Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar), a Qatar Foundation (QF) partner, will be offering portfolio development classes for high school students during the first semester of the new 2023 academic year.
The classes are a series of in-depth, non-credit sessions for students who would like to gain the skills necessary to develop a competitive portfolio of their art and design work for university admissions.
The programme organised by the University’s Community and Continuing Education (CCE) department is offered across four different time schedules, and provides students the option of choosing a timetable that best suits individual needs and day-to-day routines.
For the year 2023, applicants can choose from classes that run as follows: Sundays from August 27 to October 15, Mondays from September 18 to November 6, Tuesdays from October 3 to November 21, and Wednesdays from October 25 to December 13.
During the course, participants will be exposed to a series of sessions that will teach them the nuances of basic, advanced and observational drawing, the process and application of creative thinking, methods to effectively communicate ideas to an audience, and how to use a camera to document progressive stages of their work.
The classes will be taught by VCUarts Qatar alumni who will provide personal feedback across various stages of the programme.
Students will also have enough time to practise and apply the skills they pick up as they progress along the course.
VCUarts Qatar Community and Continuing Education Programme manager Rasha Alkasab noted that the relevance of the programme lies in the fact that irrespective of where a student intends to pursue higher studies, an art or design portfolio is considered to be a prerequisite not just for admission into a university, but also for job prospects across fields as varied as art, design, architecture, product design, design and technology, and innovation.
“The aim of VCUarts Qatar’s Community and Continuing Education is to contribute to the in-depth understanding of art and design, enriching the foundation of the creative economy,” she said. “These portfolio development courses are not just necessary for students interested in pursuing an education in the art and design field, but also serve as a tool to expand students' creative processes and teach them complex thinking techniques that can be applied in all fields, including sciences."
