Anglia Ruskin University
UCAS Code: W411 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
GCSE/National 4/National 5
3 GCSEs at grade C, or grade 4, or above.
UCAS Tariff
from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent).
About this course
Our BA (Hons) Acting degree in Cambridge gives you the opportunity to train as an actor for stage or screen.
Reach your full potential on this conservatoire-style course designed to build your creative acting skills. The course will introduce you to all the skills demanded of today’s professional, including live performance, screen acting and motion capture.
Our Drama and Dance courses ranked 13th in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2025, with 92% for "satisfied with teaching".
On our BA (Hons) Acting degree at ARU you will get involved in extensive live performance work on stage in both the studio and theatre. You’ll develop techniques for acting on screen and also for live environments. You will also gain experience with new technologies and alternative platforms for acting, enabling you to be a dynamic and responsive actor prepared for a career in the ever-evolving creative industries. This may include the use of green screens, immersive live and virtual environments, live streams to remote audiences and acting for online applications.
You’ll focus on the progression in your own skills and abilities, growing into a confident and versatile performer. In the first year we’ll focus on fundamental acting skills. voice and movement, screen acting and how to rehearse for a full production. In the second year you’ll work with an external director, experiment with Physical Theatre, learn about new performance technologies and extend your experience with screen acting and classical text. In the final year, the Immersive Performance and a final Showcase will allow you to demonstrate your high-level skills in acting. The showcase enables you to graduate with a professional standard CV and showreel.
You’ll also choose a topic of personal interest to explore practically and/or academically, with individual attention from an expert supervisor to support your completion of the Major Project.
As a BA (Hons) Acting student at ARU, you’ll develop your technical and production skills in our specialist facilities for both recorded and live performance, including motion capture and green screen. Our technical staff will be on hand to offer help and support.
You can also choose to study abroad for a semester, with funding available to help cover the cost. You can also take an optional placement year.
You may also be able to collaborate with other Cambridge School of Creative Industries students such as our film students who need actors for their films, or alongside Computer Games students in the use of motion capture for creating CGI. This will mirror the professional experience of a working actor and develop your skills and experience in collaboration, team work, communication and problem-solving, ready for your future career.
As an ARU student, you can also get involved with the University of Cambridge's Footlights comedy events as a writer, performer or member of the production team.
**Professional Facilities**
As part of your studies at ARU, you’ll have access to all of our creative industries facilities including:
- Dedicated drama studio, with highly flexible black-box performance space
- Full-size on-campus professional Mumford Theatre
- Large rehearsal space with audio playback facilities, piano, LED lighting rig, portable dance mirrors, gym mats and rostra/modular staging
- Students’ Union-run dance studio
- Podcast studio and video capture system
You'll also have access to all our other art, design and creative industries facilities and equipment.
**Careers**
As well as developing your creativity and technical competence in areas of acting, physical and vocal skills on our BA (Hons) Acting degree, you’ll also develop transferable skills such as research, teamwork, communication, problem solving, and resourcefulness. These skills are invaluable in other areas of the creative industries, and in other sectors.
Modules
Year 1 Core modules: Studio Performance; Voice and Movement; Fundamentals for Acting; Introduction to Screen Acting.
Year 2 Core modules: Ruskin Module; Performance Project; Physical Theatre; Performance Technologies; Performing Shakespeare; Acting for Camera.
Year 3: Work placement.
Year 4 Core modules: Immersive Performance; Showcase, Major Project.
Modules are subject to change and availability.
Assessment methods
You’ll show your progress through a variety of methods that reflect the skills and knowledge you’ll need as both a practitioner and critic, able to both make work and analyse it. These will test your ability, technique, creativity and production skills, and involve both collaborative practice and individual work.
They include: live or mediated performance; process in creating performance (e.g rehearsals, collaborative skills, and professional conduct); rationales for performance; technical production work; critical reflection; essays; portfolios; design plans (e.g. lighting, sound, costume, shooting scripts for video); reviews; practical demonstrations; workshop facilitation; and oral presentations / examinations.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Cambridge Campus
Cambridge School of Creative Industries
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
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.
Drama
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
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.
Drama
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.
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.
Drama
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£12k
£17k
£24k
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.
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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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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.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
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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.
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Graduate field commentary:
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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?
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