Master of Fine Art

The MFA is a multidisciplinary programme in which creative practice and contextual enquiry are integrated into the common aims of exploring and promoting new developments in the field of contemporary fine art. Creative practice in whatever form it takes is supported by the appropriate theoretical frames of reference and by relevant forms of research. The MFA programme is designed to prepare you for the professional world of Fine Art. Increasingly this includes acknowledgement of the importance of research, especially artistic and practice-led research, for those students wishing to progress to further study at PhD level.

The MFA is a programme within the Glasgow School of Art's Common Academic Framework, and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), which incorporates all “levels” of education, from Level 1 (Access 1) to Level 12 (Doctorate). In the case of the MFA programme, both years are Level 11.

Supported through the CAF: PGT (Common Academic Framework for Postgraduate Taught Courses) you will experience increased diversity and choice in your academic career. Each programme within the framework includes core GSA courses, cross GSA electives, core specialist courses and specialist electives.

By combining the mandatory course in research with various electives offered from across the GSA along with electives building on MFA and other SoFA expertise, you will be able to explore more choices and creatively combine intellectual and technical support from more diverse sources. This broadened experience will eventually draw from the expertise of all schools and the Digital Design Studio, and give access to the expertise of the GSA’s research centres.

It will lead to a pool of graduates who are versed not only in the specificities of contemporary art practice, but also in the broader world of intellectual pursuits and career sequels. It will enable you to understand the conditions for a career as a professional artist and at the same time challenge existing conventions in order to anticipate and develop new or alternative roles for artists in our societies.

The design of the programme with its mandatory and elective courses includes the opportunity to add variations of the credit weighting of its components. This is the foundation for the introduction of new and additional pathways in the future and will enable the School of Fine Art to enhance and improve the content of its postgraduate options in a flexible way to respond to changes in the context of contemporary Fine Art and to influence the direction the professional sector might take.

The post-graduate MFA programme at GSA's School of Fine Art is designed as a two year programme with three integrated stages leading to the award of an MFA, with a possible exit 3 award (PgCert and PgDip) linked to Stages 1 & 2 respectively, in line with the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.