Level: Postgraduate
Study Mode:
Duration: One year programme - starting Oct 2013
Application: Direct to the College
Application Deadline: Applications are welcome direct to the College from January to June 2013
UCAS Course Code: NA
Institution Code: NA
Validated By: Subject to Validation

Individual practice is central to this MA in Fine and Applied Arts. The course will promote and encourage an ethos of creative research and practice methodologies.  You will be encouraged to explore and develop a distinctive visual language underpinned by critical reflection and the articulation of practice. This synthesis of critical theory and practice is central to the course philosophy.

The MA Fine and Applied Art is supported by seminars, tutorials, workshops, work in progress sessions, and critiques. At postgraduate level, you are expected to identify, develop and manage your own MA project and further develop the skills needed for autonomy of research.

Stage One - Proposal (Postgraduate Certificate)
Postgraduate Certificate is the diagnostic stage of the programme. The initial purpose or suggested area of inquiry is developed through contextualising research and experimental visual assignments. Students will broaden and deepen their knowledge in their first-degree area of study or gain relevant knowledge in an associated area of study. They will amass new study skills in research methodology and use critical and creative practice to achieve Postgraduate Certificate objectives.

Stage Two - Applied Research and Development (Postgraduate Diploma)
Postgraduate Diploma is the Development Stage of the programme. Students will be expected to develop advanced skills of enquiry in their specialist discipline or obtain new interdisciplinary skills in the furtherance of a generalist approach alongside developing a range of entrepreneurial, business and professional skills underpinning their specialist field of practice. At the end of the Postgraduate Diploma, which is essentially consolidatory, the student will have positioned their individual study area for the evaluative process for the MA.

Stage Three - Consolidation and Outcome (MA)
MA is the advancement of individual practice. A proposal from the Postgraduate Diploma is progressed and substantiated by critical analysis and contextualising evaluation,. Students will be expected to utilise advanced knowledge and skills by demonstrating understanding of the conduct of a complex enquiry in both theory and practice, using sophisticated critical judgement and visual discrimination to achieve MA objectives. At the end of the MA, which is essentially conclusive, the student will, by thorough evaluation, have positioned their individual study area in a relevant commercial context or towards a higher research opportunity.

Key facts
• The chance to develop a confident and advanced understanding of your discipline
• The opportunity to develop research skills appropriate to your area of practice
• The opportunity to develop a range of entrepreneurial, business and professional skills
• Individual and small group tutorials will provide dedicated and highly personalised levels of supervision and support

• Applicants should have an advanced understanding of their particular discipline and be able to demonstrate their ability to sustain research at MA level
• Applicants should be (or about to become) graduates. Preference will be given to good honours graduates although exceptional applicants from a non academic background will also be considered
 • Applicants should submit a short proposal of up to five hundred words, detailing a proposed programme of study, supported by an electronic portfolio of current practice, which will form the basis of discussion within the interview
• Applicants whose first language is not English must achieve IELTS level 7.0 (reading & writing) or equivalent prior to enrolment.

You should possess an open and imaginative mind, an advanced understanding of your discipline and the ability to sustain research at MA level. Prospective applicants should be (or about to become) graduates. Preference will be given to good honours graduates although exceptional applicants from a non-academic background will also be considered.

Prior to interview, you must submit a short proposal of up to five hundred words, detailing a proposed programme of study, supported by an electronic portfolio of current practice, which will form the basis of discussion within the interview. You will also be invited to show a professional portfolio of work at the point of interview.

Applicants could include:
• Fine Art and Contemporary Applied Arts graduates
• Graduates from other disciplines within art, design and media
• Professional makers, designers, craftspeople and fine artists who wish to reposition their practice.