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Foundation in Art & Design

Entry requirements


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About this course


This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

1year

Full-time | 2024

Other options

4 years | Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Design

Fine art

Gray’s Art & Design Foundation 1st year has been devised to allow you the opportunity to explore your creativity through a wide range of experiences, gaining an understanding of the broader subject headings within Fine Art and Design before identifying the most suitable direction for your creative journey.
You will engage in a series of core and multidisciplinary projects where you are encouraged to look at your creative process, unpacking and critiquing it before applying that learning through selected course specific experiences.

Key activities are delivered through a combination of lively environments such as; individual Studio space, shared Drawing rooms, Lecture theatres and a wide range of practical Workshops. This connected and structured learning will promote a greater understanding of the sustainable, critical and creative skills that you will need to flourish as a future professional practitioner in the Creative and Cultural industries.

Gray’s close-knit community means that throughout Year 1, you will be working in partnership with staff who will support and nurture you through this decision-making process. Providing you with tutorial guidance to help you identify where your strengths and motivations are. They will assist you in making the most appropriate choice for your intended area of study over the remainder of your time at university.

So, at the end of Year 1 and through those conversations with staff, you will choose one of the courses below as the course to study from Year 2 onwards.

BA (Hons) Fine Art (Painting, Drawing, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Time-based Media)
BA (Hons) Communication Design (Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography)
BA (Hons) Fashion and Textile Design
BA (Hons) Product Design, Ceramics, Jewellery

The Uni


Course location:

Main Site - Aberdeen

Department:

Gray's School of Art

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%
Design
90%
Fine art

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.

Design studies

Teaching and learning

93%
Staff make the subject interesting
97%
Staff are good at explaining things
93%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
87%
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

87%
Library resources
87%
IT resources
88%
Course specific equipment and facilities
74%
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?

92%
UK students
8%
International students
24%
Male students
76%
Female students
56%
2:1 or above
9%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
A
A*

Art

Teaching and learning

94%
Staff make the subject interesting
94%
Staff are good at explaining things
98%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
90%
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

80%
Library resources
83%
IT resources
92%
Course specific equipment and facilities
86%
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?

97%
UK students
3%
International students
17%
Male students
83%
Female students
60%
2:1 or above
2%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
A*
B

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.

Design studies

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.

£18,000
med
Average annual salary
98%
high
Employed or in further education
55%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

31%
Design occupations
20%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
10%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

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.

£16,000
med
Average annual salary
97%
med
Employed or in further education
50%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

35%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
13%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
13%
Other elementary services occupations

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.

Design studies

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

£19k

£19k

£22k

£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.

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.

£14k

£14k

£19k

£19k

£22k

£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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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