Foundation Course

This collection contains the administrative records of the Basic Studies and Foundation courses run by the School of Foundation Studies at Birmingham Polytechnic (previously known as Birmingham College of Art and Crafts and Birmingham College of Art and Design) between 1960 and 1989. It also includes student artworks in a broad range of genres and media, although none of these date from before 1967.

The Foundation Course was set up in 1963 to prepare students to go on to degree level courses in art and design. It gave them an opportunity to gain an insight into a wide variety of art and design disciplines with a view to deciding what they should specialise in at degree level. Its introduction coincided with the first intake of Birmingham College of Art and Crafts students on to the Diploma in Art and Design. Prior to that, students had been able to take courses in Basic Studies.

The administrative records were created as part of the on-going management of the School of Foundation Studies. The artworks were made by students, but there is no record of whether they were donated, purchased or simply left behind. They have been sifted to exclude those examples where it was impossible to ascertain when they had been created on the grounds that these would not be useful for research purposes.

The Arts, Design and Media Archive at the Parkside Building is currently closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Please email any inquiries to adm-archives-request@bcu.ac.uk.