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Fine Art with Foundation Year

Entry requirements


64 UCAS Points. Art & Design subject preferred

64 UCAS Points. Art & Design subject preferred

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE English Language at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent). Maths at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent) is preferred but not essential. You must fulfil our GCSE entry requirements in addition to the Level 3 qualification requirements.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

24

Art & Design subject preferred

64 UCAS Points. Art & Design subject preferred

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

MPP

Art & Design subject preferred

64 UCAS Points. Art & Design subject preferred

T Level

P

D/E in core subject. Art & Design subject preferred

UCAS Tariff

64

Art & Design subject preferred

You may also need to…

Present a portfolio

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time including foundation year | 2024

Subject

Fine art

The world of arts and media is changing at a phenomenal rate, and there has never been a better time to explore your creativity and the ways in which you can apply it to the world around you.

This Foundation Year provides the perfect opportunity for you to explore the key principles of art, design and media. The course is designed to help you develop your creative skills, it gives you a chance to build a larger portfolio, and provides a good transition period to familiarise yourself with the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology and life as a student at Salford. You will then be in a strong position to progress onto your chosen degree pathway.

This is a shared Foundation Year across Art, Design and Media disciplines, and will give you a collaborative environment to explore ideas, take creative risks and become confident independent learners. You will be joining a thriving and creative community.

The Foundation Year of this four-year programme aims to provide you with an understanding of the subject to allow you to progress on to the BA (Hons) Fine Art course.

You will:
- develop your creative skills and academic confidence

- familiarise yourself with student life

- prepare to study on one of our degree courses

This course is not open to international students.

Modules

The Foundation Year will provide you with a dynamic, exciting and collaborative environment in which you will become a confident self-learner, with the underpinning skills and knowledge to apply in your studies. You will be taught with students interested in progressing to different art, design and media programmes, and study modules that will help you increase your knowledge and understanding of basic art and design as well as other aspects of creative thinking.

Our strong connections within Greater Manchester’s thriving creative sector mean you will also hear from practitioners working in the industry right now about their practice, journey into the world or art and design.

In the first term you will study modules that introduce the key concepts, skills and knowledge of art and design. Modules will help you to develop your study skills such as note-taking and structuring reports. In the second semester, you will further develop your creative practice and be introduced to the creative industries.

The assignments are flexible enough to allow you to interpret and tailor your submissions to your preferred area of study. Tutors will help and support you, in creating a portfolio of work to progress onto the BA (Hons) Fine Art here at the University of Salford. You will be integrated slowly into the degree course with opportunities to meet tutors from the BA and by using our shared collaborative facilities within our vibrant New Adelphi building.

This programme prepares you to study on the three-year University undergraduate programme, meaning the duration of your degree is four years in total. The Foundation Year is not a standalone qualification.

Following the Foundation Year, the three years of BA (Hons) Fine Art:

The BA (Hons) Fine Art programme - formerly BA (Hons) Visual Arts - is a distinctive, contemporary, fine art course promoting an informed approach where theory integrates with practice. It is media independent, enabling you to specialise in any medium or move between and/or combine media of your choice.

You will have a unique experience of the course as you are encouraged to take responsibility and take ownership of your personal learning within a supportive environment.

Art is a philosophical and an aesthetic activity. All arts practice is strongly driven by the philosophical, cultural and social contexts. Artists engage with the world around them. Our students are informed and active citizens.

Our graduates have proven their relevance and expertise in the arts; they are engaged in high profile arts activity nationally and internationally. Others populate artists' studios throughout the UK, as well as progress into teaching or arts administration.

The Uni


Course location:

University of Salford

Department:

School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology

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.

70%
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

81%
Staff make the subject interesting
84%
Staff are good at explaining things
84%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
84%
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

54%
Library resources
86%
IT resources
78%
Course specific equipment and facilities
59%
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?

98%
UK students
2%
International students
21%
Male students
79%
Female students
61%
2:1 or above
17%
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.

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.

£16,848
med
Average annual salary
93%
med
Employed or in further education
30%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

21%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
10%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
10%
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.

£15k

£15k

£20k

£20k

£21k

£21k

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
University of Southampton | Southampton
Fine Art
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 120
Lower entry requirements
University of Wolverhampton | Wolverhampton
Fine Art with Foundation Year
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 48
Nearby University
University of Central Lancashire | Preston
Art and Design (Foundation Entry)
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 48
Same University
University of Salford | Salford
Fine Art
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 104-112

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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