NTU Global Friends

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions we get asked about creative portfolios.

How many pieces of work should I include in my portfolio?

About 10-15 slides as a general rule.

Check our website for more guidance on particular courses though – you may be asked to group together your work in a particular way, for example on the photography course.

To be clear, we’re not talking about 10-15 individual pieces of work – we mean 10-15 portfolio slides on a PowerPoint presentation.

When we interview face-to-face, we can obviously see more.  And we advise students if offered the chance to be interviewed online or face to face to take up this opportunity to showcase more of their work.

Should a student attach a letter to the portfolio from the Art teacher at their school or university confirming that the work is the student’s own work?

No, we assume that the course is the student’s own work.   We don’t ask for this.

Should a student only include their most recent work?

Not necessarily, no. It’s important to demonstrate a range of work as it can show growth and development.

Give yourself the best chance to demonstrate the breadth of technical and creative abilities from a range of your work.  This could be recent work, or work that is older.

An important tip is don’t show the same skills and approaches in each project you present. A good cross section is really important to demonstrate that you have a variety of approach and can critically evaluate your creative journey in line with the outcome of the project.

What are the most important aspects of a portfolio?

For Bachelors degrees we’re really looking for potential.

We’re looking for the student to demonstrate core skills in Art & Design such as drawing, or 2D and 3D design.  Again, these could vary by course so please check our website for course specific core skills in the different subjects.

One top tip is to make sure you include at least one project that focuses on the individual subject area you’re interested in.  For example, if you’re applying for a Fashion course, drawing and developing ideas is going to be very important.

A foundation course for Art & Design can be really helpful to the student in developing these core skills before an undergraduate degree.

NTU offers a Foundation Certificate in Art & Design if you have students who need the extra year in order to meet our entry requirements.

If the portfolio is rejected, does NTU allow resubmission?

Yes – we do allow this and can revisit a portfolio if we are asked.  And if you or the student want feedback on the portfolio, we can do this no problem.

The best way to request this is to contact your NTU Country Advisor. They will then liaise with the team to decide the best way to advise the student.

Should I only include finished pieces of work or can I include development work?

Absolutely include development work along with a finished piece of work.

The thing to realise is that the creative journey is very important to demonstrate to us. This gives us an insight into how the student solves problems and for us to understand the level of enquiry the student has gone through.  For example, they may come up with a simple solution but the journey they went through was complicated and needed analysis and evaluation.   The journey and the thought process is what we are interested in – not just the outcome.

This is particularly important when going from Bachelors to Masters – we want to see that level of critical enquiry with the subject, with analysis and evaluation.

It’s up you how you demonstrate that journey – a portfolio of 15 slides can take us through the creative journey very well.   Development work is important – start with the idea, move to development, then move to the outcome.

We can decide a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the portfolio on this basis.   Even if the work in the portfolio isn’t perfect, if it’s got strong critical thinking and a clear creative journey, we can see that the student has potential and that we can help them to develop further.  That’s when we would say ‘yes’ to a portfolio.

Can I include text to explain individual pieces of work?

Yes, absolutely – we encourage this. If you’ve used particular materials or experimented with an interesting process it can be really helpful.   Don’t use half a page of text but write a brief description so the Admissions tutors can understand clearly what is being presented and the process you’ve gone through.

If I have work experience, can I include this work in my portfolio submission?

Absolutely yes!   It has to be relevant, obviously.  We recognise that with work experience portfolio work the process can be a little different – it will show a different set of skills.

Don’t just include the work experience project though – it may not show the same critical and creative journey because of the nature of what’s required in the workplace.

But it can add a new dimension and show how the student can resolve a brief in a specific way that would be different to what they would have done as part of a degree course.

How important is the Statement Of Purpose and what should I include?

It’s important because often we’re not interviewing.  It gives us an insight into what has motivated the student to apply for the course and because our courses can be quite different to those at other universities, it’s useful to understand if a student has selected NTU for that reason.

We like to get to know the student and it’s helpful for us when assessing the application to know their future aspirations, particularly for a Masters.

It doesn’t need to be complicated – some student worry about their language ability.  Don’t worry, just be honest and tell us your aspirations and motivations.  Don't be tempted to use AI for your answers, it is very clear when students have done this and is not helpful. We want to hear what you think, in your own words.

And if you’re offered the chance to be interviewed online or in person – take the opportunity.   Interviews can build confidence and we often use an interpreter to help with this.

For a quick troubleshooting guide for a slow-running portal, please try accessing the portal in an alternative browser and clearing your cache and cookies. This should help, but if not you can email our agents team on agents@ntu.ac.uk and we can investigate further for you.

We are no longer accepting the PDF version of the agent nomination form.  All tagging requests can be submitted using the new online agent nomination form. We will always email you to confirm that an application has been tagged to your agency.

When the student submits the form, an email will be sent to the address used on the form. In this email will be a secure link to upload a copy of their passport. This secure link will be active for 5 days after the form was submitted. Once the passport has been uploaded, we can process the tagging request.

Please email our team on agents@ntu.ac.uk and we can investigate this for you.

It might be that the course has been discontinued and is no longer available to apply for, in in those cases we can advise you on alternative courses for your student.

Our course information pages will confirm if a course has a placement year option – it will be included on the ‘Duration’ section at the top of the course page. It will also state here if the course has a January intake option.

As always, if you are not sure please contact us on agents@ntu.ac.uk and we can confirm this for you.

The quickest way to link your agency to a direct application is to apply via the NTU Agent Application Portal.

For UCAS applicants, or any direct applications not submitted through your agency portal, please ask the students to complete the agent nomination form and upload a copy of their passport within 2 weeks of the application.

Always use your student’s personal email address and not your agency-generated email address when you send an application to NTU.  This is important for the following reasons:

• It can cause complications with GDPR if the student’s email is not used.
• Your student will miss out on essential communications to support them to prepare for their arrival, and potentially while they are a student at NTU.

Don’t worry, if you’ve sent the application through the Agent Application Portal, you will receive all the important communications.

No.  We recommend that your student writes a new statement for their scholarship application focusing on why the scholarship is important to them, how it will benefit them and what they will bring to their studies.

A few of you have enquired recently that you can't see all of your applications in the Agent Portal.

Just a reminder that if you have any UCAS applications you won't be able to view them in the portal – so please don't worry!

MRes is classed as a postgraduate taught course, not a research course, and therefore MRes courses are not eligible.

If you’ve supported a student with a PGCE application, please make sure that the student completes an online agent nomination form in the same way as for any other course.