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Acting (Professional Placement Year)

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,B-B,C,C

A Level – grades BBB-BCC including a grade B in Drama, Theatre Studies or Performing Arts preferred.

Access to HE Diploma

M:45

Access to HE courses - typical offers for applicants with Access to HE will be the Access to HE Diploma or Access to HE Certificate (60 credits, 45 of which must be Level 3, at Merit or higher) together with evidence of involvement in drama and performing arts.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

32

A minimum of 32 points are required.

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

DDM-DMM

BTEC – Extended Diploma grades from Distinction Distinction Merit (DDM) to Distinction Merit Merit (DMM) in a related subject, or evidence of experience in Performing Arts.

T Level

M

Grade Merit is preferred in a relevant subject.

UCAS Tariff

104-120

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

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Attend an interview

Perform an audition

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time with year in industry | 2024

Subject

Acting

**Our Acting degree trains you to become a versatile and employable voice, film and stage actor.**
- Prepare for a portfolio career. Train as an actor who can work across a range of media including theatre, screen, radio and voiceover.

- Perform and create with professional venues and organisations including Ustinov Studios, The Rondo Theatre and Bath Festivals.

- Build the skills, experience and resilience necessary to become a professional in the industry.

What does it take to be a professional actor? Skill and confidence, certainly. We also think it helps to have a strong portfolio before you even graduate.

Our Acting course trains you in all aspects of the business while nurturing the versatility, creativity and resilience needed to succeed in acting and a range of performing arts careers.

In your first year, you’ll build the foundations through technical skills classes in movement, voice, singing and comedy. Your second year explores and tests these skills through projects such as full-scale theatre productions, short films, commercials, presenting jobs and voiceovers for audiobooks and games. In your final year, you’ll focus on your profile and perform to public audiences to build your CV. You’ll also work with industry professionals to expand your network of contacts – all before launching your career.

**More about the Professional Placement Year**
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where you undertake a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between your second and final years of undergraduate study. You can engage in up to 3 placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) yourself, with support from the Careers team.

Modules

Year one
The first year introduces you to the key practitioners and processes that underpin actor training. You’ll learn about the connections between composition, rehearsal, research and performance, and develop skills such as:

- script analysis
- breaking down a scene
- researching the world of the play
- interpreting character
- exploring subtext
- devising your own work.

Technical classes will introduce you to professional-level movement, voice and comedy skills that will enable you to work effectively both as an individual and as part of an ensemble.

Year two
Interpret, analyse and perform various texts in order to extend your understanding of performing in, as well as creating, drama.

Alongside your regular technical classes, you’ll receive acting for camera training and stage combat classes, designed to enhance your skills-base and prepare you for production projects in year three.

Your third year is a Professional Placement Year.

Year three
This is your apprentice year, when we’ll encourage you to take your skills into an outward-facing environment.

You’ll become a member of Bath Spa Productions, a professional company that produces a range of live and recorded work. This provides a safe environment in which to test your ability to work collaboratively. You’ll get the chance to connect your acting work with design, technical, management, music and other production elements. Within this collaborative environment you’re expected to meet industry standards and work within professionally-recognised timeframes.

Assessment methods

You’ll be assessed through a variety of methods including:

- self-reflective journals
- performances
- essays
- vivas (where you talk about your work)
- presentations.

In your final year, you’ll also be assessed on a range of projects, all led by external industry professionals.

Tuition fees

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

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,905
per year
International
£16,905
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Bath Spa University

Department:

School of Music and Performing Arts

Read full university profile

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.

88%
Acting

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

93%
Staff make the subject interesting
91%
Staff are good at explaining things
92%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
92%
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

74%
Library resources
80%
IT resources
83%
Course specific equipment and facilities
75%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

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

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

94%
UK students
6%
International students
39%
Male students
61%
Female students
98%
2:1 or above
13%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
C

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.

£16,016
med
Average annual salary
94%
med
Employed or in further education
55%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

39%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
15%
Other elementary services occupations
14%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers

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.

£14k

£14k

£18k

£18k

£22k

£22k

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...

Lower entry requirements
University of Plymouth | Plymouth
Acting with Foundation
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time with year in industry 2024
UCAS Points: 32-48
Nearby University
Bristol, University of the West of England | Bristol
Drama and Acting
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time with year in industry 2024
UCAS Points: 112
Higher entry requirements
Royal Holloway, University of London | Egham
Drama with Acting
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time with year in industry 2024
UCAS Points: 128-160
Same University
Bath Spa University | Bath
Acting and Performance Making
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time with year in industry 2024
UCAS Points: 80

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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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here