Open College of the Arts Reviews 

The tutors I had were supportive and helpful. I liked the flexibility of studying via distance learning and I personally didn't mind that there were fewer tutorials or lectures. However, having some recorded lectures that students could access in their own time would be helpful. It's a shame that the fees are now quite a lot higher than when I studied at the college. I think having shorter courses, that would still qualify for Student Finance funding, would appeal to a lot of adult learners.

Allocated an uninterested tutor who submitted feedback that read as if they'd fed my assignment into chatgpt. Claimed their laptop camera was broken over 3 month period, so only audio telephone call "tutorials" were offered. One such "tutorial " lasted 8 minutes during which I asked some basic questions, some of which were never answered. Brick wall response from OCA to my official complaint. (I made it in Feb and got the decision in June).Waste of my time and money.

I tried to communicate re studying with OCA. Unfortunately nobody answered the phones, emails ignored . When I finally got through the guy was very helpful but it's near on impossible to find out what's happening and if you've got neurodivergent difficulties again you're just sitting waiting for weeks to get any feedback . I now have my funding but it's actually put me off booking my course even though the course tutor seemed nice when I eventually got to speak to him . The organisation is really confusing , it's there's not enough staff , it's badly organized the websites all over the place, it doesn't instill you with confidence to study with them. What are the frustration I have been going through with them from month. I decided to ring up a normal University I got to speak to someone it was organised it was the opposite of the mess I had to try and face dealing with the OCA really I don't know who's managing it but it's dreadful

Very disappointing. There’s no structure, no lectures at all. How can you learn to paint without instructions. I thought there would be lectures, at least once a week but you’re left to your own devices with support. The tutor didn’t seem to care much, there was an online meeting once every few months and that’s it. It is not very expensive but for what it is it’s not worth even that. I wish I had seen some reviews before applying.

Do not study here, particularly if you have ASD or neurodivergence. They are actively unsafe, untrained, aggressive towards students. There are hardly any tutors available, it's very amateur overall.