Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College

The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College was an art college in the United Kingdom. It merged with the Kent Institute of Art & Design on 1 August 2005 to form the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester, now the University for the Creative Arts.

It was the second largest specialist art and design institution in the country, the University of the Arts, London notwithstanding, boasting as it does a 3,500 yearly student intake. Akin to the London college and the Royal College of Art, it also had degree-awarding powers independent of a university college. It was, indeed, a degree validating partner for fellow art school, The Arts Institute at Bournemouth.

The Farnham School of Art was founded in 1866. The Guildford School of Art followed in 1870. The two conjoined to become the West Surrey College of Art and Design in 1969. In 1994 there was a further merger with the Epsom School of Art, with the combined institution renamed the Surrey Institute of Art & Design a year later. These two former colleges formed the basis for the two main campuses of the school. In 1999 the college was granted university college status and took on its last name.

Notable alumni

• Linda Barker, TV presenter
• Cecily Brown, painter
• Geoffrey Burnand, painter
• Davide Cinzi, cinematographer
• Jack Coutu, printmaker and sculptor
• Michael Dudok de Wit, animator
• Andrew Gray, graphic designer
• Annabel Jankel, animator and film......
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