STUDENTS
“Over 80 global exchange partners”
Socially and culturally diverse, the GSA has one of the highest numbers of international and EU students of any UK visual creative institution or faculty and one of Scotland’s highest percentages of students from more disadvantaged backgrounds.
At SoFA, at undergraduate level 56% of students are Scottish/EU, 36% of students are from RUK and 8% from the rest of the world. At PG level 59% of students are from Europe/UK and 41% from the rest of the world.
Recent international partnerships that have been developed include numerous institutions in China; Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Thin Blood Thick Water 2017-18, Flannery O’kafka, Fine Art Photography 2018
The School has also established an international articulation with Ljósmyndaskólinn in Iceland as well as with the School of the Arts Singapore. The School has developed partnerships for student exchange and/or international research funding applications with European partners, including:
Bergen University
Dublin Institute of Technology
Stockholm University of the Arts
University of Applied Arts, Vienna
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, Copenhagen
Beaux-Arts Nantes Saint-Nazaire (Fieldwork Marfa)
Oslo National Academy of Arts
St. Lucas, Brussels
Universität der Kunst, Berlin
Gerrit Reitveld Academie, Amsterdam
Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg
Over 80 gsa global exchange partners, including:
Hunter College, New York
CalArts, Los Angeles
Concordia, Montreal
San Francisco Arts Institute
University of New Mexico, Alberquerque
School of the Art Institute Chicago
Emily Carr, Vancouver
SoTA, Singapore
Pratt, New York
MICA, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
Case Study:
SHAring a View
32 staff members from the SoFA exhibited across four different locations in China for the touring exhibition Sharing a View: Contemporary Art from Glasgow. The exhibition included 114 artworks across painting, sculpture, video and photography, and was curated by Xiaoai Wang in the GSA’s representative office in China.
It was culmination of the GSA's relationship with Luxun Academy of Fine Arts (LAFA), which began with the 2017 LAFA exhibition SoFA Presents: East and West Walk Forward: Luxun Academy of Fine Arts (China) Teachers' Exhibition, in the GSA's Reid Building.
Widening Participation
Working extensively with Scottish schools and colleges, the GSA has a strong track record in widening participation. We have already met the Scottish Government’s 2030 target of 20% of new UG entrants coming from the most deprived communities in Scotland as measured by SIMD.
Having met this target at institutional level, it is important to ensure it is maintained but also reflected equally across all GSA Schools and programmes. Building on the success of work to date with low socio-economic groups, a key priority moving forward is to increase participation across other groups under-represented at the GSA including care and ethnicity from both Scotland and across the UK.
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