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Fine Art

The Northern School of Art

UCAS Code: W101 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

The Northern School of Art

UCAS Code: W101 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements

A level

C,C,C-B,B,C

Successfully complete Access to HE Diploma

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

MMM-DMM

Successfully complete Foundation Diploma

T Level

Pass (C and above)

UCAS Tariff

96-112

UCAS tariff points can be made up of a mixture of Level 3 qualifications.

You may also need to…

Attend an interview

groups

Present a portfolio

image

About this course

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2025

Subject

Fine art

The Northern School of Art is located in a landscape of natural and industrial beauty. Which is at the heart of the North Easts thriving art scene. This exciting degree in fine art encourages high levels of technical skills, conceptual rigour and contextual understanding.

Students will work in a well-equipped studio with excellent resources in addition to workshops allowing them to explore their studies properly. This BA (Hons) Fine Art course has an embedded professional studies element to help you prepare for your career after graduation.

Students will be offered a technical training that will allow you to become an arts and media specialist. Challenging and extending the traditions of such disciplines as fine art painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, video and sculpture. The wide range of superbly equipped workshops available to you will also facilitate the kind of experimental combining of materials and processes needed to explore and create hybrid art forms. You will be encouraged to explore art history and the context of your practice, in order to establish a strong personal visual language.

In year one, you will be introduced to a range of fine art concepts, processes and subject matters. In year two, you will make an informed decision about the subject matter, media or combinations of media that you wish to explore in your personal practice and have the opportunity to exhibit your work. In your final year, you will be supported in developing and refining your craft in order to realise your creative aspirations as an independent practitioner.

Modules

In your first year (Level Four) you will explore:
- Two-Dimensional Analogue Practices
- Time and Lens Based Practices
- Three-Dimensional Practices
- Exploring Subject Matter through Drawing and Research
- Introduction to Personal Practice
- From Renaissance to Modernism

In your second year (Level Five) you will develop:
- Establishing Personal Practice
- Situating Personal Practice
- Theory in Relation to Practice
- Professional Studies - Exhibition

In your third year (Level Six) you will produce:
- Project Research and Preparation
- Dissertation Report
- Final Major Project
- Final Show and Portfolio

Assessment methods

In course assessment. Each module is assessed upon completion and given a percentage mark.

Tuition fees

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

Channel Islands
£9,535
per year
England
£9,535
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,535
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,535
per year
Scotland
£9,535
per year
Wales
£9,535
per year

The Uni

Course location:

The Northern School of Art

Department:

Higher Education

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.

93%
Fine art

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

100%
Staff make the subject interesting
100%
Staff are good at explaining things
93%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
86%
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
100%
IT resources
100%
Course specific equipment and facilities
93%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

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

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.

£21,000
low
Average annual salary
85%
med
Employed or in further education
38%
low
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.

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.

£14k

£14k

£16k

£16k

£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...

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place
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Lower entry requirements
place
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Fine Art with Foundation Year
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time 2025
UCAS Points: 64

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.

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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.

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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