Art has always struck me as a fairly vocational area to go into. It seems like the sort of subject where lots of hands-on experience is more important than a qualification. I'm not sure because I'm not artistic and my art abilities are extremely poor so I haven't really looked into it a great deal.
I still don't recommend Northern universities though. Go to London where you can go out onto the street at weekends and draw large pictures of famous icons on the pavement, and maybe passers-by will toss penny coins at you.