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Acting and Performance

Entry requirements


HND Acting and Performance/Musical Theatre with A in the graded unit for the second year.

You may also need to…

Attend an interview

Perform an audition

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Acting

**This course is available for advanced entry only**

This two-year course draws on QMU’s rich and highly respected teaching expertise within the performing arts and provides the training needed to pursue a contemporary career as an actor on stage and screen. It is an articulation route for students who have already achieved an HND Acting and Performance/Musical Theatre or who have completed two years of an appropriate degree.

Why QMU?

• QMU has been training actors since 1971 with 2021 marking the 50 year anniversary of our teaching in this area.
• QMU is a member of the Graduate Spotlight Scheme.
• Our course is tailored to a modern era with a 50:50 split of theatre and film training.
• You will be part of a large performing arts department, studying alongside students on the Costume Design and Construction, Drama, Film and Media, and Theatre and Film courses.
• Many of our staff are active theatre/film makers, writers, voice practitioners and movement specialists and bring that experience to our rehearsal rooms.
• You can select from a range of optional modules that complement your training as an actor and will improve your future.
• The rich and varied curriculum will provide a distinctive actor training in the conservatoire tradition and provide you with the knowledge and skills required for the diverse range of opportunities which the industries offer.
• QMU has an holistic approach to learning and teaching.

On this course you will:

• Focus on intensive stage and screen actor training with additional options that allow you to expand your skills to include areas such as community theatre, playwriting, directing, devising and creative entrepreneurship.
• Experience practical and practice-led teaching methods to explore the ways in which the skills you already have can be developed and enhanced to embrace the demands of theatre, media and performance.
• Deepen your knowledge of the fundamental skills of acting, voice, movement, textual analysis and interpretation, examining the ways in which they are deployed and synthesised to create character and performance, on stage, screen and in media work.
• Engage with current industry professionals and organisations.

This course enables you to convert an appropriate existing qualification into a degree and is equivalent to years three and four of an honours degree. You will complete a range of modules each year as outlined.

Modules

Year Three
•Advanced Acting: Skills
•Advanced Acting: Text and Techniques
•Advanced Acting: Screen and Media

Year Four
•Audition and Showcase
•Honours Performance Project
•Creative Entrepreneurial Project
•plus options that could include: Playwriting/ Writing for Radio/ Creativity with the Community/ Drama and Education/ Directing, Designing and Performing Shakespeare/ Directing, Designing and Performing Contemporary Plays/Devised Physical Theatre/ Performance Art Practices

Please check the website for any updates.

Assessment methods

A large portion of your course will be delivered through skills-based workshops, you will have the opportunity to undertake student-led research projects, perform in professional standard productions, prepare a personal portfolio to support your career after graduation and showcase your work to industry professionals. You will be assessed through a range of performances, viva, workshops participation, reflective portfolios and reports.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
International
£8,000
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£1,820
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Queen Margaret University

Department:

School of Arts, Social Sciences and Management

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.

89%
Acting

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.

Drama

Teaching and learning

96%
Staff make the subject interesting
93%
Staff are good at explaining things
92%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
88%
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

73%
Library resources
79%
IT resources
76%
Course specific equipment and facilities
71%
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
20%
Male students
80%
Female students
69%
2:1 or above
0%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
A*

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.

Drama

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.

£16,640
med
Average annual salary
98%
high
Employed or in further education
40%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

27%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
16%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
14%
Teaching and educational professionals

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Drama

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

£14k

£14k

£16k

£16k

£25k

£25k

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 Plymouth | Plymouth
Acting with Foundation
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 32-48
Lower entry requirements
Coventry University | Coventry
Acting
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 104

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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:

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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?

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