Fine Art BA (Hons) Farnham

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 the third year, your final major project will be an opportunity to combine the practical skills you have learned throughout the course, and you’ll have the opportunity to show your final work in the Graduation Show.

Practice Resolution
You'll be encouraged to identify key issues and concerns in your work through your final major project proposal, which may provide the basis for your future development and help you to discover a distinctive identity. We'll ask you to focus primarily on the resolution of current issues and concerns in your studio practice, rather than on the formulation of new ideas.

Dissertation
You'll undertake a substantial period of sustained, individually negotiated research on a subject related to the contextual and/or theoretical concerns of your discipline or chosen area of practice, towards the provision of structured written argument.

Realising Professional Practice
In this unit you'll be introduced to the specifics of creative management relevant to Fine Art and how this can be applied to sustaining and realising your practice externally.

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

• Study abroad information

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 and well connected course, Fine Art at our Farnham campus has strong industry links with highly regarded names in the art world, including:

• The Institute of Contemporary Art
• Jerwood Space
• Zeitgeist Art Platform
• Henry Moore Institute
• Blythe Gallery (Imperial College)
• Resonance FM
• Leeds and Cass Sculpture Foundation.

Students have exhibited at galleries such as 242 Gallery, 10 Gales, Blyth Gallery at Imperial College London, Bargehouse in South Bank and so on. They've exhibited locally at The Lightbox in Woking, James Hockey Gallery and Alice Holt Forest in Farnham and Watts Gallery in Guildford. They've also been selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, the Jerwood Drawing Prize and the Threadneedle Prize, amongst other competitions.

Our alumni have won the Jerwood Drawing Prize, John Walker Painting Prize and Neo Art Print Prize, and recent graduates have gone on to become practicing:

• Artists
• Curators
• Creative project managers
• Special effects prop makers
• Set designers
• Teachers
• Writers
• Production assistants
• Technicians
• Arts administrators
• Entrepreneurs
• Gallery owners
• Illustrators
• Art historians.

The adaptability instilled in our students has translated into exciting and diverse opportunities for many of our graduates, such as creating concert projections for Madonna, collaborations with Sadler’s Wells and the highly specialist casting of human organs for medical research.

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. Your portfolio should contain a selection of current work, including recent project work, sketchbooks, and research or reflective journals or notebooks. 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