Fine Art
Entry requirements
112 UCAS points from at least two A-levels or equivalent OR Pass Foundation in Art and Design
Access to HE Diploma
Pass QAA Access to Higher Education course with at least 30 level 3 credits at Merit. We will normally require students have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
T Level
UCAS Tariff
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Present a portfolio
About this course
On this course you will have the flexibility to explore a wide range of traditional and emerging visual arts practices to develop your individual artistic voice. You can experiment with drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, video, photography, digital media and installation art to produce meaningful work that responds to our complex and changing world.
Around 70 per cent of your time will be spent in the studio where you will hone your skills in making and expression, creative risk-taking, experimentation and development. Each year you will be presented with different creative challenges with a curriculum that includes art history, contemporary practice, engagement with local organisations, as well as talks from visiting artists.
The course responds to the demands of the contemporary global art world and encourages you to engage in current practice by exploring themes such as multiculturalism, identity, and art activism. Skills in employability and professional practice will prepare you for working as a fine artist or to launch a career in the wider creative industries.
**Key features**
* We’ve been teaching art for over 120 years and today’s course continues our ethos of encouraging students to develop their creativity within a collaborative and experimental environment.
* We embed employability throughout the course and cover topics that include an introduction to studio practice, art practice and presentation, curating and installing exhibitions, marketing, fundraising and project planning.
* In our award-winning Vijay Patel Building, you will have access to a dedicated Fine Art studio space and can experiment with a range of facilities across our 25 industry standard workshops including ceramics, glass making, fine art printmaking, metalworking, sculpture, photography and AV to name a few.
* Join the list of students who have exhibited at the Handmade Festival, the Two Queens gallery, the Attenborough Arts Centre and a host of other prestigious venues across both the UK and internationally.
* Leicester is a city buzzing with creativity, from colourful street art by GraffWerk and the annual Leicester Art Week festival, to the augmented reality art trail and DMU's own Leicester Gallery. Our partnerships in the city create exciting opportunities to showcase your work, including at Leicester's creative hub LCB Depot.
**If you are interested in advanced entry into Year 3 of this course, please visit the DMU website for the course details:** https://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/pre-edu-2030/fine-art-ba-degree/fine-art-ba-degree.aspx
Modules
**First year**
Block 1: Investigation and Exploration 1
Block 2: Investigation and Exploration 2
Block 3: Development and Consolidation 1
Block 4: Development and Consolidation 2
**Second year**
Block 1: Studio Practice Development 1
Block 2: Art History and Theory 1
Block 3: Studio Practice Development 2
Block 4: Professional Practice 1
**Third year**
Block 1: Art Practice 1
Block 2: Art History and Theory 2
Block 3: Art Practice 2
Block 4: Professional Practice 2
Assessment methods
We want to ensure you have the best learning experience possible and a supportive and nurturing learning community. That’s why we’re introducing a new block model for delivering the majority of our courses, known as Education 2030. This means a more simplified timetable where you will study one subject at a time instead of several at once. You will have more time to engage with your learning and get to know the teaching team and course mates. You will receive faster feedback through more regular assessment, and have a better study-life balance to enjoy other important aspects of university life.
**Structure**
Individual studio practice, group projects, workshops, group criticisms, lectures, seminars, study trips and one-to-one tutorials form the basis of this studio-based taught course. You will use a journal to collate your research and as a space for reflection on your professional, creative and intellectual development. Contextual studies and art history lectures will deepen your understanding of the theories and histories of Fine Art.
The first year is designed to develop the key skills that every artist needs as the foundation of their practice. In the second semester the emphasis of teaching changes to enable you to synthesise your learning into a self-directed creative project of your own devising. You will be supported by regular tutorials and studio crits, as well as art history tuition.
In the first semester of the second year, you will be able to choose a specialist area. From semester two of the second year until the end of the course, you will work on your own individual creative interests and develop your potential as an artist. The course culminates with an exhibition of your work in DMU's Festival of Creativity – your first engagement as a professional artist.
Our teaching staff are research-active artists, who bring cutting-edge insights drawn from the experience of their own practice and professional life into the studio, workshops and lecture theatres. They are supported by a wide range of visiting artists.
**Contact hours**
In your first year, you will normally attend around 13 hours of timetabled taught sessions (lectures and tutorials) each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 21 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Leicester Campus
Arts, Design and Humanities
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.
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
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
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.
Top job areas of graduates
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.
£16k
£20k
£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.
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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?
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