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VIRTUAL ARTS GALLERY


Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH), Calabar was established in 2002 as a multi-campus University following the merger of 3 existing tertiary institutions. These institutions were The Polytechnic Calabar (POLYCAL), College of Education, Akamkpa and IBB College of Agriculture, Obubra. Although The Polytechnic Calabar was established in 1973, its Fine Arts Department was established in 1998 to award a 2-year National Diploma. It was the Fine Arts Department, POLYCAL, which transformed into the Department of Visual Arts and Technology, CRUTECH, in 2002. From that beginning, the Department of Visual Arts and Technology, CRUTECH, ran a 4-year Bachelor Degree in Visual Arts programme in five studio areas, namely, Painting, Ceramics, Graphics, Textile Design and Sculpture. As a critical part of the training, students are required to do a 6-month industrial attachment at any related industry of their choice, where they learn industrial techniques and applications of what they have learnt in the classroom and studios. Early in 2023, the National Universities Commission (NUC) unveiled a new curriculum, the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), starting from September.

With the new curriculum’s 30% peculiarity to CRUTECH, there are now six areas that students may specialize, including Painting, Sculpture, Media, Visual Communication Design, Textile and Fashion Design, and Pottery. The duration of the programmes still remains 4 years. The Department of Visual Arts and Technology is located in a very unique cultural enclave of Cross River State, which is not just the centre of tourism development in Nigeria, but also a state with a rich diversity of cultures, artistic traditions and vast forests and natural resources. Besides these is the fact that Calabar itself is an old port city, former slave centre and once the seat of Colonial Administration. The import of the foregoing factors is that the local society provides a rich background in social and cultural history that feeds into the creative and intellectual resources vital to the sustenance of the productivities of the Department of Visual Arts and Technology, CRUTECH.

Thus, there are vast research possibilities from which artistic studies and scholarly engagements in the Department draws with ever-increasing returns. In terms of Admission Policy, the Department has established a flexible entry requirement, which is based on the fact that most of our candidates do not have previous experience in fine arts because most secondary schools in the catchment area do not offer the subject, since there is a dearth of teachers for fine arts. Further research has also indicated that a credit pass in fine arts at the secondary school level is not an absolute necessity for candidates who wish to do Bachelors studies in visual arts. Thus, the Department accepts candidates with credit passes in English language and mathematics and any other three subjects. And, to make up for the absence of fine arts, the Department’scurriculum is structured to impart a broad-based knowledge of the fine arts in the first two years of study. In the latter two years, candidates specialise in their chosen studio areas. This approach has been very successful and rewarding.