If you want to pursue a creative degree at Arts University Plymouth but feel you have yet to acquire the experience and range of skills necessary, our Extended BA programme will prepare you for entry to one of our BA (Hons) undergraduate courses.
What is Extended BA?
Our Extended BA (Hons) Degrees offers a unique four-year route for students aiming to delve into the diverse realm of art, design, and media. This programme provides an initial exploratory year, where you'll cultivate insight into various creative skills and approaches, laying a robust foundation before advancing to a specialised degree of your choice. Whether you're returning to education after a hiatus or entering without formal qualifications, our Extended BA equips you with the requisite skills, knowledge, and experience to secure a place in our full undergraduate program.
Our Intensive Extended Degree program is a dynamic blend of lectures, workshops, and practical studio sessions designed to challenge and inspire. Our diverse student body spans from fresh-faced eighteen-year-olds to seasoned creatives in their seventies, fostering a rich collaborative environment. With the freedom to take risks and experiment, you'll develop a diverse skill set through hands-on experimentation with materials, processes, and methodologies. This transformative journey hones critical skills essential for degree-level study, expanding your proficiency in drawing, visual research, contextual studies, digital imaging, and design methods. Gain invaluable experience in a supportive atmosphere that encourages creativity, collaboration, and innovation.
Why Choose BA (Hons) Illustration?
This industry-informed degree delves deep into the essence of contemporary illustration, defining its role in today's dynamic landscape. Discover how to navigate commercial briefs and express your personal vision with equal finesse. Our BA (Hons) Illustration degree fosters a sustainable and fulfilling illustration practice, preparing you for success in a rapidly evolving industry.
Illustration has the power to characterise moments, evoke emotion and propose alternate realities. From indie publishing and children’s literature, through to comic books and commercial products - this course will empower you to make your mark.
Our expert staff will support you in developing professional skills including creative problem-solving, project management, and working to briefs and deadlines. We place high value on imagination and energy, alongside conceptual thinking and idea development, and we will support you in honing your technical skills and knowledge of contemporary trends. Our experienced lecturers offer insights into culturally relevant, ethically sound, and commercially viable practices, ensuring a holistic development of skills in conceptualisation, image-making, and technical proficiency. Join us to nurture your independent creativity and pave the way for a fulfilling career aligned with your aspirations.
As a student on this course, you will be based in a spacious and naturally-lit collaborative studio space, where you’ll cultivate a unique blend of skills and attributes, with a strong emphasis on curiosity and perseverance, making you a well-rounded practitioner. You will be challenged to develop authentic ways of working, assuming agency and autonomy as an image-maker and learning what this means to you as a practitioner. Our students benefit from high contact time with our dedicated Illustration team, who provide expert mentoring from an impressive range of specialisms including independent publishing, editorial, children’s books, printmaking, graphic design, and art direction.
On successful completion of your Extended Degree year, you will be guaranteed a place on one of our full undergraduate BA (Hons) programmes. Many of our past students have gone on to achieve high grades in their degrees, including a large number with First Class Honours.
The first year of an Extended Degree is not a qualification in its own right, but when you successfully complete it you are guaranteed a place on our full undergraduate programme.
You’ll develop confidence in your use of drawing, visual research, contextual studies, digital imaging and design methods, and you’ll have the chance to experiment with a range of materials, equipment, processes and software.
As the year goes by you’ll specialise in your chosen undergraduate subject (illustration, graphic design, fine art, etc.), helping you to become a confident, independent and creative artist, designer or maker.
This is the equal consideration deadline. You can still apply after this date, but your application may not receive guaranteed consideration.
Arts University Plymouth has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.
See why these ratings were awarded
What does this TEF outcome mean?
The following entry points are available for this course:
Plymouth is the largest city in the county of Devon, and the safest big city in south-west England, listed in the top ten safest cities in the UK. The city has excellent travel links via car, train and ferry, with direct train services to London Paddington and the rest of the country and easy access to three nearby airports (Bristol, Newquay and Exeter). Plymouth is the gateway to the South West of England and is approximately 3 hours from London by train. The best airport to fly into is London Heathrow, which has a direct rail line to Paddington station.
Our dedicated international team will be able to support you throughout your application and enrolment with us, giving you expert advice and guidance on everything you need, from accommodation to what to do once you arrive in the UK.
Your application will tell us about your qualifications and previous experience, but studying the arts is about more than can be captured on forms. We need to find out about your creative potential, your abilities and idiosyncrasies, so we will invite you to talk about your work with a member of our HE academic team. You can tell us about your aspirations, and why you want to study at the university. It is also a good moment to find out what we can offer you.
We encourage you to visit the university, so that you can see our facilities, meet our teaching and technical staff, and discuss any other queries you may have; however we appreciate this may not be possible, and are happy to talk to you via an online platform (such as Google Meet or similar).
We accept a range of international qualifications and will look at each application individually.
Find out more about qualification requirements for this course.
| Test | Grade | Additional details |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS (Academic) | 6 | IELTS (Level B2):overall score of 6.0 with minimum scores Listening: 5.5, Speaking: 5.5, Reading: 5.5, Writing: 5.5 |
| Trinity ISE | Pass | Integrated Skills in English II (Level B2), minimum grades required: Reading: Pass Listening: Pass |
| PTE Academic | 50 | PTE Academic (Level B2), minimum grade required: Listening: 50, Reading: 50, Writing: 50, Speaking: 50 |
Click here to find out the most up-to-date information on our English Language requirements https://www.aup.ac.uk/international/language-requirements
We believe in making tailored offers that recognise that artists, designers and makers can have a wide range of relevant experience and skills beyond formal qualifications. We therefore require all applicants to submit a portfolio of work as a condition of any offer to study with us. This allows applicants the opportunity to demonstrate their creative skills, and what they’re passionate about. Following a successful portfolio review, offers will be tailored on an individual basis.
This section shows the range of grades students (with UK A-Levels or Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diplomas) who received offers were previously accepted with (learn more). It is designed to support your research but does not guarantee whether you will or won't get a place. Admissions teams consider various factors, including interviews, subject requirements, and entrance tests. Check all course entry requirements for eligibility.
We are unable to show previous accepted grades for this course. This could be because the course is new, it's a postgraduate course, there isn't enough historical data, or the provider has opted out of sharing their entry grades data for this course - learn more.
| Location | Fee | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Republic of Ireland | £9535 | Year 1 |
| EU | £17250 | Year 1 |
| Channel Islands | £9535 | Year 1 |
| England | £9535 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £9535 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £9535 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £9535 | Year 1 |
| International | £17250 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website.
No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Tavistock Place
Plymouth
PL4 8AT
Visit our website Visit our course page
Email:enquiries@aup.ac.uk
Phone:01752 203434
Fax: 01752 203444
Email:admissions@aup.ac.uk
Phone:01752 203434
Fax: 01752 203444
At Arts University Plymouth
