Take a deep breath!

[moidphotos]

Hello Raj

Thankyou for your kind comments about the University of Hertfordshire. I'll now attempt to answer your questions.

hmmm for some reason the quote function does not want to work at the moment... I shall quote you the old fashioned way in quotation marks " :) "

"What i am not sure about this is if the 3 years of Bachelors degree at hertfordshire is equal to 4 years of bachelors degree in USA."

As far as I know, yes - it is an internationally recognised degree and so far I only know of one of our graduates that works in the USA, but our degree was perfectly OK for her to work in New York. I know of other graduates that work in China and Japan (who are not from China or Japan) and our degree was correct for them. Bachelors degrees in the UK are only three year courses.

"I assume Hertfordshire accepts on the basis of portfolio. yeah ? i will give you link to my website may be you can giude me?"

Yes that's correct - we accept on the basis of portfolio and interview. As it would cost a fair amount of money to fly over for the interview we can arrange that over the telephone. Of course I would suggest coming to visit the university (and a few others while you are here) to make sure you like the feel of the campus - three years is a long time to spend anywhere if you don't like it!

"My whole point of asking this is
1. If i am making wise decision by going to hertfordshire. Its going to be expensive for me but i can afford it. "

I can't answer that question without bias :) I am obviously going to say yes; I work there. If it helps you make up your mind, our course has produced graduates who now work at the following 3D/VFX companies:

Activ8
AixSponza
Animated Storyboards
BlinkInk
Boutiq
Cinesite
Click 3X
Digi-Guys
Disney Production
Double Negative
EarthWare Vis
Framestore
Happy Finish
Hi-ReS
Huge Media
ImpossibleTV
Keyframe Studios
Moving Picture Company
The Mill
Passion Pictures
Pipedreams 3D
PTE media
Redvision
SEA NAVY
Saddington & Baynes
Selex SI
Spider Eye
StitchthatTV
Th1ng

and the following games companies

Sony-London Studio
Sony-Cambridge Studio
Crytek UK
FreestyleGames
Splash Damage
Kuju
Blitz Games
Frontier
Creative Assembly
Rare-Microsoft Games
Rebellion Games
Freestyle Games
Digi-Guys

please note that many of these companies employ multiple UH graduates.

"4. How is the employment rate of hert 's graduate? i mean job scope ?"

This varies from year to year - the UK economy is currently suffering the worst recession since the 1930s so it's not as high as it has been on previous years. If you ignore this year and the poor economy usually 50% of graduates work in the animation industry within twelve months of graduation. Considering that we have a large course (currently 320 undergraduate students) you can see that amounts to a lot of students finding work. Most of our students work in VFX/3D animation (commercials, films, music videos, children's cartoon series etc) or in the games industry, mainly on realtime graphics. Some students also enter the architectural visualisation industry.

"5. Do you know if international students can work on campus while they are studying? How many hours can they work and whats the pay in the beginning."

That I don't know, but if it's important to you I can find out. However the hours and pay will vary depending on the job unless you mean what is the UK minimum hourly pay? Most students have to do some work to support themselves (the UK is not a cheap place to live) but the course is very intensive and so we suggest to students to not work more than one day a week if they can. Of course that is not always possible unfortunately.

"6. What do you think is the cheapest way for accommodation ? would it be better to stay on school campus/ hostel or rent an apartment outside."

Again this is hard to answer precisely - the university offers different types of on campus accommodation which vary in cost, and the off campus accommodation also varies enormously in cost depending on how large a house/ apartment / room etc you want to rent. Most first year students tend to stay in university accommodation on campus, and then make friends in the first year that they then rent a house with in years two and three.

"7. Here is a link to my website / portfolio / Showreel - http://www.4sidepixel.com (http://www.4sidepixel.com/) What do you think about it. Is it good enough to get in to hertfordshire ?"

I think that is best discussed privately :) However I would have to show it to the VFX course leader, I'm not the member of staff who would make that decision.

[taxguy]

In UK, the University of Bornemouth is also very well recognized for computer graphics is you want a degree. Check them out.

[mr Bob]

I didn't think just because you do a degree there's some right to get a work visa for the US or UK. Normally for a firm to hire a foreign national they have to be experienced with some skill that no other UK or US citizen can provide.

[rajbir]

I didn't think just because you do a degree there's some right to get a work visa for the US or UK. Normally for a firm to hire a foreign national they have to be experienced with some skill that no other UK or US citizen can provide.

Exactly you totally make sense. But DEGREE is the thing right now i need to have, Think it this was, If i dont do a degree now and i am working in my country in some good studio and later i get a offer i cant go, Just because i don't have a degree. I am thinking in future terms.

[leigh]

Exactly you totally make sense. But DEGREE is the thing right now i need to have, Think it this was, If i dont do a degree now and i am working in my country in some good studio and later i get a offer i cant go, Just because i don't have a degree. I am thinking in future terms.

Well actually that's not entirely true. If you were so good that a studio in the States was making an offer to you to bring you over to work for them, then there are other ways of getting in, like the O-1 visa. I've worked in the States, and I have no degree. If a studio wants you, and you're experienced and very good at what you do, then there are other options.

This whole "you have to have a degree to work in other countries" thing is largely misguided. Yes, a degree helps. But it's not absolutely necessary. And even if you do have a degree, a studio has got to want you pretty badly to go through the whole visa process anyway, regardless of whether it's an H1B visa or something else. And for a studio to want you that badly, you have to be extremely good at what you do. So focus on being really good at what you do, before worrying about pieces of paper. Because none of those pieces of paper are going to do you any good if no studio wants to hire you.

[rajbir]

Well actually that's not entirely true. If you were so good that a studio in the States was making an offer to you to bring you over to work for them, then there are other ways of getting in, like the O-1 visa. I've worked in the States, and I have no degree. If a studio wants you, and you're experienced and very good at what you do, then there are other options.

This whole "you have to have a degree to work in other countries" thing is largely misguided. Yes, a degree helps. But it's not absolutely necessary. And even if you do have a degree, a studio has got to want you pretty badly to go through the whole visa process anyway, regardless of whether it's an H1B visa or something else. And for a studio to want you that badly, you have to be extremely good at what you do. So focus on being really good at what you do, before worrying about pieces of paper. Because none of those pieces of paper are going to do you any good if no studio wants to hire you.


Seriously i never care for a degree. I am just doing it so i have it incase someone asks for it, i have it, I think the same its just a "Piece of paper", I am going through this right now. I had a company from LA offered me a job but i could not take it and you know the reason. I am an aritst my self and so you all are, we do see things in same way.

[rajbir]

Anyone knows how much finances one need to show / show on file when applying for UK visa ? i asked the university of hertfordshire and they gave me a link to their website but that doesnt say how much finances i need to show :D...
Wouldn't that be the amount of fees for the first term ?

[leigh]

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk/adult-students/

The money that you need depends on where you are studying and how long for. You may be allowed to show that you have a lower amount of money to cover your monthly living costs if you have completed in the past four months, or are about to complete, a course of study in the United Kingdom that was at least six months long.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk/adult-students/money/what-money-do-i-need/#sh20

So you're looking at between £5,400 and £7,200, depending on whether you're in inner London or somewhere else.

[rajbir]

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk/adult-students/



http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk/adult-students/money/what-money-do-i-need/#sh20

So you're looking at between £5,400 and £7,200, depending on whether you're in inner London or somewhere else.

thank you very much :)

[moidphotos]

Hi there

The process is not simple (of course :( ), and I've had it explained to me and I think I understand it, but I will PM you some email addresses of staff who deal with VISA complications at the university and I suggest that you ask them any additional questions about the process and make sure you've understood it, because I don't want to get the blame for any mistakes or confusion I may make from this.

Here goes:

This is the process at Hertfordshire, I don't know how or if it differs at other universities:

You have to give the university a deposit of £4000. They issue you a receipt. The receipt has to be shown to UK immigration / VISA office to show that you have been accepted onto the course.

Next you have to provide the VISA people with your bank account details and you need to have £9400 in the account for at least 28 days prior to them checking your account. This £9400 contains £4000 to pay the remainder of fees when you arrive at the university, and £5400 in living expenses.

When you arrive at the university they will want the £4000 from you (total fees for international students on our course are £8000 a year)

which leaves you £5400 to live on...

I hope that is fairly clear.

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