BA (Hons) Fine Art with foundation year

• 48 UCAS points. We accept a full range of qualifications that carry UCAS points, including A-levels, BTECs and T levels. Please see our guide to the UCAS Tariff for examples of how to achieve these points. For most courses, we are also able to consider non-tariffable qualifications.
• Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3. Relevant creative and art and design-related subjects are preferred.
• You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent), including English and Mathematics.
• You may be required to attend for interview and provide a portfolio of appropriate work.
• If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.

Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.

Fine arts graduates are highly regarded for their abilities to visualise, think creatively and ‘outside the box’, and for their acquisition of specialist skills in both 2D and 3D areas. As a graduate, you’ll possess strong observational and analytical skills, and be able to critically evaluate your work and the work of others.

You’ll also have experience of showcasing your work at events and exhibitions, working to briefs, meeting deadlines and organising your time effectively. These skills are required across a range of sectors and demonstrate your ability to generate new ideas.

What can I do with this qualification?

Graduates with a fine art degree are increasingly embracing an interdisciplinary approach, finding new ways to blend different media and mediums. Fine art graduates can fill a wide range of roles in public and community art, illustration, photography, curatorial positions in galleries and museums, art therapy, exhibition design and teaching.

Graduates from the University of Bolton have gone on to set up their own studio spaces and obtained positions within local arts groups such as Hospital Arts, Bolton at Home’s Percent for Art and Artists in Schools. Another group of graduates has established ‘Neo:Artists’ and have set up their own Bolton-based art gallery.

Alternative career options

Creative flair is something that many employers outside of the creative industries value, especially as visual content is so central to the success of any online operation. Graduates can use the qualification as a stepping-stone a range of other careers, and for some of these roles, both relevant experience and/or postgraduate study may be required. They include:

• Advertising
• Marketing
• Arts administration and management
• Interior and spatial design
• Exhibition work
• Multimedia programming
• Publishing
• Web design
• Arts consultancy
• Commercial art

Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2023-2024 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.

The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.

For 2023-2024 entry, the maximum government approved undergraduate tuition fee for UK students is £9,250 per year. The University is able to charge this fee subject to an approved Access and Participation Plan for 2023-2024 and its current rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton students.

We use a blended approach to teaching and learning (face-to-face and online). Studio, computer suite and lecture room activities are a main feature of the programme. Lectures, seminars, demonstrations and workshops link specialisms across the traditional boundaries of painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking and so on and provide space to combine traditional techniques with modern technologies.

You’ll also engage in self-directed study, with support from a range of staff including technicians and library/learning resources staff. The Learning Agreement is also an important aspect of your self-directed study activity. Learning Agreements are negotiated with your module tutor, and outline a plan of your progress for a set period of time.

You’ll receive individual help and advice on your personal work in one-to-one tutorials. Peer reviews, where you present your work to a small group of your fellow students for their comment, also provides useful feedback.

Regular presentations from visiting lecturers (prominent artists/designers/gallery administrators/filmmakers and so on) offer opportunities for you to hear directly from successful practitioners and ask detailed questions about their careers and work.

All fine art modules are made available online through the university’s e-learning portal Moodle, enabling you to keep up-to-date, even if you cannot make it into class. This important resource will contain digital versions of all projects, book lists, and links to relevant websites, video materials, and other sources of learning.

Modules

The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.

• Creative Responses
• Information and Interpretation
• Preparation and Progression
• Specialist Project
• History and Theory 1
• Media and Processes 1
• Media and Processes 2
• Studio Practice 1
• Interdisciplinary Methods
• Public Engagement
• Studio Practice 2
• History and Theory 2
• Response to Text
• Critique as Practice
• Studio Practice 3
• Professional Practice
• Major Project

Assessment methods

Learning activities

Disclaimer

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.