BA (Hons) Art and Design

at Birmingham City University

COURSE IN DEPTH

Year one
 

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits)

 

Thought Lab
20 credits

 

This module introduces critical thinking and building self-awareness to create a community. Through group discussions and debate you will be supported to develop learning strategies. You will be introduced to creative design thinking, verbal and visual communication tools, and core writing skills. You will look at a body of thoughts from across the world, capturing a global, diverse range of voices.

 

Materials Lab
20 credits

 

This module explores the connectivity of materials, and how materials collaborate with each other. You will collaboratively test, experiment and prototype, by exploring: fusion; confusions; knotting; welding; embedding; joints; and breaking things. You will look at a body of materials and their applications from across the world, capturing a global, diverse range of voices.

Digital Lab
20 credits

 

This module explores the fundamentals of, and interconnective relationship between, different contemporary creative digital technologies. You will collaboratively experiment, test and embrace digital technologies, by exploring: coding; digital modelling; digital drawing; projection; filming; editing; VR/AR; sound; and, light. You will look at a body of technologies and their applications from across the world, capturing a global, diverse range of voices.

 

Performance Lab
20 credits

 

This module focuses on narrative, the different ways narratives can be created, and the possible exploration of: movement; performance (of materials or a person); presentation; spoken word; animation; costume; or set. You will look at a body of performance from across the world, capturing a global, diverse range of voices.

 

Nature Lab
20 credits

 

This module focuses on making, using found materials in the natural environment. The module will explore a range of possible themes, including: natural materials; foraging; growing; building; stone carving; nesting; thatching; collecting; or observing. You will look at natural materials and their application across the world, capturing a global, diverse range of voices.

 

Speculative Lab
20 credits

 

This module is a round-up of the year, revisiting and building on what has been done to date. You and your peers will self-organise to look out to the wider community of Birmingham and collaboratively identify, develop and design speculative proposals. The module, and the year, will culminate with an outward-facing exhibition.

 

Year two

 

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 100 credits)

 

Live Project: Local
20 credits

 

This module provides an opportunity for you to apply your knowledge and skills to an external, professional brief. The brief will be set by a local external client, user, community or audience, in consultation with the staff team, and it could be a ‘real life’ problem to be solved, or a simulation. It is an opportunity for you to engage in a professional manner, within the supportive infrastructure of the University. Where appropriate, the project may involve interdisciplinary collaboration with students from other courses. In this way, it reflects the collaborative, flexible nature of employment within the creative industries.

 

Live Project: National
40 credits

 

This module explores real-world challenge-based learning, through a nationally located live brief, set by an external client, partner, user, community or audience. The module will have an employability focus, an emphasis on building professional communication skills, and you will expand your knowledge of interdisciplinary design practice across the creative industries.

 

Live Project: Global
40 credits

 

This module focuses on real-world challenge-based learning, through a globally located live brief, set by an external client, partner user, community, audience or institution. Building on the skills developed in the previous modules throughout year two, this module has a global perspective, and an emphasis on Global Citizenship, understanding different cultures, knowledge and working practices.

 

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the following list of OPTIONAL modules:

 

Collaborative Practice
20 credits

 

This module is an opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills of collaboration by enabling you to create an interdisciplinary project with students from complementary disciplines, or with academic staff. Collaboration is a vital employability skill within the creative industries and this module allows you to develop these skills, making use of University facilities and with the support of academic staff.

 

Work Placement
20 credits

 

The purpose of this module is to enable you to develop professional attributes and subject skills through experience in the work place, and to critically reflect upon your learning in that context. You will normally be expected to arrange your own placement, with support from academic staff and ADM Careers+. Typically, the placement duration is a minimum 70 hours, maximum of 140 hours. This can be achieved in one block, or can be dispersed over a longer period of time, if required. If you fail to secure a placement by the specified deadline, an “as live” industry standard project will be set by the module tutor. The work placement will be considered and approved by the module tutor in order to ensure that the learning opportunity is of benefit to you.

 

Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.

 

Year three

 

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits)

 

Major Project: Research Lab
40 credits

 

The purpose of this module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. You will be guided towards choosing a research topic, which is relevant to your discipline and in which your lecturers have expertise.

 

Futures Lab
20 credits

 

In this module you will investigate the wider creative industries, locally, nationally and globally, to better understand what your potential future pathway might look like. In response to a series of supporting lectures from a range of industry experts, you will develop your professional identity by constructing a range of appropriate self-promotional materials.

 

Creation Lab
60 credits

 

This module is tailored to your individual strengths, research areas and career aspirations. You will follow your own pathway to make a body of work, navigating your way through the Thought Lab, Materials Lab and Digital Lab. This could be achieved individually, or in collaboration with others, using an external live brief or a speculative brief.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

We accept a range of qualifications, the most popular of which are detailed below.

Essential Requirements

112 UCAS tariff points from A/AS Level with a minimum of 2 A Levels.
In addition to qualification applicants will also need a good portfolio.
LEVEL 2 QUALIFICATIONS
IELTS	6.0 overall with no less than 5.5 in each band.
Plus one of the following Level 3 (and above) Qualifications
A Level and Advanced VCE	BBC / 112 UCAS points A maximum of 4 subjects are considered. These can be other A/S Levels (as long in a different subject) A-Levels or Level 3 equivalents.
AS and AS VCE	Considered with a maximum of 3 other Level 3 qualifications (AS Levels must be in different subject to A-Levels) to obtain 112 pts
Access to HE Diploma	Pass with 60 credits overall. At least 45 credits at Level 3. BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design & BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture - Construction, Planning, Built Environment and Art and Design subjects preferred but other subjects also considered. BA (Hons) Art and Design, BA (Hons) Fine Art, BA (Hons) Jewellery and Objects, BA (Hons) Horology - Arts, Media and Publishing subjects preferred but other subjects also considered. BA (Hons) International Jewellery Business - Arts, Media and Business subjects preferred but other subjects also considered. BA (Hons) Graphic Communication, BA (Hons) Illustration, BA (Hons) Photography, & BA (Hons) Design for Performance - Arts, Media and Publishing subjects preferred but other subjects also considered.
Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma (2016 – present) Pearson BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF) (2010 - 2016) BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (2002 – 2010)	DMM
Foundation Studies (Art and Design, and Art, Design & Media)	Distinction Can be considered alongside other Level 3 qualifications (AS Levels must be in different subject to A-Levels) to obtain 112 pts
IBO Certificate in Higher Level	Students who do not complete the IB Diploma will be considered on the basis of their IB Certificates if they obtain a total of 14 points or above from three Higher Level Subjects Considered with other acceptable level 3 qualifications to meet 112 UCAS Tariff Points
International Baccalaureate Diploma	Obtain a minimum of 28 points overall
Irish Leaving Certificate (Highers)	Pass the Irish Leaving Certificate with a minimum of 112 tariff points, achieved in five Higher level subjects.
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma	DMM
Scottish Advanced Higher	Achieve a minimum of 112 tariff points achieved in either three Advanced Highers or from a combination of two Advanced Highers plus two Highers. Where three Advanced Highers have been taken achieve a minimum of grades CCD Where a combination of Highers and Advanced Highers have been taken you must achieve (grades of CD in two Advanced Highers plus grades of CC in two Highers).
T-Levels	Merit overall Design, Surveying and Planning T Level considered for BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design & BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture courses
UAL Extended Diploma in Art & Design	Merit overall
UAL Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production & Technology	Merit overall
UAL Extended Diploma in Performing and Production Arts	Merit overall
Other qualifications
If you have a qualification that is not listed in the table please refer to our full entry requirements on UCAS. Further guidance on tariff points can be found on the UCAS website.

Additional information for EU/International students

Essential
In addition to qualifications, applicants will also need to submit a good digital portfolio. Please see your country page for further details on the equivalent qualifications we accept. In addition to the academic entry requirements listed above, international and EU students will also require the qualifications detailed in this table.
EU/Non-EU (International) Qualifications
IELTS	6.0 overall with no less than 5.5 in each band. If you do not meet the required IELTS score, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English courses. Please note that you must have a Secure English Language Test (SELT) to study on the pre-sessional English course.
International Baccalaureate Diploma (or equivalent, including internationally accredited Foundation courses).	Country-specific entry requirements and qualifications.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

 

Award: BA (Hons) Starting: Sep 2022
Full Time 3 years £13,500 in 2022/23

Enhancing employability skills

Our course seeks to respond to the rapidly evolving creative industries, to enable you to not only be ready for immediate employment, but also for future evolutions within the industries, by providing you with long-term skills and employability. Informed by professional practitioners and researchers, the course reflects pioneering practices that cross art, design, and creative technologies. The course will enable you to be imaginative, confident and convincing in taking up and even designing and shaping your future role as a creative leader and practitioner of change.

 

The course offers strong employability potential for students as the Digital Creative sector is the largest growth sector of the creative industries. All skills and capabilities developed on the course are highly transferable and will support you to develop a range of knowledge, skills, behaviours attributes and attitudes which will enable you to be successful not just in employment but in life. The breadth and fluidity of the course will enable you to build an awareness and development of the following transferable skills: adaptability; creativity; collaboration; problem solving; communication; listening; analytical reasoning; critical thinking; attention to detail; and, writing.

 

Key employability skills will also be acquired through:

 

• Working on live briefs with real clients in an employment context, enabling you to collaborate, communicate effectively, build social skills and develop a global perspective.
• The option of a work placement module, professional placement year, and multiple live briefs will be offered with potential employers as real partners in learning.
• A Personal Tutor will help you reflect on your employability.
• School Employability Leads, Academic Supervisors, Careers Advisors and Graduate Plus Teams will be able to provide support and advice.

PLACEMENTS

 

As a student on our BA Art and Design course you will be offered the choice of taking one of the ADM Faculty Modules. Each module will have a live focus whether that be working across the City collaboratively with students from across the Faculty, working within industry in work experience placements or working on live project briefs.

 

You will have the option to take a year-long professional work placement sandwich year to spend time directly working in industry through our BA (Hons) Art and Design with Professional Placement Year. This presents a fantastic opportunity to gain confidence, build experience and develop workplace skills before graduating through a work-based learning opportunity. If you choose this route you will be supported by the course team in researching their chosen area of work and given advice to secure a placement (or placements) that enable you to develop key employability skills in a direct, interesting and meaningful way. It provides the opportunity to spend a year completing structured work experience anywhere in the world, before returning to Birmingham School of Art for the final year of the BA Art and Design course to apply what has been learnt working in industry.
 

Links to Industry
 

The course is directly supported by Jason Bruges Studio, and founder Jason Bruges is our Visiting Professor: Design Studio Practice.
 

Birmingham School of Art has a wide array of links with partner organisations regionally, nationally and internationally. These partnerships will provide work experience opportunities for you, and contribute to your learning and teaching activities. Our overseas partnerships often result in opportunities for you to mix with students from different countries and gain different perspectives, as well as opportunities to undertake a period of study overseas.