Art and Design with Foundation Year BA (Hons)

Birmingham City University

**BA (Hons) Art and Design with Foundation Year***This four-year BA (Hons) Art and Design 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, students will be given the freedom to expand their 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 and individual projects aimed 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 students throughout the foundation year to prepare them for progression. The course concludes with a public professional exhibition of your practical work supported by an individual website.After successful completion of the foundation year, students will have the flexibility to switch (should they wish to change direction) onto a number of related undergraduate degree programmes within Birmingham School of Art, School of Visual Communication or the School of Games, Film and Animation.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. On completion of the Foundation Year, the following three years 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.*Subject to approval - the content of this course has been refreshed and updated to make sure you graduate with the skills employers need in an ever-changing job market. Our quality control experts are currently reviewing the content and we anticipate receiving formal approval shortly.