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Fine Art and Photography

Entry requirements


A level

B,C,C-B,B,C

Including one of the subjects recommended by the Department, including Art, Art & Design or Media related subjects

Access to HE Diploma (Art & Design) to include 45 credits at level 3, 30 of which must be at Merit

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

26

Including 5 in HL Visual Arts

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H3,H3,H3,H3,H4

Including one of the subjects at H3 recommended by the Department, including Art, Art & Design or Media

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

DMM

Art and Design

Scottish Higher

B,B,B,B

Including one of the subjects recommended by the Department, including Art, Art & Design

UCAS Tariff

112

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Fine art

Photography

**Fine Art**
Become an informed practitioner in charge of your artistic journey, research and thinking. Expand and develop your visual creativity within a contemporary practice-based context, underpinned by theoretical and contextual components.

This practice-based course allows you to explore and experience Fine Art within a contemporary context and includes possibilities in painting and drawing, sculpture, time-based and lens-based media, textiles, printmaking and interdisciplinary studio contexts.
You will gain practical, workshop and conceptual skills that are applied to studio projects in your first and second year, and develop an autonomous practice in your final year. Approximately 75% of your time in Year 3 will be occupied with studio modules, alongside a choice of theory modules to suit all learning styles.

Workshops are well-resourced and include: specialist foundry, fabrication and construction workshops, printmaking studio, textiles studio, drawing and painting studios as well as facilities for video, photographic and computer-based activity. Opportunities for placements and elements of professional practice provide the course with a ‘real-life’ edge, affording you to consider the nature of the Fine Artist you could become. Recent field trips have included New York, London, Berlin, Florence and Paris.

**Photography**
Engage with the medium of photography in an experimental way, and evolve your personal practice and visual identity in your chosen genre and context.

Our course is rooted in photography as a creative practice but also its social dimension as an agent of change. You are encouraged to draw on your lived-experience and curiosity as well as engage with a diverse range of contexts and genres, whether art, documentary, editorial or fashion. Students have the opportunity to explore a range of approaches and forms including fine printing, the photobook, moving image, installation and new-media possibilities.

As a critically reflective and independent practitioner you will ultimately develop a distinct portfolio of photography. Graduates have moved onto postgraduate study, careers in teaching and a range of lens-based or related employment opportunities, which includes medical illustration, sports and music photojournalism, agency and marketing work.

Modules

For the latest example of curriculum availability on this degree programme please refer to the University of Chester's Website.

Assessment methods

Photography: Assessment is based on the submission of folio and journal work as well as written assignments. This might include video and object-based works as well as photobooks. Written and tutorial feedback is provided at each stage of your studies. The final year exhibition represents the culmination of your studies.

Fine Art: Assessment is applied to coursework, including studio and supporting work, notebooks, sketchbooks, reflective journals, visual and material experiments and exhibition participation. Theory is assessed through written essays or a dissertation and assessment of oral presentations.

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
£9,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Chester

Department:

Media

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.

46%
Fine art
36%
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.

Art

Teaching and learning

54%
Staff make the subject interesting
58%
Staff are good at explaining things
71%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
49%
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

67%
Library resources
79%
IT resources
42%
Course specific equipment and facilities
42%
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?

95%
UK students
5%
International students
15%
Male students
85%
Female students
76%
2:1 or above
10%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
D

Cinematics and photography

Teaching and learning

49%
Staff make the subject interesting
54%
Staff are good at explaining things
54%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
49%
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

54%
Library resources
76%
IT resources
73%
Course specific equipment and facilities
36%
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
39%
Male students
61%
Female students
76%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
C
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.

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
low
Average annual salary
89%
low
Employed or in further education
27%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

25%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
24%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
10%
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.

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.

£16,000
low
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

36%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
19%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
14%
Design occupations

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

£16k

£19k

£19k

£21k

£21k

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.

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

£19k

£19k

£21k

£21k

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
Glasgow School of Art | Glasgow
Fine Art - Photography
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 114-128
Lower entry requirements
Arts University Plymouth | Plymouth
Photography (Extended Degree)
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 104-120

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Teaching Excellence Framework (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