Vega : BA Graphic Design Degree
Creative Branding BA Evolved
We are proud to announce a ground-breaking innovation in the IIE BA Degree programmes at Vega. From 2024 we will deliver highly specialised BA Degrees in Graphic Design, Multimedia Design and Copywriting. This is of particular importance when entering the industry since your degree immediately reflects your specialisation in a particular field as opposed to the more generalised nature of a typical BA.
In the past we delivered a single BA in Creative Brand Communication in which you specialised in one of the above disciplines. However we have now evolved one BA Degree into three separate BA Degrees to give you the edge in the realm where your individual passion and skills lie. These are exciting times for those pursuing vocation-oriented studies at Vega: your degree immediately telegraphs to the industry exactly what type of creative brand communicator you are.
Although most students will have a clear idea of which of the three IIE BA Degrees they find themselves most at home, those whose talents span two or more of the disciplines will be given the opportunity to sample from all three before making a final decision. In other words, if you are not comfortable with locking into a commitment from day one, ample accommodation is made in the first six months of first year for you to find your feet on the most solid ground.
All students have unlimited access to www.lynda.com , the world’s foremost repository of interactive digital media training.
BA in Graphic Design
For the born visual narrator and those who live and breathe the art of telling stories through both traditional and digital imagery, the BA in Graphic Design offers a rich, rewarding fusion of art direction and visual design. If you see the world as an infinite tapestry of textures and moods that can only be captured in terms of shades, grades, tones and typography then you and this degree were made for each other.
The IIE BA in Graphic Design covers a broad spectrum of essential and advanced skills in a uniquely designed and highly stimulating degree format. All elements of visual literacy are robustly engaged with while the core crafting skills such as photography; art direction; film & video; identity design; web design; typography; layout design; drawing and illustration; packaging and other forms of structural and tangible design are tackled in exciting and engaging fashion. Ultimately, students learn to develop their own distinct creative voices and develop the skillsets required of cutting-edge visual communicators by the contemporary brand communications industry.
The aim of the programme is to develop flexible, well-rounded and creatively differentiated individuals capable of working within this rapidly evolving discipline. Students learn how to employ strategic thinking to develop and visualise innovative concepts for various outputs, styles and client requirements with each student is guided in the individual development of a professional design portfolio at the end of third year. Vega’s unique fusion of critical thinking; complex problem-solving; creativity, branding and marketing sets our students apart as strategic and entrepreneurial thinkers and leaders in industry.
From a technical perspective, students are formally trained in the most up-to-date software to become astute in the cutting-edge applications and technologies used in industry. They master design for print as well as design for new media and have access to fully-equipped digital studios. Strong emphasis is placed on design research as students work in multi-disciplinary teams engaging in real-world brand challenges and agency briefs providing innovative solutions and strategic creative executions. Student work is showcased at our year-end exhibition, where industry representatives are invited to view the work and meet our students. This is followed by a month-long internship in a leading creative studio in the industry.
Entry requirements
A National Senior Certificate (NSC) with Degree admission- A minimum of 30% for English coupled with a minimum of 50% for four x DESIGNATED NSC subjects (This excludes LO which is a 10 credit subject); OR
A National Certificate (Vocational) (NC(V)) with Degree admission – A minimum of 60% in English on either First Additional Language or Home Language level AND Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy AND Life Orientation , with a minimum of 70% in the four vocational subjects is required; OR
A Senior Certificate (SC) (with endorsement) or equivalent; OR
Alternatively, a Higher Certificate, an Advanced Certificate, 240 or 360 credit Diploma in a cognate field may satisfy the minimum admission requirements to degree studies.
A National Senior Certificate with a minimum of 30% in the language of learning and teaching, coupled with an achievement rating of at least four (4) (50 – 59%) in four designated subjects; of which the subject Design can be substituted for one of the designated subjects. Such admissions would be regarded on the basis of Senate Discretionary admissions and will not constitute more than 10% of the cohort.
All candidates are required to submit a creative portfolio and successfully meet the creative portfolio criteria based on a review by a specialist panel and undergo an interview.
General requirements for undergraduate degrees:
All applicants for The IIE undergraduate degree studies, including international students, are required to write the Academic and Quantitative Literacy (AQL) – National Benchmark Test (NBT), unless they:
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- have attained the age of 23 before or during the first year of registration; OR
- have been admitted on the basis of mature age; OR
- are accessing a degree with a higher certificate, 240 or 360 credit diploma or advanced certificate; OR
- have previously been admitted to degree studies elsewhere; OR
- have enrolled in the distance mode on a programme- the writing of the NBT AQL test is recommended, but not compulsory.
A student’s Academic Literacy (AL) score of the AQL – NBT is used for placement in student support programmes and does not replace the admission requirements for a specific degree programme.
The provisions of this section do not apply to qualifications in which Introduction to Scholarship A (ITSA) and/or Introduction to Scholarship B (ITSB) are modules which bear credits. In these cases normal assessment and completion rules apply.
For those qualifications in which ITSA/ITSB are not credit bearing modules any student who does not provide a verified AQL-NBT score of 64 or higher PRIOR to registration is automatically registered in these modules and will be billed for them where relevant. Any student who supplies a verified score of 64 or higher within three weeks of the start of the first semester will then be deregistered from these modules and the billing will be reversed. Students who complete ITSA and ITSB will receive a Short Learning Programme certificate for the modules.
The onus is on students to make use of the support available to benefit from these modules. The details of this support will be communicated by the campus or administrative team responsible for the student support on their qualification.