BA (Hons) Fine Art - 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.

Find out more about the Integrated Foundation Year

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.

Find out more about the Integrated International Foundation Year

Launch
This is your introduction to the Campus and to the Course. As well as to the contexts and forms relevant for the Fine Art programme. You will be asked to make an impactful and meaningful collaborative project.

What is Fine Art?
As you’re introduced to contemporary art practice, you’ll be asked to be experimental and take risks with your work, in both written and practical forms. You’ll take part in workshops covering art in all forms, from printmaking to photography, painting to woodworking. You’ll also learn how art history, contemporary theory, cultural studies and the wider global world can shed a different light on the work that you make in the studio.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 1
By exploring what is meant by gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion and social class, you will have the opportunity to explore how dominant culture mindsets contribute to the inclusion or exclusion of individuals or groups, and the ways in which divisive practices of ‘otherness and belonging’ are enacted, questioned and challenged in the context of contemporary Fine Art practices and a wider global arena.

What is Fine Art? Modes
Building on What is Fine Art? Experimentation, you’ll make and document a new piece of work for the purposes of display, write a short report or short audio-visual presentation on selected aspects of the lecture programme, and a literary review.

Opportunity
For Opportunity Week, you’ll go on visits to locations, attend a range of events both course-specific and independently led, and respond to a Call Out – where creative responses are asked for around a given theme, before being presented and celebrated across campus.

The Practice Lab
For this unit you’ll have the choice to produce work across two experimental “pathways” which cover the various aspects of Fine Art, alongside a record of lectures and seminars. You’ll also prepare and produce a record of talks, lectures and seminars for the purpose of delivering a presentation during a seminar within their staff-led tutor group

Connections 1
As part of your work in establishing professional networks, you’ll prepare and deliver a personal network sketchbook on selected arts organisations, galleries, museums, biennials, triennials, festivals within their location, that are directly and indirectly involved in Fine Art creative industries.

The Practice Lab – Display
From your work in the Practice Lab unit, this is your chance to exhibit and communicate creative outputs, and work with others in the display and curation of your own and others’ work. Collaboration is encouraged to explore the interdisciplinary nature of curation and installation. You’ll put together a project proposal, and display and document a body of work for a range of audiences.

ATOM Activities
ATOM activities are small pieces of individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure across UCA, and offer a flexible, impactful learning experience. They expand your creative horizon by accessing learning topics that would not otherwise be scheduled on your course specific timetable.

PLE Digital Outcomes
The PLE Digital Outcome is a purposefully edited, self-directed record of your constructive, level 4 engagement with and presence on, digital media platforms across the year.

Launch
As well as looking ahead to your second year you will be asked to contribute to an collaborative project. It will be important to consider how this work is received and understood and should have some form of ‘impact’ within the community of the campus.

What is my practice?
This unit gives you the chance to explore a range of themes, contexts and ways of working that you can choose, to help you refine your own practice. There’s a series of elective lectures and seminars which offer a breadth and a variety of subjects and attitudes with which to engage, covering socio-political, cultural, economic, technological, global and international perspectives.

The conscious practitioner
Building on Equality Diversity and Inclusion 1 in your first year, this unit will help you continue to develop and demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical and practical issues around the ethics of diversity, in the contexts of sustainability and current environmental concerns.

Interdisciplinary elective
This is your chance to explore beyond Fine Art, working collaboratively across courses to experiment and realise creative responses to briefs. What you choose to do must build on your experiences within your chosen sphere of focus.

Opportunity
For Opportunity Week, you’ll go on visits to locations, attend a range of events both course-specific and independently led, and respond to a Call Out – where creative responses are asked for around a given theme, before being presented and celebrated across campus.

Contemporary practice
You'll undertake written and practical elements to complete this unit. You'll produce an essay, and continue to refine your work - both reflecting on the evolution of your practice and looking forward to how you may exhibit it. 

Connections 2
With the support of your tutors, you will be encouraged to build on your sketchbook from Connections 1. You’ll prepare a presentation on your current work to an audience. You can work collaboratively with clearly defined roles, or individually on these initiatives. You will also be required to apply for work experience placements, internships, call outs, and competitions

Contemporary practice (curation) – placement
With the support of your tutor, the placement offers the opportunity for you to engage with organisations in the negotiation of a site for the purpose of displaying your work off-site. The unit encourages you to consider your studio work as a specialised practice in relation to available sites.

ATOM Activities and PLE Digital Outcome
These units are an extension of the Year 1 ATOM Activities and PLE Digital Outcome.

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

Launch
Looking ahead to your third year you will be asked to contribute to a collaborative project. It will be important to consider how this work is received and understood and should have some form of ‘impact’ within the community of the campus.

Degree show – preparation
You’ll produce a body of work, an artist statement, and a work-in-progress catalogue of your work ready for the Degree Show – and recognise the direction of your practice in order to be employment-ready beyond life at UCA.

Degree show – written
Alongside the previous unit, you’ll start working towards your dissertation. You have two choices on how to present your work - an 8,000-word dissertation or 30 to 40-minute audio-visual presentation. 

Opportunity
For Opportunity Week, you’ll go on visits to locations, attend a range of events both course-specific and independently led, and respond to a Call Out – where creative responses are asked for around a given theme, before being presented and celebrated across campus.

Degree Show – Final Major Project
The final major project requires demonstration of an independent and critically informed practice. Refining an approach to presenting work under exhibition conditions is a key aspect of this unit.

Supported by a series of seminars and workshops on the professional practice of Fine Art, including postgraduate options, you are required to document your work to a standard appropriate for postgraduate activity to produce a Professional Practice Portfolio. Your artist statement will form part of your professional portfolio outlining the ideas and influences that inform your work.

This course offers the opportunity to study abroad for part of your course. To find out more about studying abroad please see the Study Abroad section:

• Study abroad information

Across the entire duration of this course you will be required to maintain and evolve a Progression Portfolio. Through this you will learn how to curate and build a document of all of your research and developmental/experimental work across each unit of the course. This portfolio will allow you to reflect, review, update and present all of your unit outcomes in one place to demonstrate your knowledge/understanding, technical and professional skills as a Visual Communication practitioner. This is your first step in placing your own practice in an industry context. This will also form an important component for each assessed element of the course.

Tuition fees - 2024/25 entry

UK students:

• Integrated Foundation Year - £9,250
• BA course - £9,250

EU students:

• Integrated International Foundation Year - £9,250 (see fee discount information)
• BA course - £9,250 (see fee discount information)

International students:

• Integrated International Foundation Year - £16,950
• BA course - £17,500

If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, for 2024 you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee of £1,850 (UK students) and £3,390 (International students). 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.

The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only, for details of previous years please see the full fee schedules. 

Financial support

There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources.

Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

You'll find everything you need to know for your level of study on our scholarships page.

Additional course costs

In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of your Course Information for details of the costs you may incur.

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.

BA (Hons) course
BA (Hons) course with Professional Practice Year

The standard entry requirements* for these courses are one of the following:

• 112 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 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 9-4/A*-C 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.  

Portfolio requirements

For these courses, we’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

More portfolio advice

BA (Hons) course with Integrated Foundation Year
BA (Hons) course with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year

The standard entry requirements* for these courses are one of the following:

• 32 UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
• Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
• Pass, Pass, Pass at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
• Pass at UAL Extended Diploma
• 32 UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
• 24 points from the International Baccalaureate, see more information about IB entry requirements.

And four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C 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. 

Portfolio requirements

For these courses, we’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

*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.

BA (Hons) course
BA (Hons) course with Professional Practice Year

The standard entry requirements* for these courses 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 9-4/A*-C 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.  

Portfolio requirements

For these courses, we’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

More portfolio advice

BA (Hons) course with Integrated Foundation Year
BA (Hons) course with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year

The standard entry requirements* for these courses are one of the following:

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

And four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C 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. 

Portfolio requirements

These courses don't require a portfolio. If you receive an offer, you’ll be invited to attend an Applicant Day where you can meet the course team and learn more about the course. 

*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.

BA (Hons) course
BA (Hons) course with Professional Practice Year

The entry requirements for these courses will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please check the equivalent qualifications for your country:

• Non-UK equivalent qualifications

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

For these courses, we will need to see your portfolio for review. We will invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. If you are unable to attend an Applicant Day you can upload a portfolio digitally, there is also the option to submit it online via your UCA Applicant Portal. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

BA (Hons) course with Integrated International Foundation Year
BA (Hons) course with Integrated International Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year

For these courses you need to have completed 12 years of schooling (with good grades) and show strong evidence of your ability to successfully complete the programme and progress onto your chosen degree.

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

These courses don't require a portfolio. If you receive an offer, you’ll be invited to attend an Applicant Day where you can meet the course team and learn more about the course. 

English language requirements

To study at UCA, you'll need to have a certain level of English language skill. And so, to make sure you meet the requirements of your course, we ask for evidence of your English language ability, please chcek the level of English language required:

• English language requirements