Foundation Diploma in Art & Design

Qualification : UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design

The UAL Foundation Diploma is designed to set you up with the skills and confidence to thrive on a creative degree course, and beyond.

A vibrant and immersive programme, our one-year Foundation Diploma will give you the opportunity to explore a wide range of disciplines and build a degree-level portfolio.

It gives you the time to work out what you want to specialise in, so you can take your next steps with confidence, wherever that may be.

Our Foundation alumni have gone on to an incredible range of exciting careers in the creative industries. Graduates include World illustration Award winner Aysha Tengiz, HIGHSNOBIETY’s Berlin-based senior project manager Esme Rees, Material Source materialist Emily Bagshaw and renowned ceramicist Verity Howard.

UAL Awarding Body believes in transformative education. They design and award creative qualifications that empower and inspire educators to help students reach their potential.

UAL Awarding Body is regulated by Ofqual, Qualifications Wales and CCEA Regulation and currently offers qualifications in Art and Design, Fashion Business and Retail, Creative Media Production and Technology,

Music Performance and Production and Performing and Production Arts. They are also the UK’s leading provider of the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. Their qualifications have high retention and achievement rates because they are flexible, responsive and relevant to industry needs, and facilitate student progression.

University of the Arts London (UAL) is Europe’s largest specialist art and design university, comprising six renowned Colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts.

Our course is one of the most well–renowned in the country.

HCA’s Foundation studios are based at the heart of our degree-level campus – and as a Foundation student you will have access to all of our industry-standard workshops and specialist arts library, as well as to guest lectures organised by our BA courses. Aside from your studies, it also means that you can join the Student Union, attend student events. (and take advantage of on-site wellbeing support if you need it.)

A full-time, four-day course, for many students our Foundation diploma provides the ideal bridge between school education and the demands of specialist study in the creative arts, giving students the opportunity to dive in, experiment, and really find out which area of art or design is right for them.

Our students are offered a number of places from their university or art college choices – with many going on to study on the top degree programmes in the country, before beginning careers in the creative industries.

Staff on the course will help you to develop your creative visual language. This personalised support will help you curate a folio and prepare for interviews at universities, and for your own professional practice as you learn how to better communicate your ideas, pitch concepts and talk about a project’s progress.

Studying a Foundation Diploma is about refining what interests you. We strike a balance between taught sessions with our academic tutors, and allowing you the time to develop your own independent practice by taking risks and experimenting with new techniques or professional kit, supported by our technical demonstrators. Your final major project is assessed at  first-year degree level.

We will help you to move beyond your comfort zone, and give you the confidence to discuss your work in small and large groups.

But we also encourage students to look beyond the studio.

Students get to hear from the likes of Turner Prize winning artists like Jeremy Deller and visit some of the UK’s top galleries. There are opportunities to work on large-scale collaborative projects like the recent immersive digital projection of original student artwork onto the former home of iconic 20th-century artist Sidney Nolan.

Every June, we open the campus up to the public and hundreds of people attend our professionally-staged Foundation Show giving you a chance to showcase your work.

Through the year you will have the chance to learn from lecturers on our BA courses, as they run workshops and set project work. It is a great opportunity to get a feel for degree-level teaching, and many of Foundation students progress straight on to degrees at HCA, taking advantage of our Internal Progression Bursary.

For more information, or to visit our campus, email outreach@hca.ac.uk.