Arts University Bournemouth
UCAS Code: W644 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Higher
Scottish Highers – five passes at Grade C or above
T Level
UCAS Tariff
You may also need to…
Present a portfolio
About this course
**The Commercial world relies on powerful imagery to give news stories and brand messages impact.**
Whether it’s socially concerned documentary or dramatic contemporary fashion imagery, commercial photography communicates its message. On this course we aim to develop a visually expressive generation of fashion, documentary, editorial, portrait and advertising photographers. We’re looking for people who want to push creative boundaries, challenge industry perceptions and set the agenda for future generations of commercial photographers. Our students go on to create images for international magazines, advertising agencies, fashion houses, and more. You’ll gain a broad understanding of photographic practice and theory as we guide you towards a career in the creative industries. You’ll graduate confident in the creative and critical visual language needed to work with teams in your chosen field.
**What you will study**
The course aims to provide a wide range of undergraduate students the opportunity to develop a specialist career in photography, through nurturing creativity, technical ability and professional and critical understanding, as they mature into critically aware creative decision makers.
The initial stages of the course will concentrate on acquiring the fundamental camera, studio, lighting, digital, research and critical skills to support your development throughout the course. Then will go onto enhance your understanding of the creative industries and the roles within them by expanding your professional knowledge and identifying your individual career potential. It will also promote your personal development by undertaking academic and creative research which could lead to further study at postgraduate level.
The course has a well-developed strategy to ensure that students have the knowledge, understanding and opportunities to collaborate with other creatives at AUB, which allows students to work in a professionally focused environment, as part of creative teams. You’ll enter the industry, or masters level education, confidently, invested in the creative and critical visual language needed to effectively progress within your field of practice. Course contact time includes scheduled teaching sessions, but also supervised time in the workshop or studio, and the remainder will be independent study. 100% of assessment for this course is coursework based.
**By the end of the course you will be able to...**
• Apply creative photographic ability, evidencing professional levels of outcome, independent thought and understanding, evidenced through the production of your work.
• Work independently, or as part of a creative team, in the production of creative photographic and moving image work.
• Use professional understanding when identifying career opportunities and placing your own work within the creative/photographic industries.
• Apply a critical and theoretical understanding of photography within historical and contemporary contexts, offering opportunities to study at Masters Level.
• Show evidence of effective problem solving, research, communication and presentation skills through applying creative and conceptually considered solutions to professionally focused briefs.
**Studios and resources**
The course is housed in a multi-million-pound facility, including digital suites, a collaborative specialist photography hub, black and white darkrooms, colour darkrooms, a print bureau and 7 photographic studios. The course is also supported by a ‘media store’ which houses a vast array of professional standard equipment, from digital and analogue cameras and lenses of all formats, through to portable lighting for stills and moving image. For the start of the 2024/25 academic year, the course will be working to a new curriculum, which has been developed to ensure it is offering a contemporary experience within commercial photography.
Assessment methods
Coursework and practical work
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Main Site - Arts University Bournemouth
Art, Design and Architecture
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.
Cinematics and photography
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.
Cinematics and 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.
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.
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.
£16k
£22k
£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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Course location and department:
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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.
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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.
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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
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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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