Program Overview

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BA Art History & Visual Culture - 2026 entry

Overview

Develop essential tools to interpret works of arts (including architecture and design) as well as images, objects and practices. Study traditional fine art and contemporary visual forms including painting, sculpture, illustration, architecture, film, video, performance and digital art. Learn to interpret visual images to enable your understanding of societies. Art, history and culture embedded on campus with the Exeter Northcott Theatre, Bill Douglas Cinema Musuem, Lemon Grove and Great Hall as music venues and student theatre Roborough Studios. Opportunity to combine Art History and Visual Culture with other subjects as part of our Combined Honours courses and our BA/BSc Flexible Combined Honours course.

Entry requirements (typical offer)

• A-Level: ABB
• IB: 32/655
• BTEC: DDM
• GCSE: C or 4 (English Language)
• Access to HE: 24 L3 Credits at Distinction Grade and 21 L3 credits at Merit Grade
• T-Level: Distinction
• Contextual Offer: A-Level: BBC, IB: 28/554, BTEC: DMM

Course content

Year 1

• 90 credits of compulsory modules, 30 credits of optional modules
• Compulsory modules:
  • AHV1006: Visual Media (15 credits)
  • AHV1008: Topics in Art History and Visual Culture I (15 credits)
  • AHV1011: Questions and Methods in Art History and Visual Culture (30 credits)
  • AHV1012: Approaches to Art History and Visual Culture (30 credits)
• Optional modules:
  • AHV1005: Inside the Museum (15 credits)
  • AHV1009: Topics in Art History and Visual Culture II (15 credits)
  • MLF1121: French Visual History (15 credits)
  • MLM1014: Chinese Art and the Art of Living (15 credits)

Year 2

• 60 credits of compulsory modules, 60 credits of optional modules
• Compulsory modules:
  • AHV2015: Art History and Visual Culture Field Study for Blended Learning (30 credits)
  • AHV2002: Debates and Contestations in Art History (15 credits)
  • AHV2007: Contemporary Visual Practices (15 credits)
• Optional modules:
  • EAS2089: Creative Industries: Their Past, Our Future (30 credits)
  • MLM2003: Chinoiserie and Europeenerie: Artistic and cultural exchanges between China and Europe (15 credits)
  • AHV2012: Revolutions: Art and Society in France (30 credits)
  • AHV2018: Comics Studies: Histories, Methodologies, Genres (30 credits)
  • AHV2019: Common Threads: Art, Craft and Activism (15 credits)
  • AHV2016: Contemporary Art and Curation (15 credits)
  • AHV2020: Deconstructing the Dutch Golden Age: Nationalism, Exceptionalism and Decline (15 credits)
  • AHV2023: Global Impressionisms (15 credits)
  • AHV2013: Photography and Evidence (15 credits)
  • AHV2024: Renaissances North and South: Italy and the Netherlands (15 credits)
  • AHV2009: The New York Avant-Garde (30 credits)

Placement year (if taken)

• Typically, any placement year will take place in Year 3
• If you are not taking a placement year, please see the Final Year modules for Year 3

Final year

• 30 credits of compulsory Dissertation, 90 credits of optional modules
• Compulsory modules:
  • AHV3000: Art History and Visual Culture Dissertation (30 credits)
• Optional modules:
  • EAF3515: Something to See: War and Visual Media (30 credits)
  • EAS3421: Picturing the Global City: Literature and Visual Culture in the 21st Century (30 credits)
  • SML3052: The Place of Meaning: Gardens in Europe and Asia (15 credits)
  • MLG3036: Dictatorships on Display: History Exhibitions in Germany and Austria (15 credits)
  • AHV3017: 'Queen City of Europe': Art, Culture and Society in Renaissance Antwerp, c. (15 credits)
  • AHV3013: Art, Industry and the Modern (15 credits)
  • AHV3016: Conceptual Art (15 credits)
  • AHV3007: Global Modernisms (15 credits)
  • AHV3012: Installation Art (15 credits)
  • AHV3008: Performance Art (15 credits)
  • AHV3020: Subjectivity and Storytelling: From Decorative Arts to Digital Futures (15 credits)
  • AHV3018: The Body in Art and Disability Studies (15 credits)
  • AHV3003: The Face (15 credits)
  • AHV3002: Understanding Space in Renaissance Italy (15 credits)

Course variants

BA Art History & Visual Culture with Study Abroad

• UCAS code: VW32
• Duration: 4 years
• Entry year: 2026
• Campus: Streatham Campus
• Discipline: Art History & Visual Culture
• Contact: Web: Enquire online, Phone: +44 (0) (UK callers), +44 (0) (EU/International callers)

BA Art History & Visual Culture with Employment Experience

• UCAS code: VW33
• Duration: 4 years
• Entry year: 2026
• Campus: Streatham Campus
• Discipline: Art History & Visual Culture
• Contact: Web: Enquire online, Phone: +44 (0) (UK callers), +44 (0) (EU/International callers)

BA Art History & Visual Culture with Employment Experience Abroad

• UCAS code: VW34
• Duration: 4 years
• Entry year: 2026
• Campus: Streatham Campus
• Discipline: Art History & Visual Culture
• Contact: Web: Enquire online, Phone: +44 (0) (UK callers), +44 (0) (EU/International callers)

Fees

• Tuition fees for 2025 entry:
  • UK students: £9,535 per year
  • International students: £24,700 per year

Scholarships

• The University of Exeter has many different scholarships available to support your education, including £5 million in scholarships for international students applying to study with us in the 2025/26 academic year, such as our Exeter Excellence Scholarships.
• Financial support is also available for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, lower income households and other under-represented groups to help them access, succeed and progress through higher education.

Learning and teaching

• How will I learn?: You will be taught by internationally respected staff, who are leading researchers in their specialisms. We use a wide variety of techniques and approaches including seminars, lectures, study groups and web-based learning, as well as valuable field study.
• How will I be assessed?: You will be assessed in a variety of ways but primarily through exams and coursework. Coursework includes essays, a dissertation and presentation work. The ratio of formal exams to coursework is on average 40:60 (depending on your choice of modules). Your first year doesn’t count towards your final degree classification, but you do have to pass it in order to progress. In order to be eligible for ‘with Study Abroad’ programmes, you will need to attain an average of 60 per cent or more in your first year. The assessments in the second year, year abroad (if applicable) and final year will contribute to your final degree classification.
• Contact time: In your first year, you will receive a minimum of 10 hours of contact with academic staff per week. You will also be expected to attend other activities such as study groups, workshop activities and film screenings. Your total workload should average about 40 hours per week during term time. The exact amount of time spent working independently varies from module to module.
• Research-inspired teaching: Teaching that is inspired by research ensures lectures are up-to-date and relevant: you will benefit from access to the latest thinking, equipment and resources. All options are taught by staff with expertise including art history, architecture, film, photography, visual media, art and technology, curation and exhibition, mixed and virtual realities, performance art and visual culture in the UK and abroad.

Your future

• Employer-valued skills this course develops: Studying Art History & Visual Culture equips students with a broad range of highly desirable transferable skills in analysis, critique, research and theoretical and practical creativity. These will prepare you to enter a wide variety of professions. You will also develop specialist knowledge of everything from traditional art forms such as architecture and sculpture, to today’s visual practices such as film, video, performance and digital art. You will benefit from productive engagement with collections, institutions and art groups in the area, in tandem with the wider arts community in the South West and beyond.
• Further study: The Art History & Visual Culture programme prepares its graduates to undertake postgraduate study or training in areas such as education, arts management and journalism, amongst others. Recent graduates have gone on to study:
  • MA Publishing
  • MA Multimedia Broadcast Journalism
  • MA Creative Advertising
  • CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst)
  • MA Fine and Decorative Arts
  • MA Marketing & International Management
  • Graduate Diploma in Law
  • MA Stage and Event Management
• Career support and pathways: We have a dedicated, award-winning Careers Service, ensuring you have access to careers advisors, mentors and the tools you need to succeed in finding employment in your chosen field on graduation. We offer the Exeter Award and the Exeter Leaders Award which include employability-related workshops, skills events, volunteering and employment which will contribute to your career decision-making skills and success in the employment market.
• Examples of roles recent graduates are now working as include:
  • Art Gallery Intern
  • Brand Intern in fashion industry
  • Civil Service Fast Stream
  • Collections Information Officer
  • Editorial Assistant
  • Events Planner
  • Marketing Intern
  • PR Account Executive
  • Researcher
  • TV Promotions Assistant