School of Communication Arts

Yesterday, I popped by the SCA studio in Vauxhall to do a bit of mentoring. Now I've done uni visits before. And I'm assuming I'll do plenty more in the future, but the SCA is a little different. You could even say it's the equivalent of a university advertising course 2.0.

Run by the energetic Marc Lewis, I arrived at 9am sharp where I was greeted by 20/30 students ready for their WIP meeting. Three or four projects were well underway, with another two set at the end of the day. The workload is frenetic. But in a good way. Some live briefs, some spec. And a great mix of clients to get your teeth in to.

The 'studio' is an old church hall. Spacious, open plan and very 2.0. And I started off by a flick through some of their latest ideas. Conveniently, you can too. Right here.

I got talking to a few of them. Oli and Mar are definitely heading in the right direction. Lots of nice digital stuff that's nearly in the realms of awesome. And by the looks of their website, they've seen plenty of useful people.

Alex and Lewis look like they have the makings of a good team too. A bit of direction and they're off talking weird and wonderful things. If they could commit more of their ideas to paper and let someone else pull the cherry from the pile, they'd be great.

And here's a little plug for Victoria Trow as well. I'll never be able to look at a Channel 4 brief in quite the same light - I now know the inner workings of 'Made in Chelsea' and 'The Only Way Is Essex'... She wasn't half bad either and she's looking to team up with a graduate digital art director if anyone's interested.

It's odd how there were 30 or so, and yet I seemed to spend all day popping back and forth to these guys and girls. Though I'm guessing that's where the other mentors come in handy!

Remembering this is a 12 month intensive course and then looking back at what most people learn in three years at uni. This place can knock the socks off them. Not to say that Lincoln, Sunderland, Staffs or Bucks (to name a few) are bad places to learn. It's just that this course is flexible enough to meet the demands of what an advertising course should be.

Brief. Scamp. Review. Repeat. 5 days a week. From 9 to 5 (or later). This place feels like work, not uni. And in my eyes, there needa to be more places like this.

Watford, I'd start looking over your shoulder... these guys are coming for you. And I'll be heading back to SCA soon.