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Fine Art (Professional Placement Year)

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,B-B,C,C

A Level - grades BBB-BCC including Grade B in an Art or Design or related subject preferred.

Access to HE Diploma

M:45

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) in a related subject.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

32

A minimum of 32 points are required.

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

MMM

BTEC Extended Diploma grades Merit, Merit. Merit (MMM) in a related subject in addition to other qualifications or evidence of experience in Art.

T Level

M

Grade Merit is preferred.

UCAS Tariff

104-120

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About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time with year in industry | 2024

Subject

Fine art

**A studio-centred fine arts degree, encouraging independent enquiry and delivered by practising artists.**

- Outstanding programme of visiting speakers, including internationally acclaimed artists and curators.

- Exceptional academic and technical support in painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, film, sound, performance and photography.

- Exciting collaborative opportunities with external partners such as Tate Exchange, Porthleven Prize and Gane Trust Travel Award.

This studio-centred course offers you the opportunity to explore the disciplines of painting, sculpture, performance, installation, printmaking, and lens-based and digital media.

The Fine Art course is characterised by a profound synergy between academic and technical teaching and learning. You'll work towards an independent, critical and reflective practice, supported through tutorials, workshops, lectures, study trips and, in the first year, weekly contact with your personal tutor.

Our lecturers are engaged in their own practice as artists, bringing a contagious energy to the dialogue and exchange with students. In this community, students, tutors and dedicated technicians work together to understand and develop what contemporary art can or should be today. You’ll develop the skills you need for a successful career - as an artist or in a related profession.

**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

In Year 1 experimentation with materials, techniques and processes are foregrounded. You’ll establish a way of working that is playful and analytical; through this process you’ll begin to recognise what themes are emerging in your work.

Year 2 is a pivotal period of development in which you are supported to progress your ideas, conceptual strategies and processes. You are encouraged to develop an awareness of the debates that surround your practice and continually test its boundaries. Off site exhibitions, projects and other initiatives will support you to consider work beyond the studio.

In your final year, you’ll build upon their ideas you explore in years 1 and 2. Greater emphasis is placed not only on a body of resolved, considered and well executed work, but also on work that is ambitious and takes risks. At the end of the year you’ll present work in a degree show that is open to the public.

Assessment methods

The course is made up of summative and formative assessments. Formative assessment takes place with the work in the studio and is ongoing throughout the duration of the course. Feedback is given verbally and through written reports from a personal tutor. Summative assessments take place at the end of modules. Assessments take the form of a presented body of work, an exhibition, reflective/academic text or live presentations.

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
£17,585
per year
International
£17,585
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:

Bath School of Art, Film and Media

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.

64%
Fine art

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.

Art

Teaching and learning

70%
Staff make the subject interesting
79%
Staff are good at explaining things
61%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
76%
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

37%
Library resources
73%
IT resources
73%
Course specific equipment and facilities
52%
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?

92%
UK students
8%
International students
14%
Male students
86%
Female students
91%
2:1 or above
7%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
A

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.

Art

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.

£18,000
med
Average annual salary
100%
high
Employed or in further education
36%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

58%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
12%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
8%
Other elementary services occupations

Quite a few students of fine art have already retired and are taking the degree for the excellent reason that they love art, and they're willing to pay to study it. You should bear this in mind if the stats you see feature particularly low employment rates. If you need to earn a living once you've finished your fine art degree, be aware that freelancing and self-employment is common - about one in six fine arts graduates were working for themselves. Also common are what is termed 'portfolio careers' — having several part-time jobs or commissions at once - and many courses actually help you prepare for freelancing. One in ten of last year’s fine arts graduates had more than one job six months after graduation — over twice the average for graduates from 2015. Graduates from these subjects are often found in arts jobs, as artists, designers, photographers and similar jobs, or as arts and entertainment officers or teachers — although it's perfectly possible to get jobs outside the arts if you wish, with jobs in events management, marketing and community work amongst the most popular options.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Art

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

£20k

£20k

£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...

Higher entry requirements
Kingston University | Kingston upon Thames
Fine Art and Art History
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time with year in industry 2024
UCAS Points: 112-128
Lower entry requirements
Northumbria University, Newcastle | Newcastle upon Tyne
Foundation Year Fine Art
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time with year in industry 2024
UCAS Points: 80
Nearby University
Bristol, University of the West of England | Bristol
Fine Art
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time with year in industry 2024
UCAS Points: 112
Same University
Bath Spa University | Bath
Fine Art (with Foundation Year)
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time with year in industry 2024
UCAS Points: 104-120

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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here