The Glasgow School of Art (GSA)

About

The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; Scottish Gaelic: Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is internationally recognised as one of Europe's top university-level institutions in the visual creative disciplines. Based in the heart of Glasgow with connections across the globe, our studio-based teaching and world-leading research spans art, design, architecture, innovation and technology, making a significant difference to contemporary society.

Objectives

The GSA's purpose is to contribute to a better world through creative education and research, fostering a culture of creativity, critical thinking, and innovation. 

Reasons to Study at The Glasgow School of Art

1. Innovative Studio Based Learning

   Our studio-based approach fosters deep specialisms and collaborative practice. Through interdisciplinarity, peer learning, critical enquiry, and prototyping, students, tutors, and researchers tackle problems creatively and develop innovative solutions. Strong links with academic institutions, research partners, and creative industries enable us to address challenges in Glasgow and beyond.

    

2. Global Connections and Creative Impact

   We build strong partnerships with institutions across Europe and beyond, offering exchanges and global collaborations with students, tutors, and practitioners. Our graduates leave a lasting mark—many contribute to Glasgow’s creative scene, while others work worldwide, presenting ideas and developing innovative solutions to key social challenges.

    

3. Glasgow at the heart of GSA

   There is no GSA without Glasgow, and no Glasgow of the past 150 years without GSA. The School’s influence is seen in the city’s architecture, shops, theatres, and galleries. Its creative spirit thrives in festivals, cultural spaces, and daily conversations. While Glasgow remains GSA’s heart, we’ve expanded with a Highlands and Islands campus and a representative office in China.

    

4. Creative Network

   The Glasgow School of Art’s Creative Network connects over 20,000 graduates across 95 countries who support the School through teaching, advice, and partnerships. Our alumni include top architects, Turner Prize winners, designers, musicians, writers, and academics. Many choose to remain in Glasgow, enriching its status as one of Europe’s leading cultural cities.

    

Fees

Admission

Undergraduate Admission Requirement

Entry requirements for 2026/27 entry, and all requirements are subject to alteration. Applicants should consult the How to Apply pages on the GSA website before making an application.

Requirements vary by course. Check the course page for the requirements.

Postgraduate Admission Requirments

Please note that all our degree programmes are subject to alteration and applicants should consult the relevant programme pages on the GSA website before making an application.

How To Apply For Admission

UNDERGRADUATE:

• UCAS Application
  Application forms for 2026 entry should be submitted to UCAS by 18:00 (UK Time) on 14 January 2026.
  You can read more information on how to complete your UCAS application here.
• Digital Portfolio submission
   
• Applicants to all programmes (with the exception of Product Design Engineering) are required to submit a Digital Portfolio by 13:00 (UK Time) on 21 January 2026.

On receipt of your completed UCAS application, you will be provided with your login details for the Digital Portfolio Site from [email protected] within two working days. You are welcome to upload your Digital Portfolio as soon as you receive your invitation email, but no later than this deadline.

You can find the information on Digital Portfolio requirements in the Application Guidelines document on the relevant programme page.

?Your portfolio statement
The Portfolio Statement is an opportunity to expand on yourDigital Portfolio, highlight a project of your choice, further detail your interests/inspiration and tailor your application to the GSA programme you have applied to. The Portfolio Statement you submit must not exceed 3000 characters (approx. 500 words) and should not be the same as your UCAS PersonalStatement.

 POSTGRADUATE:

Applications for postgraduate programmes should be made directly to the School. Required documents for most programmes are as follows:

• Completed Online Application Form
• Digital Portfolio
• Personal Statement (a concise critical self-evaluation of your work and the reasons for wishing to join the programme at the GSA, approx. 500 words)
• Evidence of Academic Qualifications (Certified photocopies/Transcripts)
• Academic References x 2
• Evidence of English Language Proficiency e.g. IELTS (if appropriate
• Copy of Photocopy

Admission Contacts

Email: [email protected]
Phone : +44 (0)141 353 4512

Gallery

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  TGSA Art Studio

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  TGSA Library

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  Gradauating Students

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  Campus Sports

Welcome to Glasgow - A GSA Guide

Facilities

Accommodation: New undergraduate and postgraduate students are invited to apply for our purpose built halls of residence, conveniently located within a five minute walk from the Glasgow School of Art's main campus. Close to amenities and well connected to public transport, our halls offer a secure and fully furnished living space designed to make your transition to studying in Glasgow as comfortable and stress free as possible.

 In addition to Glasgow, we offer accommodation for students studying at our Highlands and Islands campus in Forres. This option provides convenient and comfortable housing, designed to support your studies in a beautiful and unique part of Scotland.

Accreditations

GSA

Academic Staff

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  Sarah Smith

  Head of Research Professor Sarah Smith is Head of Research and Professor of Visual Culture at The Glasgow School of Art. Sarah has a BA from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin (1994), an MA from University... read more

  College Dublin (1995), and a PhD from the University of Glasgow (2007). Her research expertise is in visual culture, with specialisms in artists’ moving image and feminist art. Sarah's research is published in peer-reviewed journals such as Screen, Sculpture Journal, and Feminist Media Studies. Her book, Artists' Moving Image: Cinema as Archive, will be published by Bloomsbury in April 2026. Sarah supervises PhDs in artists' moving image, experimental film, and feminist art. She is a member of the AHRC Peer Review College, the Irish Research Council, and FCT (Portugal) Arts and Humanities Peer Review College, and was a member of REF2021 Panel 32: Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory.
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  Susanne Norregard

  Lecturer Susanne Nørregård Nielsen is a Scottish-based Danish artist. She originally trained as a screen-printer in Copenhagen before studying printmaking and painting at the Art Academy (P.W.S.S.P.) in Pozn... read more

  an, Poland. After two years, she went on to study in the Painting and Printmaking Department at Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 1998. Since 10th January 2000, Susanne has taught in the Painting and Printmaking Department of The Glasgow School of Art. Nielsen’s art practice makes frequent use of strategies of appropriation. Although her practice is rooted in painting, other media and materials such as photography, plants, textiles, and embroideries are often used to make the work. Through a rigorously research-led practice, Nielsen’s work sets out to challenge dominant art historical interpretations of key art and artists, in particular the three leading twentieth century pioneers of abstraction, Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943), Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), and Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935). 
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  Bruce Peter

  Lecturer and Researcher Bruce Peter is the Professor of Design History in the Glasgow School of Art’s School of Design. He has researched and published extensively on modern architecture and design for transport, pleasure ... read more

  and hospitality and is also internationally known as a maritime historian, specialising in the design history of modern merchant ships. As an undergraduate student in the early-1990s, Bruce wrote his first book, Glasgow’s Amazing Cinemas, published in 1996 to coincide with the centenary of the earliest film show in the city. His PhD, Form Follows Fun: Modernism and Modernity in British Pleasure Architecture 1925-1940, was published by Routledge in 2007. His interests in passenger ships and their interiors then led to him co-authoring Cruise: Identity, Design and Culture, which was followed by three further works: Ship Style: Modernism and Modernity at Sea in the Twentieth Century, QE2: Britain’s Greatest Liner and The Ferry: A Drive-though History. In Denmark, Bruce was commissioned to write a history of the naval architecture firm Knud E Hansen, which Polyteknisk Forlag produced. He next wrote a history of Danish liner shipping, Dansk Linjefart, which was later republished in English as Danish Liners around the World. These works led to a commission from the Danish Maritime Museum, Museet for Søfart, to write the official guide book about its architectural design by Bjarke Ingels Group and the exhibitions in its galleries. 
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  Tilo Einert

  Stage Leader - Senior Lecturer He is an architect, educator, and researcher with over twenty-five years of experience in practice and teaching. As Senior Lecturer and Stage Leader, He mentors emerging architects while shaping curri... read more

  cula that value curiosity, craft, experimentation, and integration. My teaching emphasises student-centred learning, encouraging design exploration through iterative and intermedial processes and fostering interdisciplinary, cross-boundary approaches. He contributes nationally and internationally as a visiting critic and External Examiner. His professional practice spans the design of buildings of diverse typologies and public spaces, as well as restoration and adaptive reuse, including award-winning residential projects. During a sabbatical abroad, He contributed to research on lightweight, energy-efficient buildings, components, and retrofit solutions. He is fascinated by thresholds—the in-between states, whether spatial, temporal, psychological, or conceptual. He envisioned them as realms in their own right, charged by the presence of the adjacent. It is within this liminal tension that fertile ground emerges for exploration, experimentation, and transformation.

Notable Alumni

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  Charles Rennie Mackintosh Architect
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  Karla Black Sculptor
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  Muirhead Bone Painter
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  Frances MacDonald Artist

History

There is no GSA without Glasgow, and arguably no Glasgow of the past 150 years without the GSA. Walking around the city, you’ll spot the influence of the School and its graduates in its buildings, in its shop windows,... read more