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Photography

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,C-B,B,B

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

DMM

Scottish Higher

C,C,C,C,C,D

Scottish Highers – five passes at Grade C or above

T Level

M

UCAS Tariff

112-120

You may also need to…

Present a portfolio

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Photography

**BA (Hons) Photography** at Arts University Bournemouth is a world-renowned, exciting and challenging course that allows you to develop your own ambitious practice in the medium of photography. If you get excited by the material processes of the 19th and 20th Centuries, black and white and colour film processing and darkroom printing, or lean more towards high-end digital photography, VR or moving image and sound, you will gain hands-on experience and guidance by specialists here at AUB. We are well connected and invite a wide range of industry and artworld professionals to lead you in workshops and tutorials; we also take you to practitioners’ studios, which have recently included Lucas Blalock and Erin O’Keefe in New York, and Richard Learoyd in London. With a professional degree, you will graduate with the ability to embrace a range of possible careers: professional photographer (documentary, portrait, still life…), editor, artist, curator, educator, gallerist or progress to postgraduate study. Internationally-recognised practitioners including Nick Knight and Wolfgang Tillmans began their careers here.

**What you will learn**
The course responds to contemporary photography in a creative and experimental way, embracing and integrating a range of technologies. You are asked to freely explore your individual ideas and impulses within a structured, well-resourced and supportive environment that values a strong visual investigation supported by a contextual awareness of the medium and how it relates to and assimilates into other disciplines. The expansive nature of the course allows you to experience photography in a wide cultural context gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the mediums positions and audiences. This is especially important in helping you to choose a vocational pathway as you define your practice and prepare for employment.

The course values the mediums history and recognises the importance of its influence on contemporary practice. It does not impose a house style but encourages you to be spirited and believe in your own modus operandi. The current diversity of photography is both exciting and challenging and the courses commitment to tutorial led learning and teaching ensures that you are well supported and encouraged in your studies.

The course ultimately aims to produce well-educated and creative individuals with the knowledge and skills to engage in and navigate the creative industries in a confident and interesting way. As you develop through the course, you will choose from a broad range of vocational pathways and acquire the skills and documentation needed.

Across the three years approximately 63% of your time will be contact hours, including scheduled teaching sessions, but also supervised time in the workshop or studio, and the remainder will be independent study. 100% of assessment for this course is coursework based.

**By the end of the course you will be able to...**
- Demonstrate that you have explored your creativity in an experimental and risk taking way and have developed and applied a range of specialist technical and professional skills.

- Demonstrate that you have developed your awareness of the medium of photography in relation to historical and contemporary photographic practice.

- Demonstrate that you have developed critical skills, advanced problem solving skills, awareness and judgement as well as being engaged in your practice with autonomy and professionalism.

- Demonstrate your awareness of ethical, sustainable, social and cultural issues appropriate to your practice.

- Demonstrate ambition and preparation for your professional career

**Studios and resources**
Studying BA (Hons) Photography at AUB means you’ll benefit from specialised equipment and state-of-the-art production facilities and studios. We support photography practices from analogue through to high-end digital production.

Assessment methods

Coursework and practical work

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
£17,950
per year
International
£17,950
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Main Site - Arts University Bournemouth

Department:

Art, Design and Architecture

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.

65%
Photography

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.

Cinematics and photography

Teaching and learning

77%
Staff make the subject interesting
78%
Staff are good at explaining things
79%
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

82%
Library resources
91%
IT resources
86%
Course specific equipment and facilities
47%
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?

93%
UK students
7%
International students
35%
Male students
65%
Female students
75%
2:1 or above
11%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A*
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.

Cinematics and photography

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.

£17,000
med
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education
42%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

54%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
17%
Design occupations
7%
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.

Cinematics and photography

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£16k

£16k

£22k

£22k

£24k

£24k

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
Leeds Trinity University | Leeds
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UCAS Points: 112-136
Lower entry requirements
University of Plymouth | Plymouth
Photography
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 96-120
Nearby University
University of Portsmouth | Portsmouth
Photography
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 112-120
Same University
Arts University Bournemouth | Poole
Commercial Photography
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 112-120

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the 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