Footwear design is a skilful and creatively unique discipline that is highly sought after within the fashion industry. 51Âþ» is currently the only UK university offering a single honours course in this area, also enabling you to specialise in men’s, women’s, children’s or performance footwear.
In our industry-standard facilities, you will develop technical and modern shoemaking skills and be empowered to turn your imaginative 2D ideas into physical, 3D functional pieces. Our goal is to produce confident, career-ready graduates, and wider-employability skills are embedded throughout the curriculum. We will coach you on illustration and drawing skills, and you’ll learn how to present and communicate your ideas and concepts to a professional standard.
With over 100 years of heritage in footwear design, our impressive links with industry present opportunities to work with iconic footwear brands and help you to build an impressive address book of connections - students have recently worked with Adidas, Hermes and Kurt Geiger to name a few. We also host regular guest visits and lectures, so you can learn the tricks of the trade and gain valuable insights into new products and technologies.
- You don’t need to have a background in footwear to join us. The majority of our students have no previous experience but leave 51Âþ» as skilled experts and go onto achieve impressive things.
- We enter our students into annual competitions and have an impressive track-record of winners. These opportunities help to bolster your CV and get your work in front of global fashion houses.
Block teaching designed around you
You deserve a positive teaching and learning experience, where you feel part of a supportive and nurturing community. That’s why most students will enjoy an innovative approach to learning using block teaching, where you will study one module at a time. You’ll benefit from regular assessments – rather than lots of exams at the end of the year – and a simple timetable that allows you to engage with your subject and enjoy other aspects of university life such as sports, societies, meeting friends and discovering your new city. By studying with the same peers and tutor for each block, you’ll build friendships and a sense of belonging. Read more about block teaching.
A Top 30 University
Our students’ votes placed us as the 27th best university overall in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards
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An ‘Excellent’ Five Star Rated University
Rated by QS Top Universities for our teaching, facilities, employability, global outlook and more
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The Best Careers Support
51Âþ»â€™s Careers Team won Employability Team of the Year at the TargetJobs National Graduate Recruitment Awards for helping students reach their ambitions
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The First University to Achieve a Silver Race Equality Charter Award
Our work to improve equality and diversity, challenge racism and build an anti-racist community earned us the Race Equality Charter silver award from Advance HE
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Top 10 for Sustainability
51Âþ» was named 7th in People & Planet’s University League Table for our commitment to environmental sustainability
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The Best University for LGBTQ+ staff
A staff survey by Stonewall saw us ranked the top university, and 2nd across all employers, for our work to create an inclusive environment where everyone has a voice
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The Best Autism Support
The National Association of Disability Practitioners Award identified 51Âþ» as the best at supporting autistic students
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