[HDNG]INTRODUCTION:[EHDNG][PARA][BULL] Formerly West Surrey College of Art and Design[EBOLD][PARA]Farnham, on the home counties trail from London to [PARA]Southampton is an old rural market town, [ITAL]full of quaint shops and[PARA]beige jackets[EITAL]. Not all, but many of those who live here commute [PARA]to the big city and give the town a suburban (rather than a village) [PARA]feel. Epsom is 32 miles away, [ITAL]but a Martian would be [PARA]hard-pressed to spot the difference[EITAL]. The main Farnham site is on[PARA]a small redbrick, prefabricated, [ITAL]well-equipped[EITAL], campus with a [PARA]village on one side and [ITAL]gently [EITAL]rolling fields on the other. (There's [PARA]also a FE site 300 yards away). The Epsom building, designed [PARA]by the same bloke, houses 451 undergrads, and 301 other [PARA]students, in the Faculty of Fashion and Communication.[PARA][HDNG]ATMOSPHERE:[EHDNG][PARA][ITAL]Like all art colleges, the students are utter trend monsters. To [PARA]dress unobtrusively is a fashion faux pas. Nerds are few and far[PARA]between and everybody is friendly. They even get on with the [PARA]locals; many actually are locals, who did their foundation courses [PARA]here and stayed. Generally, work comes first and other [PARA]diversions (such as politics, sport or clubs) rarely intrude.[EITAL][PARA][PARA][ITAL][HDNG]FARNHAM:[EHDNG][EITAL][PARA][ITAL][STAT][BULL] London: 42miles [BULL] Reading: 9miles [BULL] Southampton: [PARA]31miles[ESTAT][EITAL][PARA]Farnham has a weekly street market, a large theatre (the [PARA]Redgrave) and a large arts centre (The Maltings)[ITAL] all aimed at the [PARA]thirtysomethings[EITAL]. It also provides the regular panoply of suburban[PARA]amenities (public library, supermarket, book shops, major banks,[PARA]cashpoints, a shopping mall, a street market, etc). The Farnham [PARA]Museum isn't the world's greatest tourist draw and nor is the [PARA]Castle.[HDNG]TRAVEL:[EHDNG][PARA][BOLD]Trains:[EBOLD] From Farnham, the nearest mainline station, 3/4 of a mile[PARA]from the College, connections to London (2/hr).[PARA][BOLD]Buses:[EBOLD] National Express runs a service to London (ú4, 1:35hrs, 2/day)[PARA][BOLD]Car:[EBOLD] The A325, 3/4 mile from the College, links Farnham to the [PARA]world and the A31 outside town.[PARA][BOLD]Air:[EBOLD] Heathrow and Gatwick both less than 30 miles.[PARA][BOLD]Hitching:[EBOLD] [ITAL]Don't bother, no one's going anywhere useful even if [PARA]they would give you a lift.[EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Local:[EBOLD] Local buses come only twice a day and cost 40p--ú1.20 [ITAL]but[PARA]at least they correspond to the timetable - where they could [PARA]usefully take students is anyone's guess.[EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Bicycles:[EBOLD] No hills, lots of places to leave bikes and only small [PARA]amounts of theft.[PARA][BOLD]Others: [EBOLD]Just west of Farnham is Alton, where the Watercress [PARA]Line steam trains run in the summer. [ITAL]Very pretty, but useless if [PARA]you actually want to go anywhere.[EITAL][HDNG]FACULTIES and STUDENT NOS:[EHDNG][PARA][BOLD]Arts and Media[EBOLD] 932[BOLD][PARA]Design[EBOLD] 636[BOLD][PARA]Fashion/Comm[EBOLD] 457[HDNG]LIBRARIES and COMPUTERS:[EHDNG][PARA][STAT][BULL] Books: 67,000 [BULL] Periodicals: 250 [BULL] Study places: 125 [BULL] [PARA]Computer workstations: 146[ESTAT][PARA]The library also has 150,000 slides and 3,500 videotapes. 22,000 [PARA]of the books above are at Epsom. [ITAL]Computer facilities are [PARA]adequate, but not plentiful.[EITAL][HDNG]CAREER PROSPECTS:[EHDNG][PARA][STAT][BULL] Careers Service [BULL] No of staff: 1full[ESTAT][HDNG]SPECIAL FEATURES:[EHDNG][PARA][BULL] West Surrey College provides the only BA (Hons) Animation[PARA]course in Europe.[HDNG]FAMOUS ALUMNI:[EHDNG][PARA]Daniel Greaves (Oscar-winning animator); Alex Keshishian [PARA](director who got 'In Bed with Madonna').[HDNG]FURTHER INFO:[EHDNG][PARA]Prospectuses for undergrads, part timers and postgrads.[PARA][PARA]
