The Art and Design Admissions Registry (ADAR) was a British administrative body concerned with admissions to

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

courses in art and design outside universities. It was founded in 1966 and functioned for thirty years before being absorbed into the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) in 1996. ADAR was based in the city of

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

. Following the introduction of Art Foundation courses from 1963 onwards, interest among potential students increased in the range of higher education courses available nationally. Like the Central Register and Clearing House the ADAR scheme operated on a sequential rather than simultaneous basis, so that once a particular applicant had been accepted by their first choice their form did not circulate to further institutions. In 1996, the scheme had 15,200 applications which led to 9,082 acceptances, compared to 6,900 acceptances in 1991. Most major branches of British higher education merged their admissions systems in the new UCAS scheme in 1992, but Art and Design admissions presented particular problems since they worked to a later timetable as a result of the important role Art Foundation courses had in developing as fully as possible a student's proposed specialism (painting, sculpture, graphic design and so on). Work was furthermore generally submitted before a decision was made on whether to interview. A means of absorbing ADAR was found by 1996 although fears were expressed that students might be tempted to try to bypass the Foundation course preparatory route. The merger with UCAS allowed that for a period there would be two routes of admission, one generally conforming to the UCAS timetable, and one running later to allow for the special circumstances of many Foundation applicants. A study in 2002 aimed to test whether the merged scheme had been as beneficial as its proponents had claimed,Porch, Lisa and Barclay, Martin, "Unifying Higher Education Admissions in Art and Design", Journal of Further and Higher Education, Vol 26, No. 3, August 2002, pp. 241-250

References

1966 establishments in the United Kingdom 1996 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Art schools in the United Kingdom [ {{UK-university-stub