About us

The School of Arts, English & Communication Design brings together four departments with strong reputations for innovation in research, teaching, and enterprise. The School comprises four departments:

• English & American Literature
• Film, Theatre & Television
• Fine Art
• Typography & Graphic Communication

English and American Literature

The Department of English and American Literature at Reading is proud both of its teaching and reasearch. There is a long tradition of excellent teaching at Reading, and the current Department is very committed to continuing that tradition into the future: staff and students combine to create a lively and friendly atmosphere, in which teaching is based on seminars and tutorials as well as the more formal lectures. Equally, the Department has an outstanding record of research and publication in the many fields of English and American Literature from medieval England to the globalised present.

• Visit the English and American Literature website for further information.

Film, Theatre & Television

The Department of Film, Theatre & Television is a lively and creative department which has been leading its field for over four decades. It pioneered the teaching of film studies in Britain and has an established reputation in theatre and television. Film, Theatre & Television is very proud of the excellence of its teaching and research and this is reflected in its high profile in nationwide assessments. In the most recent Teaching Quality Assessment the Department scored the maximum 24 out of 24 and it is regularly among the top departments in league tables which rank performing arts courses. The Department's research output was graded 5 on a scale from 1 to 5* and departmental staff are internationally renowned experts in their fields.

• Visit the Film, Theatre & Television website for further information.

Fine Art

One of the few Fine Art departments within an old university, we offer programmes of study at BA, MA and Research level including a number of joint degrees some of which are unique to Reading. The department attracts students from all over the world and from diverse previous experience. We pride ourselves on the quality and vibrancy of our twenty-four hour studio community. Fine Art at Reading has produced a number of notable artists including Turner Prize nominees. You will also discover our graduates not only as acclaimed artists, but creative individuals, writers, curators or performers who are making a difference within the cultural field.

• Visit the Fine Art website for further information.

Typography & Graphic Communication

For more than thirty years, the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication has been the only one of its kind in a British university. We have developed a unique approach to the subject through a combination of practice, theory and history. Our special strengths lie in editorial and information design, in electronic publishing and in the history of printing and letterforms. Each of these is represented in our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, in the research interests of our members of staff and in works published by the Department, such as Typography Papers. We also have a Design & Print Unit that not only provides our students with a 'laboratory' of design for print, but also acts as a printing facility for the University.

• Visit the Typography & Graphic Communication website for further information.