Bucks ranked in top 12 among "Creative Universities" in the UK by Huffington Post

Gateway media hub - opened in 2010

One of the best things about teaching at Bucks New University is the huge range of media disciplines that are gathered around our High Wycombe campus. In recent years Bucks has been re-inventing itself as a major creative hub, following the huge £40million investment in the Gateway media building that houses a wide variety of creative arts. That investment is now beginning to pay off, and recently the Huffington Post recognised this by ranking us number 12 among creative universities in the UK.

This is very welcome news for everyone at Bucks. In traditional university terms, Bucks does not score high on the lists. We don't do much research, and we lack the prestige of the ancient universities. However, despite our name, our institution goes back in one form or another to the late 19th century. Founded in 1893 as the School of Science and Art, the original motto was "arte et industria", which doesn't need much translating, even if you skipped Latin at school.

Over a century on, that's still what we do. Animation and Visual Effects is a perfect example - a blend of art and industry, or, rather, art and computer science - which is much the same thing.

How it used to be at Bucks. And, in a way, still is.

I have taught animation at many schools and universities around the world. But I have never taught at a University that had better facilities for making media than we have here at Bucks. Film, TV, acting and performance, Green Screen, Live Events, Sound Design - we have talented students in every department. Check out the Bucks Media Collaborations page at Facebook, which brings these departments together to collaborate on great projects.

For anyone doing creative media at Bucks, things are getting better all the time. So it is great news that the world is starting to notice.

----Alex

(Editor's note: for more on collaborations between departments, check out this piece on the Bucks Media Collaborations page. To take a virtual tour of some of our excellent facilities, read this article.  And to see how serious we are about making sure our students are technically proficient, find out about why we're giving away free laptops to our new students.)