Students were charged between four and ten shillings per session for the privilege, and were offered the opportunity to enter for Board of Education exams.

"Craft" included leather, weaving, bookbinding, block printing and wood inlay.

In the 1950s, the college relocated from Arwenack Avenue to Kerris Vean in Woodlane (built in 1875), Jack Bridger Chalker was appointed principal and courses for the Ministry of Education's Intermediate and National Diploma in Design Examinations were offered for the first time.

The school now occupied a unique site in the former Fox-Rosehill sub-tropical gardens (which rivalled many others of great renown, such as Glendurgan and Trebah), Michael Finn was appointed principal, the school began a commercial design course for vocational students as well as a junior design course for school children, and the National Advisory Council for Art Education (NACAE) was established.

[4] In the 1960s, the NACAE published its first report, Peter Lanyon and Terry Frost were appointed as visiting lecturers, a further storey was added to the textiles and sculpture workshops for use as a printmaking studio, and alterations to Kerris Vean presented opportunities for the study of photography.

The question for Falmouth at this time was whether an art school with only 120 students, situated in a remote and economically disadvantaged part of the country, could compete for recognition with much larger institutions, against a national backdrop of changing approaches to art education.

The LEA and leading artists such as Dame Barbara Hepworth, Bryan Wynter and Patrick Heron were both generous with, and energetic in, their support of the School.

The next dilemma for the School was whether it should seek the NACAE's authorisation to offer the new Diploma in Art & Design (equivalent to a degree), and at that point, it decided to focus on full-time Intermediate and National Diploma students, and relinquish both its commercial design course and some part-time classes.

With the purchase of Woodlane's Rosehill House (built by Robert Were Fox in 1820) in the offing, it had seemed certain that the School would successfully achieve the recognition that it so earnestly sought, but having underestimated the NACAE's basic requirements for general accommodation, studio space and staffing, and having failed to convince the Council that such a small institution could survive, it was with regret that the school received the news that the NACAE had refused its application.

Encouragement came to try again from Dame Barbara Hepworth, Bernard Leach, Patrick Heron and Bryan Wynter in 1964.

[5] In the mid-1960s, additional studios and technical workshops were added to the school's estate, and the LEA acquired Rosehill House on its behalf.

In the 1970s, the school acquired an hotel opposite the Woodlane site and converted it into an hostel for 21 students, John Barnicoat was appointed principal, and the school was recognised by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) as a centre for a three-year programme of study leading to the award of a BA (Hons) degree in fine art.

By 1984, the school was under threat of closure from the National Advisory Board (NAB) on the grounds that its fine art degree course "was academically and geographically isolated".

[citation needed] The NAB subsequently withdrew its threat of closure and agreed that it would turn its attention to reviewing Cornwall's art and design provision in its entirety instead.

As a result, a joint working party involving senior specialist staff from both institutions was formed by the LEA to consider the future development of art and design in the county.

In 1978, Cornwall College, a predominantly FE orientated institution, had formed a faculty of art and design.

A one-year foundation design course was also in operation and in 1982, the CNAA validated the faculty's Postgraduate Diploma in Radio Journalism.

The faculty had significantly outgrown its resources at Cornwall College's main campus and there were no residential facilities for the increasing number of students that it recruited nationally.

The college also acquired its second campus at Tremough, an 18th-century, grade II listed country house and 70-acre (28 ha) estate in the nearby town of Penryn.

The units, made available to the public through a Creative Commons licence, are free to use, access and study.

In the years that followed, the university developed courses focusing on applied creativity and innovation, across disciplines including art, design and architecture, fashion, photography, performing arts, music, business and more recently gaming and computing.

[14] These new centres of learning propose to enhance the growing digital economy in Cornwall, with an emphasis on delivering courses that marry creativity with technology such as BA Games Development,[15] MA Creative App Development,[16] and BSc Computing for Games.

Since 2002, the original Falmouth School of Art building has provided dedicated studios for master's students.

[21] The Penryn Campus site was originally acquired by Falmouth College of Arts in 1998.

Recent projects on site include further student accommodation, sports facilities and AIR, the Academy for Innovation and Research.

Henry Scott Tuke House is 12 blocks of student purpose built accommodation opened in 1999.

[22] Wellington Terrace Annexe was opened in 1897 as a Board School for boys, built near the centre of Falmouth Town.

Arwenack Annexe was opened in August 1902 as Falmouth School of Art by Sir William Preece.