Program Overview

BA (Hons) Craft

The BA (Hons) Craft course welcomes students from all creative backgrounds who are curious about design, materials, objects, and making. With a material-led, experimental philosophy through a thinking-through-making approach, our programme equips each student with the tools to express their unique perspective and skills, empowering them to shape the future of contemporary craft.

Course Overview

Our BA (Hons) Craft course is part of the Manchester School of Art at Manchester Met. The programme is for curious makers who see materials as more than just tools. Through craft thinking, you will uncover new possibilities, shaping your own creative language and practice. Your passion for making will be nurtured through our hybrid curriculum, which fosters community learning in our open-plan studios and workshops.

Features and Benefits

• Globally recognised: We are ranked in the top 100 schools for art and design in the world (QS World Rankings 2025).
• Workshops and labs: Our course offers fabrication techniques. You will have access to specialist facilities for working with ceramics, glass, metal, wood, and plastics, as well as cutting-edge digital tools such as CNC routing, bioplastic/clay and glass 3D printing, laser cutting, and a state-of-the-art virtual reality cave.
• Live projects: There will be regular live projects throughout the course. These have previously included Bury Art Museum, the Whitworth Art Gallery, The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, and Manchester Craft and Design Centre.
• Study trips: You may have the chance to participate in study trips to major design cities. Recent destinations have included Berlin, the Venice Architecture Biennale, Milan Design Week, Copenhagen, and New York.
• International exchange: Students have previously participated in exchange visits to Canada, the USA, and Europe.
• Visiting expertise: Visiting artists and designers assist in the course team via lectures, projects, and practical workshops.
• Design competitions and awards: We also have success within design competitions, previous students have participated with awards such as the Cor-unum Ceramic Award, Pewter Live, Goldsmiths student awards, and the Contemporary Glass Society Awards.

Year 1

In Year 1, you will engage with core studio and workshop material inductions exploring the language of making.

Core Modules

• Archives of Making: What is the role of material exploration in a practice-based approach to making? In this module, you will participate in workshops to gain both technical and artistic skills resulting in the development of your own archive of material samples, meanings, gestures, and attitudes in making.
• Conversational Making: What responsibilities do we have for the things we create, and how can they spark meaningful conversations? This module encourages you to challenge traditional archetypes and discover new perspectives.
• Motion, Matter and Making: The landscape we inhabit is fundamentally shaped by the materials around us, influencing our cities, homes, objects, and dreams. Materials are both natural elements and cultural foundations; rather than being static resources, they are dynamic and actively participate in multiple ecosystems.
• Future X: Kinship: In this module, you will explore your creative field through questions of belonging, encouraging you to consider relationships with the planet, people, and place.

Year 2

In Year 2, you will explore methods for questioning and analysing material and object-based culture through the lens of craft thinking.

Core Modules

• Future X: Symbiosis: In this module, you will tackle complex planetary challenges by working with students from different creative fields. Through our lab-studio-classroom, experimental approaches to practice will explore the notion of ‘What if?’ as a way to explore open-ended enquiries that allow critical space to propose alternative futures.
• Field Objects: In this module, you will conduct in-depth research, engage in critical reflection, and implement strategic planning to explore and define your future field of practice.
• Common Objects: Who might create, present, show, interact with, hold, own, or dispose of our objects? How and why do we keep and share objects? Building on the material knowledge from previous modules, you will focus on the social value of the objects you produce, considering the materials, processes, presentation, and storage involved.
• Alien Objects: Through the exploration of the intersection of traditional practices and emerging technologies, this module will challenge you to reconceptualise objects as fluid entities.

Year 3

In Year 3, you will engage in self-directed projects, critically positioning their work within the field of contemporary craft.

Core Modules

• Crafthood: This module encourages a self-directed exploration based on a personal practice-based research question. You will investigate the dynamic interplay of materials, processes, and concepts, shaping your own narrative through hands-on experimentation and reflection.
• Future X: Re-worlding: In this module, you will explore the boundaries of where your discipline intersects with other fields of practice as a catalyst for innovation.
• Craft Matters: This self-directed module centres on unique object-making and refinement through practice-based research. You will create a series of objects that embody your research inquiries, blending theory with hands-on practice.

Study and Assessment

• Year 1: 30% lectures, seminars or similar; 70% independent study
• Year 2: 30% lectures, seminars or similar; 70% independent study
• Year 3: 100% placement (optional)
• Year 4: 25% lectures, seminars or similar; 75% independent study
• Assessment: 100% coursework for all years

Entry Requirements

• Typical offer: 104-112 UCAS tariff points
• IELTS score: 6.0 overall with no component below 5.5, taken within two years of course start date
• Portfolio: We will ask for a portfolio of your work as part of your application
• UK students:
  • Level 3 qualifications: 104-112 UCAS tariff points
  • GCSE grade C/4 in English Language or equivalent
• International students:
  • IB Diploma with minimum 26 points overall or 104 UCAS Tariff points from three Higher Level subjects
  • IELTS: 6.0 overall with no component below 5.5, taken within two years of course start date

Fees and Funding

Tuition fees for the 2026/27 academic year are still being finalised for all courses.

Careers Support and Prospects

• Employed or in further study: 88.7% of our UK-domiciled, full-time, first-degree graduates are employed or in further study 15 months after graduation.
• Graduate Outcomes survey 2021/22 leavers, HESA data.
• Explore your options and build sought-after skills: Through our Careers Service, you will be supported and encouraged to get ready for further study or working life, including starting your own business.
• A career as unique as you: Graduates pursue diverse careers across the creative industries, working as self-employed jewellers, ceramicists, model makers, artists, studio managers, material specialists, and freelance practitioners with arts organizations. Many engage in community project workshops and education, becoming lecturers, university technicians, and teaching assistants. Opportunities in film, TV, and theatre include international companies such as Warner Bros. and Mackinnon Saunders. Whether in freelance, academia, or industry, alumni bring material knowledge, digital skills, and conceptual thinking to a broad range of professions.