Escape Studios

Escape Studios, a specialist higher education provider based in London, concentrates on animation, games, visual effects, motion graphics and concept art. It opened in 2002 as an independent academy for VFX training and built a reputation as a direct pathway into that industry. In 2013 Pearson took ownership, folding the school into Pearson College London, where undergraduate degrees were offered from 2016 onwards. AAP Education Limited purchased the college in June 2023, closed the provision formerly run as Pearson Business School and today uses only the Escape Studios name.

Coventry University awards the degrees. Teaching uses studio spaces on the Greenwich Peninsula at Mitre Passage, within a short walk of North Greenwich station. Its roughly 1,000 students follow MA programmes, short courses and a range of degrees: creative BA and integrated MArt options on one side, technical BSc and integrated MSci options on the other. Groups usually contain between 12 and 40 students. Industry partners such as ILM, Framestore and DNEG shape the curriculum, and Escape is recognised both as a certified Houdini school and as an authorised Unreal Engine training centre.

Information for International Students

As the holder of a UKVI Student sponsor licence, Escape Studios releases a CAS after three steps: acceptance of an offer, payment of the required tuition deposit and verification of supporting documents. Help with visa applications is free. Undergraduate and postgraduate entry normally calls for an overall score of 6.0 in IELTS for UKVI, with at least 6.0 for writing and reading and 5.5 for listening and speaking, or an accepted alternative such as PTE Academic UKVI. Through a partner, Oxford International Digital Institute, pre-sessional courses are offered to applicants needing stronger English. A portfolio is needed for every postgraduate course and most undergraduate courses, and detailed guides to portfolio preparation are published.

Having no halls of its own, the school directs students to recommended private providers, the closest roughly ten minutes on foot from the studios, and to University of London Housing Services. International scholarships are offered. Families should note two important restrictions: students on an Escape Studios sponsorship are not permitted to work in the UK while studying, and graduates cannot use the Graduate Route until Escape Studios achieves the necessary higher education provider compliance status.