Course Entry Requirements

• You’ll need to be at least 16 years of age prior to your course start date and have completed Australian High School Years 10, 11 or 12 or equivalent OR be 21 years of age or over with evidence of relevant work experience.
• We’d like to see high school reports, evidence of any previous design or art training you might have done, or any other qualifications. In the absence of such information, you’ll need to supply us with a minimum of two written references.
• If you’re an international student you’ll need English language proficiency of IELTS 5.5 with no skills in any of the band scores lower than 5.0 or equivalent proof of English. Please also refer to our Overseas Students Under 18 Policy and Procedure which you can find at www.think.edu.au/policiesandforms.
• Ideally, you’ll need to submit a design portfolio*. Details are provided below. This is not required for our Certificate III part time courses.
• Where possible, we encourage you to attend an information session at one of our campuses. Attending an information session allows you to see who we are and what we look like. It allows you to talk about your portfolio and most importantly it gives you the best possible opportunity to learn all about the course you’re interested in and where your studies might take you.

If you decide to study with us but are also thinking you might like to go on and study one of the Degree programs at Billy Blue College of Design (another of the Colleges under the THINK: umbrella) you’ll need to:

• Successfully complete the appropriate CATC Diploma.
• Submit of a design portfolio.
• Attend an interview (where possible).
• Have English language proficiency of IELTS 6.0 (academic module) with no skills in any of the band scores lower than 5.5 or equivalent proof of English.

NB. Successfully meeting these criteria will provide you automatic entry into the second year of Billy Blue’s three year Degree programs.

Portfolio Requirements

Your portfolio should have a minimum of 6 pieces of original work although between 10 to 12 examples are preferred. By original we mean work you’ve created yourself. It doesn’t matter whether they’re school or college projects, personal projects or projects from another design course if you’ve studied one.

Your portfolio may contain a variety of work including drawings, or paintings you’ve done, photographs you’ve taken or photographs of things you’ve made. Ideally it should demonstrate art and design development. By this we mean ideas that originated through your own experience and progressed through to a finished design solution. This could be 2D work or made objects. It’s important that the work demonstrates your creative thinking, initiative and personal commitment to a particular project.

Where possible, students are asked to attend an information session with their portfolio however we are able to accept portfolios via email. Digital portfolios may be emailed to the relevant Course and Career Advisor.

If art and design haven’t been part of your education we understand that you may not have any material to put into a portfolio. If this is the case, we’ll need to see strong evidence in support of your application so we can determine whether you’ll benefit from our programs. Evidence of this nature might include academic transcripts, personal references etc.

Please note however, that whilst we’re able to review applications without a portfolio, studying design requires particular skills and if we can’t see at least some evidence of those skills it makes it difficult for us to assess your suitability. A portfolio is a designer’s passport to a career. Coming to study at CATC will be an important step in your journey.

Please note:

• If you don’t have a portfolio you might like to join one of our two-day workshops. The workshops give us an opportunity to assess your creative abilities in the absence of a portfolio. The workshops also give you valuable insights into what it’s like to study at CATC. The cost of the workshops will be deducted from your fees should you decide to enrol into one of our programs.
• International applicants may supply creative work via email or through an international agent for consideration.
• Successful applicants will receive their application form immediately and can enrol after their information session. If you are interested in applying for VET FEE-HELP you will need a copy of your passport and your tax file number. If you need more time to consider your enrolment you can take your application with you and email, fax, post or return to the office to enrol.
• Students planning to study on campus in 2011 will need to provide their own laptop, discounts are available through our supplier for enrolled students, click here for details.