SFU – The Best Of Both Worlds

A review of the Simon Fraser University (SFU) - SIAT program.
By Anu C. a 3rd year media arts major. 970 views.

While in high school, I figured that going to SFU would be a lot more affordable than going to VFS, and less of a commuting nightmare than Emily Carr. I also felt that by going to SFU, I could be in SIAT and hopefully transfer to another program just in case the whole art thing never worked out; something I wouldn’t be able to do in an actual “art school”. I didn’t have the right math credits to get into SIAT right after high school, so I started off at SFU’s main campus instead. I also felt that by going to SFU, I could be in SIAT and hopefully transfer to another program just in case the whole art thing never worked out.

I also felt that by going to SFU, I could be in SIAT and hopefully transfer to another program just in case the whole art thing never worked out.

How I Ended Up at SIAT

I knew some people whose friends or relatives were already in the program and mentioned how it provided many art-related courses. That and the fact that it was a brand new program, appealed to me. In my mind, a new program would offer state of the art facilities and relevant contemporary courses. Besides, I got a pretty big entrance scholarship to attend the university, so why not?

One thing that all first year students who start off at SFU Surrey and want to go into SIAT have to do is take part in TechOne, a first year cohort program. Since I was over at the main campus, I had to take a bunch of classes from different programs to make up for it like Communication, Fine Arts, Mathematics, et cetera. Unfortunately, some of the ones I took were no longer needed to get in once my application went through.

Before going into the program, my technical skills consisted of experience with Adobe Photoshop and some with animation using the timeline in Macromedia Flash. I also had skills in traditional art such as drawing and painting with a bit of art theory. I knew I needed to learn more software to be competitive in the entertainment media industry and I felt SIAT could help me.

The Good and The Bad

The great thing about SIAT is that many of the instructors are seasoned industry professionals who really care about what their student’s are creating. They really spend the time explaining the theories and critiquing our work. They also like to share their wisdom and experiences with students. This allows for a pretty casual relationship between instructor and student, which makes it easier to network. I did notice however, that there are TA’s and sessional instructors who are not very good communicators, and do not provide as much constructive feedback as they should.

One thing about the program is that almost every class in SIAT consists of team projects. In my experience, individual projects usually consist of write ups or design projects which usually don’t count for very many marks. SIAT believes that putting us in teams prepares us for the real world, as most jobs in design and media are team-based. This is very true and well-intentioned, but this can become very annoying if you get stuck with people who cannot get their act together or simply refuse to try communicating, especially if you are stuck with them all semester. It can also be unfair, as most of us want to do well and actually work, while others get a free ride. SIAT takes commitment and not being willing to work is not only taking yourself down, but your whole team as well.

When I first joined SIAT, the thought that I could attend a University and get to take part in art and design-related courses really excited me. However, now I feel that my personal experience here isn’t completely what I had in mind. While there are some parts of SIAT that I really like, I feel like being a student in the Media Arts stream can have disadvantages regarding skill development. Media Arts exposes students to a range of industry tools like Maya, Final Cut, and MAX MSP, but because these skills are only developed in one or two classes, it’s more like an introduction to the software. Because of this, students tend to teach themselves the software more than at a VFS or Emily Carr where these skills are developed throughout the degree. For example, it’s quite peculiar that there are only two courses offered in 3D Animation, both of which are upper division courses. It’s strange because there are some second year courses which require knowledge of 3D components.

The one major thing about SIAT that annoys me is the amount of administrative changes it has gone through until now. For example, it was once divided into four streams of concentration, and now it’s down to three: Design, Media Arts, and Informatics. Another thing was that SIAT provided students with a Bachelors of Science under the faculty of Applied Sciences. It was still like this when I first started on working towards it in my first year. But now, students can choose whether they will work towards a BA or BSC, which I suppose is good and bad. While a BSC sounds a lot more appealing to many, it is arguably harder to achieve due to different course requirements.

The Verdict

I came into SIAT as a young illustrator, hoping to really sharpen my skills and give a sense of professionalism to what I do, while learning new skills to help me out in the marketplace. SIAT has definitely helped me learn a lot when it comes to new techniques, and even if it’s not the program it used to be, the school is full of experts and has the software there for you to play with. SIAT isn’t an art school, so don’t come here if you want to learn traditional art or design.

I highly recommend SIAT to those who are interested in web design, product design, spatial design, or to learn design theory.

I highly recommend SIAT to those who are interested in web design, product design, spatial design, or to learn design theory. The Design stream is very prominent and provides great resources and classes that you can learn a lot from. Although I sometimes feel like I cannot really stick to my passion of illustration and animation. I’ve been able to think about all the other opportunities out there for people like me in graphics design and the like. While the issue of how the Design stream is much more prominent than Informatics or Media Arts still irks me, I make the most of it by taking some of them as upper division electives. By mixing it up a bit in SIAT and not just sticking to your designated stream, you’ll probably get more out of the program’s ideals as a whole. By re-evaluating the program and where I stand, I’m no longer stuck in the mind frame of “Where is this taking me?” It’s more like “I’ll take it where I want it to.”