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BA (Hons)
Undergraduate degree - single or combined honours
We accept a wide range of qualifications for entry to our undergraduate programmes. The main ones are listed under 'Typical offers' in the main column below. For combined courses, please check both subjects. If your qualification is not listed, please email admissions@bathspa.ac.uk with your specific details.
Do you want to be an artist, designer, performer, writer or teacher – or create your own path by combining more than one artistic profession?
On this contemporary creative arts course, you'll gain a practical grounding in a range of disciplines including sculpture, ceramics, drawing, painting, textiles, live art and graphic arts, before specialising in one or two disciplines of your choice. You can choose from a wealth of optional first year practical modules that will introduce you to printmaking, photography, performance, sound, video and word – to build your own unique course of study.
You’ll benefit from support and encouragement from dedicated staff who are practitioners in their specialist fields. You’ll also have access to our superb facilities and excellent technical staff.
The preliminary and intensive Integrated Foundation in Art and Design is designed to develop your ideas, skills and confidence in readiness for progressing to year one of your degree programme.
This year provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for, and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.
By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.
Before your Professional Placement Year, you'll work to secure your placement, constructing a development plan with your module leader and your placement coordinator from our Careers and Employability team.
On your return to University for your final year, you'll submit your Placement Portfolio, detailing your development on your placement, for assessment.
You could choose to study Creative Arts Practice alongside Education Secondary, as part of a combined course.
This contemporary creative arts degree is based on the fundamental principles of professional, practical studio practice supported by theory, interdisciplinarity, and entrepreneurship.
We assume that you're primarily a practitioner, driven by the desire to create in a variety of media. The majority of your time will be taken up with creating in a studio or workshop; however contextual, critical and reflective thinking will be required and encouraged – practitioners don't create work in a cultural vacuum.
The course encourages and supports cross-fertilisation of ideas and collaborative practice across subject areas. The multidisciplinary nature of the course places you in a unique position to combine practice and theory from both areas of study in radical and innovative ways.
Throughout the programme you'll also engage in public exhibitions, publishing or performances. Alongside these professional opportunities, in your final year, you'll be encouraged to develop opportunities relating to your future career.
The Professional Practice modules in years two and three aim to help you develop the practical, professional skills you’ll need to flourish in the industry, including social networking, photographing your work, creating digital portfolios, applying for competitions, marketing, creating a web presence, setting up a business, working on commissions, pricing your work, approaching galleries, exhibiting and fundraising.
The course’s inherent multidisciplinarity and the experiences you will encounter working with a variety of materials and contexts, will broaden your skill-set and enhance your employability, enabling you to work confidently across a range of scenarios.
Year one
We’ll encourage you to experiment in a number of disciplines, gaining extensive knowledge and fundamental skills. You’ll also study context and theory, supported by lectures and seminars that will develop your understanding of current and historical debates in art and design practice.
You’ll choose modules* from two of the following four core subject areas:
Optional modules include Photography, Moving Image, Printmaking and Ceramics. Alongside these subjects you’ll attend contextual studies lectures that will introduce you to the history of creativity and culture.
Year two
You’ll have the opportunity to specialise in one discipline, or continue with two areas of study. Contextual studies lectures continue and will examine current thinking and debates around aesthetic theory. During the second part of the year you’ll begin a programme of professional practice, with opportunities to publicly exhibit your work.
Year three
In your final year you’ll continue to develop your practice to produce a body of work for public exhibition at the school degree show. You'll also complete a dissertation on a subject of your choosing. Professional development opportunities will encourage you to expand your skills in areas such as web design, marketing and project management. By gaining the necessary expertise, you’ll maximise your potential as a creative practitioner after graduation.
*For a full list of available modules, please see the programm document on this page.
You’ll be assessed entirely by coursework such as portfolios, exhibitions, written papers and live presentations. There are no written exams.
You'll be taught by practising artists, sculptors, designers, writers and performers who have excellent research profiles in exhibition, publication, recording and performance.
You’ll learn through through practical workshop sessions, individual supervision, seminars and lectures. You’ll also have access to an extensive weekly programme of visiting lectures from practising artists, curators, critics and gallerists.
To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.
This course offers or includes the following modules. The modules you take will depend on your pathway or course combination (if applicable) as well as any optional or open modules chosen. Please check the programme document for more information.
Modules for the integrated Foundation year option are listed on the Integrated Foundation Year for Art and Design page.
As part of your degree, you could study abroad on a placement at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities.
You'll have the opportunity to undertake group study visits to London and major exhibitions in cities across the country. In recent years, overseas study trip destinations have included Venice, Berlin, Paris and Barcelona. where students have visited international artists and designers' studios.
Please note that study visits and overseas study may incur extra costs on top of your course fees.
There are opportunities for you to undertake work placements as part of the professional practice programme, and you can also take the Professional Placement Year between your second and final years of study.
The optional Professional Practice modules in your second and final years give you the opportunity to exhibit / perform / publish at a host of sites, both in and outside of the University. Our students have done so at the University Theatre, Walcot Chapel, 44AD Gallery, Royal United Hospital, Michael Tippet Centre, American Museum, Bath Artists’ Studios, Holburne Museum, Centerspace Bristol and Bargehouse London.
You’ll graduate with a broad portfolio of expertise to accompany specialist knowledge in your particular field(s).
The majority of our graduates will progress to art-related employment or self-employment, whether as a studio-based artist, public artist or in the realm of arts management or arts administration.
The course also attracts many students wishing to pursue a career in art education.
We’ll encourage you to participate in competitions such as the Porthleven Prize and the Gane Trust Travel Grant among many others.
If you’re a full-time undergraduate student starting your first year at Bath Spa University, you can apply for the Certificate in Global Citizenship, which you’ll study alongside your degree.
You’ll gain global awareness and add an international dimension to your student experience, and funding is available. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be awarded a Certificate in Global Citizenship. This is in addition to your degree; it doesn’t change your degree title or results.
As a BA Creative Arts Practice student you’ll benefit from access to comprehensive digital workshops and specialist art and design facilities, including:
Locksbrook Campus is a Grade II listed building designed by Nicholas Grimshaw in 1976. It has now been transformed into an innovative, open plan space, redesigned to meet 21st century environmental standards, with technical workshops surrounded by flexible studio spaces and large social areas.
Locksbrook has received both a RIBA South West Award 2021 and RIBA National Award 2021, recognising and celebrating what an amazingly inspirational space it is to come together to design, make, do, create and learn in.
Please note: Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland are not generally eligible for the UK (Home) fee status. Please refer to the international student rate. Irish citizens and those granted Settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme are eligible for UK (Home) fee status. There are also other circumstances where this may apply: See UKCISA for more information.
Year 1 | £9,250 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2026 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2026 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2027 |
Year 1 | £4,625 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2026 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2026 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2027 |
Year 1 | £16,800 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2026 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2026 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2027 |
During the placement year, the fee is reduced to 20% of the full time fee. Otherwise, fees are the same as for full time study. This applies to UK, EU and International students.
We’re looking for individuals who are curious, reflective and interested in their subject areas. You should be able to take risks and have an open mind.
We value the ability to think critically and reflectively just as much as we value the ability to create and make.
We accept a wide range of qualifications for entry to our undergraduate programmes. The main ones are listed below:
English Language Requirements for International and EU Applicants
IELTS 6.0 - for visa nationals, with a minimum score of IELTS 5.5 in each element.
Course enquiries
For further information about the programme or entry requirements, please email us at admissions@bathspa.ac.uk.
Ready to apply? Click the 'apply now' button in the centre of this page.
Need more guidance? Head to our how to apply webpages.
Applicants will be invited to interview and will be required to bring a high-quality portfolio in support of their application. More details will be supplied to applicants who meet the entry criteria for the course.
Course leader: Matthew Robertson
Email: m.robertson@bathspa.ac.uk
Website feedback to web@bathspa.ac.uk