Highlands and Islands campus

The Glasgow School of Art Highlands and Islands campus occupies a stunning cluster of heritage-listed buildings near the town of Forres. The Italianate buildings, constructed in the 1830s on the Altyre Estate, have been converted into a world-class creative campus, providing inspiring studio, workshop and exhibition spaces, as well as state of the art areas for research, teaching, prototyping and flexible lab work.

The campus is a centre for research and postgraduate study, where dedicated staff deliver Masters and PhD programmes that engage with complex issues facing the region and beyond. Learning opportunities are supported by digital and remote teaching methods, as well as short seasonal schools that bring students from around the world together in Forres.

Students at our campuses in Glasgow and the Highlands have access to dedicated teaching staff and outstanding facilities. Live projects provide opportunities to engage with businesses, communities and the public sector, while workshops and exchange programmes with international partners enhance the Innovation School’s global outlook.

Our students, faculty and researchers based at this campus adopt a human-centred, research-driven design approach as they explore the “near future” and “next now” in search of actionable innovations. We challenge traditional perceptions of design, and promote new ways of thinking, doing and designing, which we apply in diverse and complex real-world contexts.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

The Glasgow School of Art works with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to explore how engagement with design, innovation, architecture and art can help to enrich life across the region. This ongoing partnership led to the establishment of the GSA Highlands and Islands campus at Altyre in Forres, near Inverness.

At Altyre, a thriving community of postgraduate students, researchers and teaching faculty inhabit a purpose-designed campus on a historic Highlands estate. The academics and students partner with communities, organisations and businesses across Scotland and beyond to explore how innovation can create cultural, technological and economic opportunities for those who choose to live amongst the beauty of the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

Recent collaborations have included the founding of the Moray Textile Network, work on healthcare with NHS Grampian, and contributions to the Inverness-based Xpo North conference, which focuses on the role of the creative industries.

The GSA-HIE collaboration has also underpinned the establishment of the annual Winter School, held every January at Altyre, which invites design schools and students from across Europe to gather and participate in workshops led by a roster of international academics and theorists.

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