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Photography

Arts University Plymouth

UCAS Code: W645 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Arts University Plymouth

UCAS Code: W645 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements

UCAS Tariff

104-120

Although many of our students do come in with top grades and high UCAS points, these aren’t necessarily essential for entry. We typically ask for a minimum of 104 UCAS points, but we understand that talented artists, designers and makers can have a wide range of relevant strengths and skills beyond formal qualifications. We’re just as interested in exploring your portfolio as we are in seeing your grades.

You may also need to…

Present a portfolio

image

About this course

This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2025

Other options

6 years | Part-time | 2025

Subjects

Fine art

Photography

Our **BA (Hons) Photography** program has been designed to cultivate a dynamic blend of creative and critical practice, positioning you for success in the ever-evolving field of photography. With a keen focus on contemporary art practices, we delve into various forms of photographic image-making, empowering you to unleash your creative potential and excel in the photography industry.

As a student, you will develop technical and critical skills throughout the three years of the course, to become an accomplished, independent photographer and critically informed image-maker. Approaching photography with a spirit of enquiry and experimentation, while developing your technical and communication skills, will open up a range of creative and professional possibilities for you as a photographic practitioner.

**Why Choose This Course?**
During this course, we consider the expanded and innovative potential of photography within the context of contemporary art. Our students explore a range of conceptual, practical, and experimental approaches to photography in locating their own creative narrative, as emergent and highly individual, contemporary artists.

You’ll develop creative and technical production skills using a range of media, covering digital and film-based photography, from 19th Century processes through to the latest technology, in order to proficiently express your photographic vision. You will also be able to critically reflect on your own practice and creativity and understand photography as a key visual language within contemporary culture.

You will learn from teaching staff who have a range of internationally recognised experience in art, documentary, curatorial, and participatory-based forms of practice. As a teaching team, they will help you build your own distinctive and innovative creative practice. Over the three years of studying with us, you will be publishing, exhibiting, and presenting your work and your ideas.

You will examine photography as and in relation to other contemporary art forms, considering its significance within culture, society, and the wider world. You'll be encouraged to find your own independent voice, experimenting and creating work that expresses your creativity, ideas, and skills. You'll explore a variety of photographic methods, working with people and places in urban locations, natural environments, and studios. We're committed to supporting you in discovering different ways of working and finding a photographic language that resonates with you.

Our photographic resources boast industry-standard studios, featuring an infinity cove for creating seamless backdrops and a series of well-equipped studios ideal for portrait and product photography. Access to lighting and high-end digital camera equipment, large-format scanners, and post-production suites is readily available. Additionally, our Equipment Resource Centre offers a vast array of 6000 pieces of kit that are free to hire.

Regional, national and international study trips are offered to introduce you to a global photographic community and perspective. Recent activities have included trips to Paris Photo, Tate Modern in London, Lacock Abbey and the Royal Photographic Society in Bristol. Our graduating students show their work annually at prestigious venues including Free Range in London, and have been consistently recognised for their innovative and ground-breaking work with numerous awards, prizes, exhibition opportunities and magazine features.

Our curriculum is enriched with a diverse schedule of visiting lecturers and photographers, many of whom actively participate in running practical workshops, contributing to group critiques and seminar discussions, and providing portfolio review sessions.

Graduates of this course can become photographers, artists, curators, art or creative directors, creative producers, filmmakers, writers, academics, lecturers and teachers, online producers and more.

Modules

Our graduates have all the skills and knowledge that they need to work in the creative industries. Throughout your studies, your work will be underpinned and informed by a rich programme of contextual and theoretical study. Our professional practice modules help you to understand how to promote, sell and exhibit your work and how to develop your network, and include regular seasons of talks by curators, picture editors, artists and academics.
You will need to gain entrepreneurial skills, and we explore how to build your artistic reputation and how to promote and support your work through exhibitions, publications and online formats.
We organise an annual Visual Culture Symposium in London where students meet industry professionals, listen to guest lectures and get key feedback for their portfolio.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,500
per year
International
£16,500
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni

Course location:

Arts University Plymouth

Department:

Arts, Design and Media

Read full university profile

What students say

We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

90%
Fine art
91%
Photography

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Art

Teaching and learning

94%
Staff make the subject interesting
97%
Staff are good at explaining things
97%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
91%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

86%
Library resources
91%
IT resources
91%
Course specific equipment and facilities
83%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

96%
UK students
4%
International students
20%
Male students
80%
Female students
71%
2:1 or above
18%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
B

Cinematics and photography

Teaching and learning

89%
Staff make the subject interesting
87%
Staff are good at explaining things
85%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
89%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

80%
Library resources
87%
IT resources
89%
Course specific equipment and facilities
77%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
30%
Male students
70%
Female students
75%
2:1 or above
31%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
D

After graduation

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Fine art

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£18,000
low
Average annual salary
80%
low
Employed or in further education
55%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

Quite a few students of fine art have already retired and are taking the degree for the excellent reason that they love art, and they're willing to pay to study it. You should bear this in mind if the stats you see feature particularly low employment rates. If you need to earn a living once you've finished your fine art degree, be aware that freelancing and self-employment is common - about one in six fine arts graduates were working for themselves. Also common are what is termed 'portfolio careers' — having several part-time jobs or commissions at once - and many courses actually help you prepare for freelancing. One in ten of last year’s fine arts graduates had more than one job six months after graduation — over twice the average for graduates from 2015. Graduates from these subjects are often found in arts jobs, as artists, designers, photographers and similar jobs, or as arts and entertainment officers or teachers — although it's perfectly possible to get jobs outside the arts if you wish, with jobs in events management, marketing and community work amongst the most popular options.

Photography

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,000
low
Average annual salary
85%
med
Employed or in further education
60%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Art

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£15k

£15k

£19k

£19k

£18k

£18k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Cinematics and photography

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£15k

£15k

£19k

£19k

£18k

£18k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Explore these similar courses...

Higher entry requirements
place
Glasgow School of Art | Glasgow
Fine Art - Photography
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time 2025
UCAS Points: 114-128

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here