Art and Design

Maker? Thinker? Futurist? Coder? Performer? Technologist? Conservationist? Designer? Interested?

Our new hybrid BA (Hons) is a course for the future, where you will explore the intersection of art and design to create your career in the evolving creative industries.

Many innovative creative studios now define themselves as interdisciplinary, a word which defines 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.

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.

This course offers a Creative Technologies pathway. This optional pathway will give you the opportunity to focus specifically on developing your digital skills. You can choose this pathway at the start of your studies, or transfer over to the pathway at the end of each academic year.

Professional Placement Year This course offers an optional professional placement year. This allows you to spend a whole year with an employer, following successful completion of your second year, and is a great way to find out more about your chosen career. Some students even return to the same employers after completing their studies.

If you choose to pursue a placement year, you will need to find a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. You will be able to draw on the University’s extensive network of local, regional, and national employers, and the support of our Careers teams. If you are able to secure a placement, you can request to be transferred to the placement version of the course. 

Please note that fees are payable during your placement year, equivalent to 20% of the total full-time course fee for that year.

Creative Technologies pathway All students will be introduced to the fundamentals of interdisciplinary art and design practice with a focus on new creative technologies, which forms the core ethos of this course. In line with the development of our digital futures we are introducing an optional pathway in Creative Technologies which will give you the opportunity to focus specifically on further developing your digital skills through a breadth of technological approaches.

If you choose the Creative Technologies pathway you will cover the same curriculum, but will opt for technology-based outcomes. You will be assessed in relation to your exploration, questioning and use of a range of contemporary digital technologies and your creative applications in relation to the module theme. Work may still embrace a sense of physicality but the focus will retain an element of Creative Technologies. You can either choose the Creative Technologies pathway at the start of your studies, or transfer over to the Creative Technologies pathway at the end of each academic year.

£1,000 scholarships for 2025/26

If you apply to BCU by 30 June 2025, you could be eligible for one of our £1,000 scholarships:

Accelerate – if you are from a lower income family or household

High Achievers’ – if you achieve 144 UCAS points or more from your main three qualifications

For full details and terms, visit www.bcu.ac.uk/scholarships