Art and Design with Creative Technologies with a Foundation Year

Program Overview

Art and Design with Creative Technologies with a Foundation Year - BA (Hons)

Overview

This four-year BA (Hons) Art and Design with Creative Technologies with Foundation Year course has been specifically designed to allow you to undertake an additional year of study which will build stronger creative footings to ensure successful progression through your chosen degree course.

Working in a lively and energetic environment, you will be given the freedom to expand your knowledge of practical skills, creative exploration and conceptual development, underpinned by broad critical understanding, academic writing and emerging theoretical principles.

There will be a range of opportunities to work on collaborative projects aimed to develop employability partnerships and to identify the role of developing practitioner. BA teaching staff from across all schools within the Birmingham Institute of Creative Arts (BICA) will work closely with you throughout the foundation year to prepare you for progression.

After successful completion of your foundation year, you will have the flexibility to switch (should you wish to change direction) onto a number of related undergraduate degree programmes within the Birmingham Institute of Creative Arts.

BA (Hons) Art and Design with Creative Technologies

Many innovative creative studios now define themselves as interdisciplinary, a word which we define as the fluid movement across the fields of art, design and technology. Rather than specialising in a particular creative discipline, our cutting-edge course reflects how these studios practice by exploring the intersection between art and design, with the implementation of new creative digital technologies.

What's covered in this course?

Our course will prepare you to be ready for employment within the creative industries by providing you with long-term creative skills to map out your creative future. With you at the centre, we will explore the intersections of art and design, providing a space where you can understand, develop and create a career in the evolving creative industries.

You will develop the necessary self-awareness to question, make, play and create with others. The versatility of our experimental studio environment will enable you to explore the necessary collisions that innovative ideas creation now requires, while enhancing a range of core skills including design thinking, creative problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and making.

Whether you choose to combine creative coding with foraging for natural materials, photography with artificial intelligence, or welding with audio performance, you will respond to live briefs set by real-life clients.

The flexible, student-centred approach to the curriculum, informed by professional practitioners, will enable you to be imaginative, confident and convincing in designing and shaping your role in tomorrow’s free flowing, boundary free creative industries.

Why Choose Us?

• Our cutting-edge course is future focused, and has been designed in collaboration with leading industry partners.
• Creative Technologies are one of the leading future jobs markets.
• You will work on live briefs set by real life clients, and in your second year you will have the opportunity to choose to do a work placement, or study abroad.
• Our course explores and unites the fundamental creative principles that are common to all areas of Birmingham City University’s Birmingham Institute of Creative Arts (BICA) - Art, Visual Communication, and Games, Film and Animation.
• Our innovative programme combines in one BA course the leading-edge teaching and learning that is available across BICA, taught by interdisciplinary staff from across BICA.
• Birmingham School of Art is celebrating 130 years of art at Margaret Street – its Grade I-listed building, located in the heart of the Colmore Business District, and in close proximity to the city’s cultural institutions and creative hubs, e.g. Ikon gallery, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Barber Institute and the Jewellery Quarter.

Visiting Professor, Jason Bruges

Founder of Jason Bruges Studio

Jason Bruges Studio has become internationally renowned for producing innovative installations, interventions and ground breaking works. This practice involves creating interactive spaces and surfaces that sit between the world of architecture, site specific installation art and interaction design. Considered a pioneer of this hybrid in-between space, Jason has subsequently paved the way for a new genre of design studios, artists and designer-makers.

"I fully support the approach to cross-disciplinary teaching, using art, design and digital technology to explore design methodologies. There is a strong emphasis on collaboration, experience and preparing students for future employability – I think this is extremely important."

Open Days

Join us for an Open Day where you'll be able to learn about this course in detail, chat to students, explore our campus and tour accommodation.

Next Open Day: 28 June 2025

Entry Requirements

These entry requirements apply for entry in 2025/26.

All required qualifications/grades must have been achieved and evidenced at the earliest opportunity after accepting an offer to help confirm admission and allow for on-time enrolment. This can also include other requirements, like a fee status form and relevant documents. Applicants can track their application and outstanding information requests through their BCU mySRS account.

Essential requirements

80 UCAS tariff points

GCSE and other level 2 requirements

This course does not require evidence of GCSE qualifications. Please see A Level, BTEC and other level 3 requirements below.

A Level, BTEC and other level 3 requirements

Qualification| Entry requirements
---|---
A Level / AS Level |

• A Level: 80 UCAS tariff points / CDD (or equivalent)
• AS Level: Must be in a different subject to A Levels
• A maximum of four subjects will be considered

Pearson BTEC (Diploma / Extended Diploma/ Extended Certificate) |

• 80 UCAS tariff points
• Diploma accepted with one A Level or equivalent level 3 qualifications
• Extended Certificate accepted with two A Levels or equivalent level 3 qualifications

T Level | Pass overall (C or above on the core) All subjects accepted but Digital Production, Design and Development; Craft and Design preferred.
Access to HE Diploma | Pass with 60 credits, 45 credits at level 3 Accepted subjects: Arts, Media and Publishing subjects preferred but other subjects also considered
OCR Cambridge Technical qualifications | 80 UCAS tariff points
NCFE CACHE Level 3 qualifications | 80 UCAS tariff points
WJEC Level 3 qualifications |

• 80 UCAS tariff points
• Considered with two A Levels or equivalent level 3 qualification(s)

International Baccalaureate Diploma | Obtain a minimum of 24 points overall
Irish Leaving Certificate (Highers) | Minimum of 80 UCAS tariff points, achieved in five Higher level subjects
Scottish Higher / Advanced Higher | 80 UCAS tariff points from three Advanced Highers (DDD) or two Advanced Highers (DD) plus two Highers (DD)
Welsh Baccalaureate | 80 UCAS tariff points. Considered with three A Levels or equivalent level 3 qualifications
UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma | Pass overall
Foundation Studies (Art and Design, and Art, Design and Media) | Pass overall
EU / International students | 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 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. More information on pre-sessional English courses.

Mature students

Applications from mature students (21+) with alternative qualifications and/or considerable work experience will be considered on their merits.

If you have a qualification that is not listed, please contact us.

Fees & How to Apply

UK 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 2025

• Mode
• Duration
• Fees
• Full Time
• 4 years
• £9,535 in 2025/26
• Apply via UCAS

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 2025

• Mode
• Duration
• Fees
• Full Time
• 4 years
• £17,690 in 2025/26
• Apply Online

Course in Depth

Foundation year

Throughout the year you will be challenged with projects that question your current creative experiences and explore a breadth of experimentation to broaden your technical and critical understanding.

You will be encouraged to analyse methods and materials appropriate for creative development and to question your position in relation to historical, contemporary and future world scenarios. Both practical and written research tasks will be supported by one to one tutorials and small discussion groups to help you constructively build academic and social confidence.

The two first semester modules will form the building blocks for future work and will explore core principles of creative practice focussing on the development of technical confidence, study skills and productivity.

The two final semester modules will encourage a positive integration between research and practice, challenging decision making and technical competency. This semester is designed to empower you with independent learning skills appropriate for your future BA studies.

In order to progress onto your BA Programme, you must successfully pass all four core modules (totalling 120 credits).

Year one

Level 4 takes you and your peers from ‘I to Us’ to harness your self-awareness as part of how you learn and collaborate with others in your teams. You will navigate through ‘Labs’ that represent the fundamentals of interdisciplinary design process (defined as ‘between’ or ‘among’ defined disciplines). The term ‘Lab’ is used to communicate that the studio environment will be a place of experimentation. We define Lab as ‘a creative environment that encourages experimentation, play, risk-taking and making a mess.’

The three primary Labs are: Thought Lab; Materials Lab; and Digital Lab. You will iteratively move through these Labs in the first semester. Additional Labs will be introduced once the fundamentals of the interdisciplinary design process have been established. These new Labs are: Nature Lab; Performance Lab; and, Speculative Lab. What will connect them all is a sense of community and communal sharing. Throughout the module you and your peers will regularly bring your work together to share, display, discuss, and critique.

Throughout the course you will be asked to ‘creatively interrogate’ by examining, questioning, and then making a response to a given source, theme or object. These challenges are designed to expose you to new approaches to ‘sense making’ while considering different perspectives and different voices.

Year two

Level 5 uses the emergent process developed in Level 4 to move you and your peers from ‘Us to We’, from working with each other to working as a unit with external clients. You will focus on real-world challenge-based learning, through live briefs that are locally, nationally and globally located, set by an external client, user, community or audience. Building on skills developed in the previous module, the scope is now bigger, with broader perspectives, an employability focus, and an emphasis on building professional communication skills. You will collaboratively question and explore a live brief, while iteratively moving through the Thought, Materials and Digital Labs as needed as your projects grow and develop.

Year three

Level 6 encourages you to diverge to follow your own pathway, navigating your own way through the Labs. You may focus on one Lab, or a combination of Labs, or create new Labs of your own. You may choose to work individually or collaboratively. You will undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area of personal interest, and you will create a body of work. You will also integrate professional companies and the creative landscape to identify a future career path and develop a professional identity.

Employability

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 with Creative Technologies 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 Creative Technologies 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 BCU for the final year of the BA Art and Design with Creative Technologies course to apply what has been learnt working in industry.

Facilities & Staff

Our Facilities

In 1884 Birmingham Municipal School of Arts and Crafts - the first municipal school in the country, opened at Margaret Street where Birmingham School of Art still stands today. This building, with its rich history and rare heritage of practice-led knowledge, is home to our BA Art and Design with Creative Technologies course. The School provides an incredible resource for the production of art and design, and its associated fields of study. The building has a range of facilities available including studios, workshops, specialist art and design library, bookable spaces and lecture/seminar rooms.

Our course is situated within an inclusive physical studio environment. This incubator space has making at it’s heart, it is a place of doing, enabling agility and iteration. The layout is flexible and open plan. Like a laboratory, our space brings together the exploration of art, design and creative digital technologies to allow for the necessary collision and serendipity that innovative ideas creation now requires. The layout is loosely divided into Labs, and equipment within the Labs will be on open display and ready to use. These resources will be in addition to the extensive workshops already available in Margaret Street, that include photography, casting, woodwork, metalwork, silk screen, etching, 3D printing, laser cutting, and printed and constructed textiles.

The specialist library, workshops and studio facilities at the School of Art provide a hub of creative activity for you to immerse yourself within.

Our staff

Jo Newman

Foundation Course Director and BA course leader

Jo chose a career in education so that she could provide students with learning environments where conversations, ideas and materials can be selected, combined, analysed and shared, offering them a way of socializing, caring and questioning to grow their learning with meaning for their futures.

Dr Lara Furniss

BA Art and Design Course Director

Lara has twenty years professional experience working internationally across many art and design disciplines. This extensive cross-disciplinary professional experience directly informs Lara’s teaching, with a primary interest in developing new pedagogic approaches to non-discipline specific problem solving. Lara’s research interests have emerged...