Arts Degree & Diploma Courses in the UK

The Arts University College at Bournemouth:
The Arts University College at Bournemouth is one of only twelve specialist higher education institutions in the UK devoted solely to the study of the arts. The University College has been offering specialist education for over a century and enjoys a strong reputation both nationally and internationally for providing the creative industries with practitioners of the future. The modern campus houses 2500 students and prides itself on being a creative community where both staff and students share a commitment to the disciplines of arts, design, media and performance.

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Further Education
Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art & Design
Diploma in Foundation Studies in Media
National Certificate in Photography
National Diploma in Art & Design

Higher Education
BA (Hons) Animation Production
BA (Hons) Architecture
BA (Hons) Arts and Event Management
BA (Hons) Costume and Set*
BA (Hons) Fashion Studies
BA (Hons) Film Production
BA (Hons) Fine Art
BA (Hons) Graphic Design
BA (Hons) Illustration
BA (Hons) Modelmaking for Design and Media
BA (Hons) Photography
BA (Hons) Product Design*
Foundation Degree Commercial Photography
Foundation Degree Digital Media Production*
Foundation Degree Fashion
Foundation Degree Interior Architecture and Design
Foundation Degree Fashion Jewellery*
Foundation Degree Stagecrafts*
Foundation Degree Textiles
Foundation Degree Visual Communication
*Subject to vailidation

Postgraduate
MA: Animation
MA: Costume
MA: Fine Art
MA: Photography

Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art and Design

The first stage of the Art and Design course is an exploratory programmed signed to increase students’ visual understanding across a range of media. Students work on a variety of projects in the following areas: 2D art and design principles, 3D art and design principles, drawing and recording and responding, information and research, printmaking, photography/video, computer image manipulation and media experimentation. This part of the course is intensive and exciting. Students gain experience of potential pathway areas with visits from practicing artists, designers and specialist lecturers. In the second stage students will select their area of future specialism. The options available reflect the broad categories of study available in Higher Education. At this stage students will be regrouped and study on one of the following six areas by set projects and assignments:

Graphic Design and Illustration, 3D (art, craft and design), Fashion and Textiles, Photography, Fine Art, Film and Animation

Diploma in Foundation Studies in Media

The media programme is an intensive course, designed to prepare students for Higher Education study in media, including multimedia, film, video, photography and animation courses. It offers students the opportunity to experiment with a range of activities and approaches focused within media and photography in order for students to realise their individual capabilities. The first stage of the course is an exploratory programme which has a more specific focus and emphasis compared to the more general Foundation course. The course is designed to increase visual understanding through a range of 2D projects, using a variety of media such as photography, video, computer-aided design and visual studies/drawing.
In the second stage students will be regrouped and study on one of the following areas by set projects and assignments:

– Photography, Film and Animation or select from the main programme pathways of the Art and Design Foundation course.

National Diploma in Art and Design

The National Diploma in Art and Design is a broad-based general art, design and media course. The course is designed to give students a very strong practical knowledge in a wide range of disciplines such as fine art, painting and drawing, sculpture, fashion, textiles, graphic design, 3D design, video and photography.
During the first year students will have the opportunity to explore all areas of art, design and media. At the beginning of the second year students will then have the opportunity to decide on their chosen course of study. Students then choose their specialist area of study from the following six pathways where they will study alongside students enrolled on the Foundation Diploma award.

– Graphic Design and Illustration, 3D (art, craft and design), Fashion and Textiles, Photography, Fine Art, Film and Animation

BTEC National Certificate in Photography

This intense one year course offers a wide range of experience and skills development across all areas of contemporary commercial photographic practice. The range of areas covered allows students to develop a broad portfolio of work in a short space of time. They may already be a graduate in another discipline, be seeking to enhance their career prospects, wishing to start an entirely new career, or to progress to a Degree course in Higher Education. The nature of this course means that students are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds with a variety of talents, ambitions and experiences. The course comprises twelve integrated units which develop a balance of technical and contextual knowledge and cover areas of traditional silver based and contemporary digital media. Students develop their skills by working both in the studio and on location and learn to present their work for exhibition and promotional purposes.

BA (Hons) Animation Production
Three year programme

This course has a strong international reputation and has been awarded Skillset Accreditation for the quality of its offering to the animation industry. There is also an extraordinary loyalty between undergraduates, graduates and alumni. This fosters a genuine feeling of community and a firmly rooted appreciation of how they were taught and how the animation world operates. The art of making animated film requires a high level of practical skill, technical proficiency and a wealth of theoretical knowledge. This course looks at animation production in a broad and holistic way, providing a thoroughly intensive team-based experience in which students develop a comprehensive understanding of the full production process. The course strives to offer the closest experience possible to that of the professional animator. Students are encouraged to generate work through different means, be it traditional, computer-based or stop-motion. Whilst computer solutions are taught, all students must first learn the fundamentals by starting with animation through drawing. Whichever path students choose to specialise in, the course aims to provide them with a strong commercially viable portfolio of work which will demonstrate their skills, self-expression and strengths.



BA (Hons) Modelmaking for Design and Media

This specialist innovative course is a European leader in the field of modelmaking. It sets out to be challenging, practical and demanding but also to provide a rich, rewarding, fun and vibrant experience. Students develop technical and aesthetic abilities, experiencing a wide variety of processes and materials in carrying out a range of challenging and interesting briefs – working both physically and digitally in three dimensions. The course prides itself on its learning and teaching approaches and has a strong team of ex-industry professionals which is further supplemented by visiting industrial specialists.

BA (Hons) Film Production

This course provides practical experience of the many aspects of filmmaking, both live action drama productions and documentaries. It provides experience of the many aspects of filmmaking, with the emphasis on live action drama productions. Our aim is to produce graduates who take on key creative and business roles in mainstream film production, not just aspiring directors. Students will gain a contextual understanding of the entire process of film production and the relationship between all its constituent roles and stages including designing, editing, sound, cinematography, production and direction. The result will be the production of visually exciting and engaging films, entertaining and challenging audiences.

BA (Hons) Acting for Theatre, Film and Television

This course provides those aspiring to be successful actors with key skills to be able to respond to the demands of the industry – whether in theatre, film or television – and to become creative, flexible and independent artists. Whilst this is an exciting new course it is traditional in many ways. Students will study the history and development of the actor and the theatre, as well as exploring what they need to know in order to become a good practitioner. There are opportunities to explore classical as well as contemporary playwrights and styles of acting. Our current students are excited about having the opportunity to be part of something new and developing.

BA (Hons) Costume and Set Design for Performance
This course addresses design and manufacture for the performance industry with specific focus on developing a conceptual understanding of costume and set design. Students need to be interested in art, design and all types of performance to support the study that they will encounter on this course including theatre, film, television, ballet, opera, circus and street. Students will engage in design for costumes and for sets and realize costumes from their own and other students’ designs. It is this breadth of study that makes the course so comprehensive and distinctive from other courses. We believe that the knowledge and awareness gained of the overall production process during the first stage of the course is what sets our students apart and gives them an edge in industry.

Foundation Degree Textiles

This new degree course commenced in 2007 and offers broad based creative study in the field of textiles, covering the breadth of the discipline and its applications including surface print, stitch embellishment, dyeing and construction processes. It offers the opportunity to focus on a variety of specialist areas, including textiles for fashion, textiles craft, textiles for interiors and textiles as art. Traditional skills are taught together with expertise in design development and production.

BA (Hons) Fashion Studies
This course reflects the way in which the world of fashion has evolved to become a diverse and multi¬faceted international business that is best viewed in its cultural context and in the light of ethical, social and technological developments. The unique breadth of this course will give students the means to develop the full range of practical, conceptual and professional skills necessary to work in the fashion industry. Broad knowledge and skills are vital in such a competitive field.

Foundation Degree Fashion
This course provides a realistic insight into the variety of career possibilities in the fashion industry covering the areas of design, merchandising, buying or technical disciplines. We use industry methods to solve complex design and production problems and aim to convey some of the buzz of working in an environment that is constantly inventing and reinventing itself. Students learn that their skills, both professional and personal, must continually evolve to reflect this and make them serious contenders for employment.

BA (Hons) Graphic Design
Graphic design is a vehicle for communication as well as self-expression. It is about communicating to inform, educate, entertain, persuade, or any combination of these. This course aims to foster self-confidence and the ability to develop informed design strategies; it will also encourage students to bring their own experiences and interests to the course. Students will develop their own unique and individual approach to visual problem solving. Graphic designers need to be able to make decisions in complex and unpredictable contexts and react quickly to new information, evolving briefs, changes in situations and advances in technology.


Foundation Degree Digital Media Production
The media industry has seen enormous change in recent years and digital technology is now an integral part of almost every aspect of media production; as a consequence the 21st century media designer must be a confident and informed user of this technology. This course places communication at the heart of digital practice to ensure that the design and creation of content responds in an exciting and creative way to professional briefs; it will equip students with the relevant knowledge and skills to become highly competent and fully confident industry practitioners. The course offers an exciting opportunity to study the broad range of digital media technologies available today including video, sound, streaming media, web design, 3D computer graphics, viral and performance video and newly developing technologies.

BA (Hons) Illustration
Illustration is about making visual sense and communicating lucidly to an audience. It is about expanding ideas, providing visual explanation, comment or decoration using a whole range of media and visual techniques. On this course we encourage students to challenge the boundaries that surround the subject and teach from the perspective that illustrators can incorporate aspects of both design and fine art. There is the potential to create work through painting and printmaking as well as lens-based, digital, interactive or time-based media ¬a variety of methods that reflect the diversity of contemporary illustration.

Foundation Degree Visual Communication
The Visual Communication course is broad and exciting, incorporating both illustration and graphic design. It is all about solving communication problems through a variety of media. Students explore typographic methods, print and screen based media, web design, animation and illustration. Students are then increasingly exposed to professional-standard briefs and projects, designed to provide an authentic experience of working in these fields. In this way students will encounter the range of real problems tackled by practising designers in industry; a valuable insight into the working world.

BA (Hons) Photography
This course explores contemporary photographic practice within a broad cultural context, and is underpinned by historical and critical approaches to the medium of photography. A student’s individual creativity and personal ambition are at the centre of the course’s philosophy rather than an imposed ‘house style.’ We will encourage students to undertake an expansive, risk-taking enquiry into the possibilities of photography. The curriculum allows for a flexible approach to image-making in relation to both subject and resource, and students are required to position and articulate their photographic work critically in relation to their audience.

Foundation Degree Commercial Photography

Our aim is to generate the next wave of commercially focused photographer; those who want to push the boundaries and challenge industry perceptions. This is a focused course for creative thinkers who have the ambition and drive to work within the photographic industry. The students’ experience is based on a holistic understanding of commercial photography. We are great believers in our students entering the industry as educated photographers, able to engage in the broad dialogue that is expected of creative professionals.


BA (Hons) Fine Art

This course is not about just sculpture or painting – it concerns all ways of creating work, reflecting movements in Fine Art practice in the real world. Students have the opportunity to combine disciplines and may decide to fuse video, film, painting, installation, object or audience. Equally, there are artists who decide to focus on one particular practice during their studies, such as painting, and want to celebrate it, reinvent it and put some enchantment back into it.

BA (Hons) Arts and Event Management
Arts and Event Management is about the creation and organisation of live arts and other events – anything from art exhibitions to theatrical productions, music gigs to film festivals. In this course students will develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to make such events succeed with great professionalism. There are three main aspects to the course. Firstly students will learn more about the arts. Secondly students will develop their knowledge, skills and experience of arts management, including business, finance, human resource management, marketing and publicity, understanding arts organisations, health and safety, legal and insurance issues. Thirdly, students will learn to manage complexity, uncertainty and diversity through group projects where students create live arts and other events from scratch with consideration of the arts management environment.

BA (Hons) Architecture
This new course provides a vital introduction to the architectural profession. A major strength of the course is its location within a specialist institute with the potential for students to study additional creative and cultural disciplines and determine their individual sphere of practice through interdisciplinary collaboration across fine art, design and multimedia.

Foundation Degree Interior Architecture and Design
This exciting and challenging course offers the opportunity to develop a creative and dynamic understanding of the potential of three-dimensional interior space. The course focuses on observing and understanding the needs of people within spaces and places and explores alternative solutions to contemporary design problems. Working in a lively and realistic studio environment, students will explore the creative use of space and develop practical skills to progress from project concept to project presentation.

BA (Hons) Product Design

Product design is a broad field and you will be encouraged to explore it to the full through individual projects and in teamwork with other students. Projects may range from: fashion, jewellery, footwear and lifestyle products; architectural, interior and lighting systems; modelmaking and prototype development; technology products; and one-off design items.

Foundation Degree in Fashion Jewellery

This course offers an exciting opportunity to study alongside fashion and product design students exploring creative design solutions within a broad-based Fashion Jewellery context. Whether your interests lie in design, merchandising, buying or technical disciplines, this course will provide you with a challenging experience where you will work with practicing designers in exploring and pushing design and technological boundaries to create fashion jewellery products for today’s fast moving UK and international markets.


Foundation Degree in Make- Up and Special Effects

This course provides experience of the many aspects of make-up and special effects within performance, film and television. The main aim of the course is to produce creative, dedicated professionals equipped with the knowledge and skills to gain employment in the creative and performance industries. In addition to developing your specialist skills within a creative community of artists and practitioners, you will study the historical and contemporary contexts relevant to the work of today’s make-up artist.


Postgraduate Study

MA: Animation

The Animation pathway seeks to explore and develop creative and critical practice within the Animation field. The emphasis is on MA students building upon the foundations of their own existing portfolio of work (produced during undergraduate studies, or past professional work). The pathway focuses on integrating practice with the emerging and exciting critical, historical and theoretical currents in Animation Studies. Areas of expertise within Animation include a range of expert practitioners in traditional drawn and computer animation, as well as a designated specialist in animation theory and history.

MA: Costume

The Costume pathway supports and develops advanced practitioners who have ambition to explore, challenge and redefine the roles and relationships between costume and ‘audience’. The MA student will, through research, scholarship, conceptual enquiry and the making of work, strive toward innovative solutions to complex and individual creative proposals which are the central focus for their personal and artistic development. Research specialisms include live art practice as well as academic, theoretical and critical emphases. The pathway is supported by lectures and seminars in areas of performance to enable students to critically reflect on (and to consider their place of practice within) the discipline. Seminar discussion will invite critique of students’ own work and that of other advanced practitioners. Areas of expertise within the course team focus on: world performance and the interaction of East and West in theatrical cultures and stereotypes, examination of the boundaries of design across disciplines, post¬modern opera, experimental dance and abstract performance art.

MA: Fine Art

The Fine Art pathway supports emerging artists who are eager to explore and confront their practice in the endeavor to redefine their position in relation to contemporary art. The MA student is engaged in focusing on the context for practice, where it is aligned with other specialisms and the importance of process and material. Ideas are generated through research, scholarly activity and conceptual enquiry and brought to realisation in an individual body of work that is tested in the public domain. Audience and space are two major factors considered in the process of making work. Students engage with one another in the practice and research of art. Discussion and presentation of ideas and the examination of outcomes form the basis for learning. Areas of expertise within the course team focus on the transformation of materials in the pursuit of meaning, drawing, renewal of painting, the objectness of sculpture, installation and space, performance, video, the document, photography and new media.

MA: Photography

The Photography pathway recognises and celebrates a photographic practice that is an increasingly demanding, diverse, complex, challenging and compelling experience. MA students engage in a practice within a resource that recognises the importance of antiquarian processes through to digital imaging and will have a curiosity about what these possibilities offer in the investigation and representation of social and cultural imperatives. Ideas are generated that provoke a wide diversity of outcomes which reflect demands on the meaning and position of photography in work that could be time-based, sculptural, site-specific, or which addresses issues raised by the document or other traditional means of representation. Practice is underpinned by history and theories; analytical, critical reflection that supports students in their consideration of the context; audience and professional relevance of their practice in an independent or commercially structured environment. The flexibility of this pathway reveals opportunities for applicants interested in the possibilities of interaction with other MA subject disciplines at the Institute.