Course summary
Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience. In May 2022 we were awarded the Best Small or Specialist University at the 2022 WhatUni Student Choice Awards coming top in a list of well-respected specialist UK universities, and in 2023 were awarded Silver in the same category, based on unbiased and honest reviews from students across the UK, in a category that highlights the quality of our provision as a specialist creative university. The MA Visual Communication programme encourages the development of an individual and distinctive contemporary graphics practice through considered engagement with current contexts, audiences and outputs. This programme brings together design-led and research-driven approaches to take a critically informed and widely experimental approach to the production, form and circulation of the ‘message’. The programme is ideas-driven, and devised to assist you in developing your unique approach within the broad field of contemporary communication-led practices, including graphic design, advertising, packaging design, branding and more. You will engage in design thinking and research centred projects, developing conceptual thinking and visual literacies through iterative design, working with complexity and ambiguity, enabling you to assimilate diverse ideas and dynamic outcomes. We’ll support you in articulating your ideas, developing your working methods and creating independent work, through individual tutorials, lectures, subject-specific seminars, studio and gallery visits and group critiques, with access to our rich workshop areas and technical resources across the university.
Modules
Through three sequential phases or modules, we support our students in investigating, testing and developing their ideas in depth. The core tuition includes advanced training in specialist disciplines, research methods, critical thinking, research ethics, project design, professional codes and conceptual frameworks, and an opportunity for negotiated study under specialist supervision. All of our programmes have access to our outstanding workshop facilities. By combining our generic modules with specialist assignments and personal project proposals, we provide depth and specialisation within each subject area, while also equipping you with robust approaches, methodologies and techniques that can be applied across the commercial, social and public sectors. All students are asked to submit an initial research proposal on application to the course. This proposal should explain the kind of work that you want to create in the course of the MA or MFA programme, and identify your key professional aims. Of course, we understand the creative practice is all about change and development, so you won’t be stuck with these initial ideas. Instead, they will form the starting point for a dialogue with your tutors about your work. The first module on the MA examines the role of research methods in creative disciplines. The focus will be upon refining your research proposal through a process of making to ensure that it can act as a robust framework for your study. The second module supports you to identify the kinds of collaborations and public-facing opportunities that will strengthen your identity as a creative practitioner. The final module of each programme may be submitted as a dissertation or as practice, depending on which pathway best suits your concerns as a creative practitioner.
Assessment method
The final module of each programme may be submitted as a dissertation or as practice, depending on which pathway best suits your concerns as a creative practitioner.
Entry requirements
BA 2.2; equivalent professional experience or portfolio; exceptional project proposal.
English language requirements
| Test | Grade | Additional details |
|---|---|---|
| Trinity ISE | Merit | Integrated Skills in English II (Level B2), minimum grade required: Reading: Merit, Listening: Merit Certificate valid for two years |
| IELTS (Academic) | 6 | IELTS (Level B2), minimum grade required: IELTS overall score of 6.5, minimum of score Listening: 6.0, Speaking: 6.0, Reading: 6.0, Writing: 6.0 Certificate valid for two years |
| PTE Academic | 59 | PTE Academic (Level B2), minimum grade required: Listening: 59, Reading: 59, Writing: 59, Speaking: 59 Certificate valid for two years |
Click here to find out the most up-to-date information on our English Language requirements
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| Republic of Ireland | £4985 | Year 1 |
| EU | £8800 | Year 1 |
| Channel Islands | £4985 | Year 1 |
| England | £4985 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £4985 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £4985 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £4985 | Year 1 |
| International | £8800 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Provider information
Arts University Plymouth
Tavistock Place
Plymouth
PL4 8AT