hall now behind us we look forward to exhibiting our Further Education course work. As ever it is an exciting exhibition to celebrate the end of course exam work and is being held from the 17th to the 29th June with work from over 100 students who have studied either full or part time. A diverse range of art, design and media outcomes from seven qualifications ranging from level 2 to level 4 is currently displayed up at the Colleges main campus in Homefield Road. The work on show includes painting, installations, printmaking, fashion design, footwear, ceramics, photography, film and sound. The exhibition is open to the public to view, students and staff will be around to talk to visitors about the work. This year during the exhibition we are hosting an open evening on Tuesday 21st June from 5.30-6.30pm.

This is the first year of our new qualifications under the University of the Arts London (UAL) examination awarding body. A highly prestigious exam board who only offer art, design and media qualifications which are delivered only in Universities, Further Education Colleges and Sixth Form Colleges.  We are very proud to have met the rigorous approval criteria to be part of this highly regarded exam board.

Many of our completing students are progressing onto degree programmes both here on the Island and across in the UK. During the course students build portfolios of work which they take to interviews, in each student’s exhibition you will be able see where they are going to next. Through the final major project students write their own briefs, these are called statement of intent and they manage their own learning supported by staff in weekly tutorials, this helps prepare them for study on Higher Education programmes.

We encourage students to take part in external projects so they can gain real life experience of working for clients. This year we have again filmed the Manx Youth Games and over TT three lucky students were employed by Duke Marketing. Not all students want to progress onto Higher Education programmes, so these kinds of experiences help build skills, confidence and CV’s.
One of our lecturers commented that "It is amazing to see some of the students developing media campaigns and apps that other staff in the organisation thought were real and developed by a team of professionals…!”

All the current courses for both Further and Higher education will continue to be offered under the rebranded University College Isle of Man. There is a large Creative Industries community on the Isle of Man, and by developing our degree programmes we are able to connect more with the business community, cultural/arts groups and organisations. We have some events running during the summer at the Market Hall which will be announced very soon.

The exhibition will be open to the public from Friday 17th June – Wednesday 29th June
Monday – Thursday 9-8 and Friday 10-4