Art & Design

This defiantly experimental programme enables established artists as well as graduates from fine art and creative arts courses to extend their practice and expertise in the context of new technologies and new opportunities for collaborative as well as individual practice. You develop your reflective practice at an advanced level and consolidate and diversify your existing skills base. The course provides a stimulating environment in which you can develop your understanding of other discipline areas while investigating themes and issues of personal concern.

What you study

Stage 1 involves professional skills development, research, project work and the opportunity for collaborative working. Stage 2 culminates in a feasibility study for a negotiated major project. Finally, Stage 3 enables you to complete major project work, supported by regular tutorial contact and studio interaction.

How you learn

At MA level it is vital that you take an active role in structuring your own learning, and engage with the relevant methods and underpinning theories of your discipline. The use of a variety of methods, including tutorials, seminars and workshops, enables key principles to be applied to the day-to-day interaction between participants - benefiting tutors and students alike. Individual support, provided by a personal tutor, is an integral feature of the learning and teaching strategy.

An intrinsic aspect of your main study area and its supporting subjects is research. You need to find and make sense of a wide variety of information from books, newspapers, journals, magazines, websites, archives and many other sources. Seminars enable structured discussion and analysis to take place between groups of students and a tutor. They are organised to be interactive and to facilitate the free exchange of ideas through which you learn the process of argument and reason. At postgraduate level it is likely that you will organise and hold some of your own seminar sessions, not necessarily with staff present or playing the lead role.

Practical workshops are used to introduce specific skills, followed by independent learning, project work, tutorials and critiques. Critical reflection is key to all successful origination and is therefore essential to the creative process. You are expected to test and assess your work against criteria which you develop yourself in the light of your research.

How you are assessed

Various assessment methods are used throughout all of the modules and are specified in the module handbooks. These are primarily what we call in-course assessments, where you submit work during the delivery of the module, rather than sit timed examinations at the end. Arts modules are generally project based and primarily assessed through appraisal of a portfolio of work, often accompanied by a verbal presentation. Creative work is largely developmental and you are assessed on the process by which you achieve your solutions as well as the result, so it is essential that you provide clear evidence of your development work.

Career opportunities

Graduates typically pursue careers as self-employed artists and creative practitioners within the cultural sector. Some find employment in arts and cultural management or choose a career in teaching. Further study at doctoral level is also an option.

Entry requirements

Applicants should normally have a good undergraduate degree in an arts discipline, relevant experience or equivalent qualifications. Applicants will be interviewed.

For additional information please see the undergraduate and postgraduate entry requirements in our admissions section

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