Kingston University London

The Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture at Kingston University counts many of Britain's most successful creative practitioners among its graduates and last year awarded Honorary Doctorates to Fiona Banner, James Irvine and Jasper Morrison. This year we celebrated the work of the international architect David Chipperfield, another former student.

We are most committed to the potential of our current and future students to shape and improve the world – locally, nationally and internationally. In this regard, we are this year launching a new MA course that exemplifies our commitment to social and ethical approaches to design practice – MA Design for Development. In September 2008 we will be running a range of new courses, which are supported by a significant investment in developing and expanding all our workshops – at Kingston we believe in making, material thinking and all students making use of our impressive facilities.

Over the past year we have focused on developing our links in China, with institutions based in Beijing and Shanghai. We have undertaken projects with Shanghai University and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and we are currently aiming to develop our links in Dubai, a project being lead by our School of Surveying. These links and projects provide the opportunity for student and staff exchanges, and exciting joint projects with students at these institutions – all of which are essential for the development of a truly international context and perspective.