Camberwell College of Arts is one of the UK's leading art and design schools, and one reason why is its location.

London is a city laden with opportunities to see and practice art and design. It has unparalleled galleries and museums covering every facet of the visual arts. Jump on a bus outside the College and half an hour later you could be enjoying the latest in contemporary art at Tate Modern or the Saatchi Gallery, the Old Masters at the National Gallery or the Courtauld Institute, or cutting edge design at the Design Museum. Then again, you could just walk next door and sample the art on show at the highly respected South London Gallery or visit artists studios in the vicinity.

Like no other city, London offers an incredibly advanced and diverse visual culture. Design is sophisticated, and it's everywhere: in the buildings, in the public spaces, in the advertising, in the shops, bars and cafés. The city's cultural breadth and its contrasts of tradition and modernity, patina and polish, order and chaos all help to feed the visual intellect. One reason, maybe, why so many leading figures and businesses in the creative industries choose to base themselves here in London.

The same could be said of Camberwell. There's a creative community here that extends beyond our front steps. The college is set in a part of the capital whose cultural diversity and multi-faceted character become a deep influence on many students' work. Halls of residence within 15 minutes' walk of the college and plenty of privately-rentable flats and houses offer many students the chance to live locally and enjoy Camberwell culture to the full.

You may grow attached to the area. It's rare to find a place of study with so many artists and designers still living and working within walking distance long after they have left the college. The graduates who have stayed and put down roots, running businesses from the studios and workshops that pepper the area, are an important part of the local economy. You'll even find streets and buildings around here displaying their works.

We hope you'll want to make a mark at Camberwell, too.