BA (Hons) Fine Art
BA (Hons) Fine Art
Institution code: N39Course 3 Year UCAS code: W101Course 4 Year UCAS code: W102Course length: 3 or 4 year options
All courses starting in September 2020 will run as a blend of on-campus and digital teaching and learning and will follow UK government safety advice. We may need to adjust course delivery if advice changes. We will notify applicants and students of any changes directly.
Explore your creativity, ideas and instincts in a vibrant community of artists, makers and thinkers at NUA, one of the UK’s longest-established Fine Art degrees.
Our BA (Hons) Fine Art degree course encourages ‘thinking through making’ and you will explore the breadth of fine art with workshops in painting, print, sculpture, mixed media and video. You will use project spaces and external venues for performance, display and curation.
You will shape your own distinctive career path as an artist on our BA (Hons) course and join generations of graduates who have achieved national and international success.
Our graduates are renowned for their unique voice and vision, leading them to Turner Prize nomination and inclusion in the UK’s annual New Contemporaries exhibition.
Explore Fine Art
Whatever your choice of medium, we will encourage and support you to develop your own practice and develop a substantial portfolio.
Purpose-built studio spaces will provide the perfect environment to realise your creative direction.
You’ll have access to the tools you need to make and create, including:
- Printmaking facilities
- 3D studios and a foundry
- Our historic Munnings Life Drawing Studio
- Painting studios
- Augmented and Virtual Reality.
Professional preparation
Your creative development will include gaining valuable professional skills related to promoting and selling your work, curation, contracts, costing and networking.
Opportunities will emerge through the course team’s close links with regional and national galleries like Tate Modern, Wysing Arts Centre, Firstsite, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and OUTPOST.
Graduates work in a broad range of careers including
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You’ll also get specialist creative careers advice from our team in the Ideas FactoryNUA to help support you as you plan your career.
- Course specifications
Three year degree
Four year degree - Course costs
Ask a Student
Course content
- Year 1
- An emphasis on 'thinking through making' using traditional and new media techniques will help you identify your artistic interests
- Comprehensive workshop inductions
- Grow your understanding of critical theories such as psychoanalysis and aesthetics
- Visit galleries and events nationally and internationally
- Contextualise your work and think more practically about audience
- Exhibit in the NUA Project Spaces
- Explore collaborative, collective and socially engaged approaches
- Introduction to the 12 essential skills of the Fine Art innovative programme.
- Year 2
- Workshops in either painting, print, sculpture, mixed media or video
- External exhibitions, publication or placement
- Learn advanced drawing techniques
- Opportunities to use project spaces and external venues for experimentation, collaboration, display, critique, curation, performance and discussion.
- Year 3
- Prepare a comprehensive Research Report related to your practice
- Regular student-led presentations for sharing individual practice
- Opportunity to be part of the curation team planning the Degree Show
- Professional practice conference
- Degree Show, attended by curators, collectors, buyers and gallery owners
- Opportunity to showcase your work in London.
Student work
Tap to expand
Convention
Typical UK offers
A / AS Levels – GCE
GCE A/AS Levels 3 A-level qualifications at grades BBB. Where candidates are not taking 3 A-levels, NUA will consider combinations of A-level/AS-level and other Level 3 qualifications.
BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction, Merit, Merit in an art, design or media related subject
BTEC Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction*, Distinction* in an art, design or media related subject
UAL Extended Diploma
Merit
UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Merit
UAL Level 4 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Merit
Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design)
Pass
International Baccalaureate Diploma
A minimum of 27 points
NUA welcomes applicants of all ages from all backgrounds. Your application will be primarily assessed through your portfolio, responses to questions asked and personal statement, so even if you have no formal qualifications or do not meet our typical offers it can still be worth applying.
If you are studying at the time of your application and your application is successful it is likely that you will receive a conditional offer.
If the qualification that you are studying is not shown, do not worry as we are able to accept other pre-entry qualifications as well as combinations of different qualifications. Please do contact our Student Recruitment Team if you have any queries.
International applications
We accept qualifications from all over the world. To find our entry requirements from a specific country, please check our dedicated international pages.
Most international students are required to hold an English language qualification. Applicants are required to have a minimum UKVI approved IELTS exam score of 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each section. Equivalent English language qualifications are acceptable such as, IB English language syllabus A or B/English Literature (Grade 4).
We also accept some alternative English qualifications. Learn more about our English entry requirements.
You can email us on international@nua.ac.uk if you’d like to discuss your application individually.
BA (Hons) Fine Art degree portfolio guidance
Your portfolio should be relevant to this course, but you can include a wide range of work that shows your creativity, technical competence and understanding of space.
You may wish to include some of the following:
- Evidence of working independently, developing your own ideas or inquiries
- Drawing, which could include images from observation, experimental or imaginative work
- Sculpture, or installation in any medium
- Painting
- Printmaking
- Collage and mixed media
- Textile work
- Photography
- Sound design
- Film or moving image
- Performance, installation, socially-engaged or interactive work
- Collaborative group work
- Digital work (using Adobe Creative Suite or free open source software)
Further portfolio advice and tips
Get more advice on presentation formats, layouts and when to submit your portfolio in the application process.
Fees and Funding
The cost of your course is determined by your status as either ‘UK or ‘International/EU’, so it’s important to check your fee status. If you’re unsure, the UKCISA website will help you determine whether you’re eligible to pay a UK fee (also called a ‘home’ fee). If you’d prefer to speak to NUA directly, please contact student.finance@nua.ac.uk
UK students are eligible for a tuition fee loan from the UK government, meaning you won’t have to pay your fees up front. Further details about tuition fee loans are provided below. International students are not eligible for the UK government tuition fee loan.
2021/22 Tuition Fees for new entrants
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Citizen status |
Course |
Fee |
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UK |
Undergraduate degree (full-time three and four year degree) |
£9,250 |
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International (including EU) |
Undergraduate degree (full-time three and four year degree) |
£15,900 |
Fees will remain the same for each year of your course.
International students
Find out more about 2021 fees for international students and the scholarships and support available.
Financial support for UK students
Tuition fee loans and loans for living costs are available, as well as non-repayable NUA bursaries that take into account family income. Find out how to apply for funding.
Tuition Fee Loan for undergraduate study – 2021/22
Tuition fee loans are available for UK students.
- Available to cover the full cost of your tuition
- You don’t have to pay for your course up front yourself
- Only start paying back when you are earning over £26,575 per year
Maintenance Loan for undergraduate study – 2021/22
Student Maintenance Loans are available from Student Finance England for UK students to help with living costs such as accommodation, food, clothes, travel and course expenses. The amount students receive is dependent on household income and any maintenance grant received.
- A loan of up to £9,203 may be available if you live away from home.
- A loan of up to £7,747 may be available if you live with your parents.
Different figures may apply if you are currently based in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
How can you find out more?
To learn more about loans, repayment calculations and other financial support, visit Student Finance. If you have any questions about fees, please email us: student.finance@nua.ac.uk
Scholarships
Find out about scholarship programmes available to NUA applicants.
Bursaries
For new entrants whose household income is assessed as £25,000 or less, the university will offer a contribution towards the costs of studying at NUA (such as equipment, materials and other course-related costs). Find out more about bursaries at NUA.
NUA alumni, staff and feeder staff discount
All NUA alumni are eligible for a £1,000 discount on NUA postgraduate degree fees. All NUA staff and staff from feeder institutions are eligible for a £500 discount on NUA postgraduate degree fees.
Four year degree
Our innovative four year degrees are exactly the same as our three year degrees but include an extra year of study at the beginning – Year 0.
Year 0 is about developing the skills, foundation, knowledge and the confidence you need to successfully complete your degree course. Building on your experience from A Level or equivalent courses, the Year 0 curriculum allows time to develop the practical, creative and conceptual skills that are critical to successfully completing an undergraduate degree at NUA.
While studying Year 0 BA (Hons) Fine Art you will begin to establish your individual creative voice and follow your own direction through projects designed to challenge and stretch you. You’ll undertake both studio and research led projects that will inform the development of your work and enhance your contextual awareness.
You’ll benefit from inductions in the workshop areas used throughout your degree, and you will also have mixed year critiques with Year 1 Fine Art students. You will also be able to engage with the Fine Art lecture programme, which is open to all years, as well as having the opportunity to curate and realise an exhibition outside the confines of the University.
Typical UK offers and entry requirements for Year 0 entry
GCE A/AS Levels
2 A-level qualifications at grades CC or higher.
BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Merit, Merit, Pass in an art, design or media related subject
BTEC Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction, Merit in an art, design or media related subject
UAL Extended Diploma
An overall Pass
UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
An overall Pass
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design)
Pass
International Baccalaureate Diploma
A minimum of 24 points
NUA welcomes applicants of all ages from all backgrounds. Your application will be primarily assessed through your portfolio, responses to questions asked and personal statement, so even if you have no formal qualifications or do not meet our typical offers it can still be worth applying.
If you are studying at the time of your application and your application is successful it is likely that you will receive a conditional offer.
Students
Liv
"During my time at NUA I discovered my passion for performance, community and activism; in addition to my identity as a non-binary individual."
BA (Hons) Fine Art
Maddie Exton
"As an East GalleryNUA Assistant you get first hand insight into how people look at art - you are literally a fly on the wall, so getting feedback on other people's art is really useful, because it's basically a big group crit."
BA (Hons) Fine Art
Gabriel Loy
"Many of the artists I work with now I met during my time in the UK."
BA (Hons) Fine Art
Alveera Rahman
"The course has enabled me to broaden my idea of what art is and what it can be in terms of its physical and non-physical form. In my first year I’ve gained a more defined perspective on the issues and concepts I want to explore in my own practice."
BA (Hons) Fine Art
Teaching
staff
Lecturers
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Madalina Zaharia
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Kat Nicholson
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Cosmo Sheldrake - Guest Speaker
Multi-instrumentalist Musician, Composer and Producer -
David Mackintosh - Guest Speaker
Artist
Need help? Chat to our friendly recruitment team
Book a place on an Open Day, or to find out more about how to apply for a course at NUA, please give us a call.
Call: +44 (0) 1603 610561
Email: studentrecruitment@nua.ac.uk
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