Robin's Blog

A nexus of innovation

Our mission is to champion the creative, collaborative exploitation of digital technology through vocationally focused design and communication courses. Courses that have won us Skillset Media Academy status, with our partners 01zero-one and Cass Business School. This makes Ravensbourne one of a national network of centres of excellence in creative media education and training.

At every level – pre-degree, undergraduate and postgraduate – our students are encouraged to collaborate and innovate; to think beyond the conventions of their specialisms and be genuinely creative in the pursuit of design and communications solutions.

Networked with industry

We’re closely integrated with business and measured by industry standards, developing highly employable, enterprising graduates ready to meet both the current and future needs of London’s design and communication industries.

Through our industry links and a dedicated research and enterprise centre, we champion the role of the knowledge economy in creative businesses. Our young professionals emerge equipped with the skills and commercial acumen to launch successful careers and businesses of their own. We also foster new collaborations, and help organisations develop their digital skills.

We will run a creative business incubation programme, using our research and enterprise with converging technologies to support developing design and media companies. As a design ‘laboratory’, we’ll provide a space for industrial future planning and prototyping, and play a key role in the innovation of London’s digital technology industries.

We also run accredited Apple and Adobe short courses, and help established professionals gain new skills through Continuing Professional Development sessions in broadcast and design technologies. We also work with employers to address specific skills gaps.

A dynamic destination

In its new home, Ravensbourne is set to become a portal for talent across London, driving growth in the knowledge economy and creative industries. Providing exciting, stimulating, student-centred learning, with inspirational teaching staff and the very latest technology.

Working with government agencies and other key stakeholders, we’ll enable enhanced education and industry collaboration to develop the highly skilled, adaptable creative professionals who will deliver Britain’s digital future.

Our new building, next to The O2 at Greenwich Peninsula, will be as revolutionary on the outside as it is on the inside. It will be a building for the future. A space in constant motion, as ideas flow, meet, and inter-react, inspiring greater innovation at every turn.

Easy to get to by Tube, river and road, we’re set to become a vital new destination – connected to our neighbours, the rest of London, the UK and the world. Physically, digitally, socially.

Designed by leading contemporary practice Foreign Office Architects, the new building has been designed to encourage flow and interaction between disciplines.

A building that never stands still

There will be landings and lobbies; open spaces and quiet corners. Social spaces, galleries, workshops, technology hubs. Design studios and production suites. All linked through virtual environments and digital technologies connect us not only to each other but with collaborators across the world.

Connected through a ubiquitous high-speed wireless network, our new building will be home to state-of-the-art resources including an HD TV studio, 2D and 3D rapid prototyping equipment, digital media studios and post-production suites, virtual environments, flexible digital teaching studios, and a postgraduate enterprise and innovation centre.

We’re developing an educational framework that encourages independent learning, and uses shared technology and social media to inspire the creative use of digital resources. In our teaching practice, we make proactive use of networked technologies to enhance students’ experience and to support collaboration.

Known the world over

Ravensbourne’s success is evident in the many prestigious industry awards won by our young professionals – from organisations including the Royal Society of Arts, D&AD, Promax, Graduate Fashion Week, New Designers, the Audi Design Foundation, and Brantano. Our student degree shows, and the unique broadcasting event Rave on Air, are also admired and attended by industry leaders.

We also have global aspirations and connections – we’re part of a national and international network of innovators, partnering with major multi-national brands like Samsung, Microsoft and MTV. And our alumni include many industry world names, including Stella McCartney, Emma Hill of Mulberry, Jay Osgerby of Barber Osgerby, Bruce Oldfield, Russell Pinch of Pinch Design, Ian Forrester of BBC Backstage, and many others.

We have strong links with a number of education institutions overseas, linked to our target markets in China, India, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. Ten percent of our students are international, with a high proportion of postgraduates attracted by our significant investment in digital technology and our professional relevance. We also participate in global competitions and live projects, ranging from documentary filmmaking on humanitarian work in Zambia to staff and student exchanges with the Pearl Academy in India and the Renaissance Academy of Design in Japan.

Using their own laptops and other personal technology, our staff and young professionals are free to create, communicate and collaborate wherever they are. They can also access e-learning services, showcase their work, send data to our render farms and prototyping facilities, and distribute work through the internet and our own IPTV channel.