Fine Art BA (Hons) Canterbury

UCA’s Integrated Foundation Year is designed to give you the skills you’ll need to start your degree in the best possible way – with confidence, solid knowledge of creative practice, study skills and more.

You’ll explore a range of creative techniques and develop your portfolio, with your chosen subject in mind. We’ll work with you throughout the year to ensure you’re on the right track and give you the tools to achieve your highest potential on your degree.

For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Foundation Year, based at UCA Farnham to bring students from around the world to one hub of creativity.

This year of preparatory study is designed to give you the skills you’ll need to start your degree in the best possible way – with confidence, solid knowledge of creative practice, study skills and the English speaking and writing skills you’ll need to succeed.

You’ll explore a range of creative techniques and develop your portfolio, with your chosen subject in mind. We’ll work with you throughout the year to ensure you’re on the right track and give you the tools to achieve your highest potential on your degree.

If you opt to complete a professional practice year, this will take place in year three. You will undertake a placement within the creative industries to further develop your skills and CV.

While on your Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee for that year. This fee will be determined using government funding regulations. Based on current regulations, we expect this to be a maximum of 20% of the tuition fee rate that you are charged for your second year of study. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during this year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this as you approach your Professional Practice Year.

Please note: If you are an international applicant, you will need to enrol onto the course ‘with Professional Practice Year’. It will not be possible to transfer onto the Professional Practice Year after enrolment

In your final year, you’ll create work which makes a statement about yourself and your ideas for exhibition at the Degree Show, this is supported by your research and critical writing.

Degree Show Development
This unit guides you towards your final degree show exhibition through the development of your individual and critically informed practice. Within the unit, you’ll create a body of work which represents your practice and your expected approach towards the degree show exhibition.

Degree Show
You'll work towards the creation and presentation of a body of self-initiated work. This is informed by current issues in contemporary art, and will be presented at the degree show exhibition.

And one of the following units:

Critical Contexts
Running alongside the Degree Show Development unit, you’ll explore academic research skills, methodologies, compositional and editing skills, allowing you to produce a concise and informed critical argument on a subject that relates to contemporary art practice. You are encouraged to be ambitious and intellectually creative in your approach. You are expected to produce a written text, supported with visual references where appropriate, that has the same degree of resolution and rigour that your degree show will have, with a particular emphasis on the structure and presentation of the text.

OR

Dissertation
This unit consists of a substantial period of sustained, individually negotiated research on a subject that is likely to be related to the contextual and/ or theoretical concerns of your discipline or chosen area of practice, towards the provision of structured written argument.

OR

Cominbed Dissertation / Critical Contexts
This unit consists of two periods of sustained, individually negotiated research on subjects which are likely to be related to the contextual and/ or theoretical concerns of your chosen areas of practice, towards the provision of structured argument.

Tuition fees
Full-time students:
The course fees per year for 2021 entry are:

• UK students - £9,250 
• EU students - £9,250 (see fee discount information)
• International students - £16,950 (standard fee)
• International students - £16,270 (full early payment fee)

Part-time students:
Part-time fees are calculated for every 10 credits of study you complete so the amount you pay for the year depends on the intensity of your study.

The course fees for 2022 entry will be available here shortly.

If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee for that year. This fee will be set by the government in their funding regulations. Based on current regulations, we expect this to be a maximum of 20% of the tuition fee rate that you will be charged for your second year of study. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during your Professional Practice year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this.

Additional course costs
In addition to the tuition fees please see the additional course costs for 2021 entry. The details for 2022 entry will be available here in due course.

Further information
Find out more about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to:

• UK course fees
• International & EU course fees
• General additional costs for students

These fees are correct for the stated academic year only. Costs may increase each year during a student’s period of continued registration on course in line with inflation (subject to any maximum regulated tuition fee limit). Any adjustment for continuing students will be at or below the RPI-X forecast rate.

As a long-established course, we have a developed Kent wide network which gives our students access to some of the most respected names in the creative industries, including:

• Turner Contemporary Margate
• Folkestone Triennial
• Dover Arts Development
• Stour Valley Creative Partnership
• Crate
• Whitstable Biennale
• Canterbury Cathedral.

While many of our alumni have developed careers as established artists, others have chosen to apply their talents to other fields, becoming:

• Artist practitioners
• Filmmakers
• Project managers
• Animators
• Curators
• Writers photographers
• Arts administrators
• Publishers
• Educators
• Technical instructors
• Designers
• Producers
• Picture/archive researchers.

You may also like to consider further study at postgraduate level.

The standard entry requirements* for this course are:

One of the following:

• 112 new UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
• Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
• Distinction, Merit, Merit at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
• Merit at UAL Extended Diploma
• 112 new UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
• 27-30 total points in the International Baccalaureate Diploma with at least 15 IB points at Higher level, see more information about IB entry requirements.

And four GCSE passes at grade A*-C and/or grade 4-9 including English (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2).

Other relevant and equivalent Level 3 UK and international qualifications are considered on an individual basis, and we encourage students from diverse educational backgrounds to apply.

*We occasionally make offers which are lower than the standard entry criteria, to students who have faced difficulties that have affected their performance and who were expected to achieve higher results. We consider the strength of our applicants’ portfolios, as well as their grades -  in these cases, a strong portfolio is especially important.

To view the equivalent entry requirements for your country please select it in the list below.

• Non-UK equivalent qualifications
• English language requirements

For this course, you’ll be required to submit an online portfolio via your UCA Applicant Portal. Further information on how to compile and upload your portfolio will be provided once you have applied. If you receive an offer, you’ll be invited to attend an Offer Holder Webinar where you can meet the course team and learn more about the course.

More portfolio advice