Dartington College of Arts - Student View

Beautiful campus, 30-minute walk from Totnes. 13th-century hall surrounded by courtyard and Elizabethan gardens. Small campus, intimate and comforting but sometimes claustrophobic.

Provision for disabled students improving all the time on a difficult campus (on a hill). A small college, not a lot of money put into SU but still provides a variety of events, trips out, theme nights, DJs and regular live bands.

Easy reach of Torbay, Plymouth, Exeter and Dartmoor, though local bus service infrequent. Totnes has great secondhand market every Friday and mainline railway station, a leisure centre with pool, yoga classes and every type of therapy imaginable.

Town and college mix well and there are a number of good pubs and eateries. A nurse in college each morning and a GP visits weekly; also on-site counsellor for personal and confidential issues and a drop-in welfare surgery at the SU.

Good college accommodation officer, with lists of flats and houses to rent as alternative to rooms in halls (no on-site accommodation for married couples or creche). Rural, so own transport is an advantage and hitching popular for getting around locally.

Students from a wide variety of social and educational backgrounds. Staff/student relationships excellent and atmosphere is friendly and informal. Applications from mature students positively encouraged. Library hours good; provision of texts/recorded material very good and excellent technical equipment resources. Workload can be high at times; failure rate is low. High-class visiting lecturers and professionals ensure that thinking is kept current in all subjects.

Easy-going, friendly college with a good community atmosphere; although some students find it's not for them and leave in the first year, most people love it!