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Visual Communication (with Integrated Foundation & Professional Practice Years)

  • BA (Hons)
  • 5 Years
  • Full-time including foundation year
  • 15 September 2025
  • Undergraduate
Canterbury
More about University for the Creative Arts

Course options

2025-20262026-2027
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Course summary

Our BA (Hons) Visual Communication (with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year) is a five year degree programme, including a foundation year to help develop your creativity before you embark on year one of a degree. Your fourth academic year would then include a year in industry placement.

Our BA (Hons) Visual Communication degree, taught at UCA Canterbury, combines the best of graphic design, illustration, animation, photography, and moving image to help you develop a broad range of vital skills for the career of your choice within communication media.

This course is all about helping you to think about the bigger picture when communicating any message – you may wish to illustrate a book, for example, but you will also need to consider the accompanying website, social media account, and advertising campaign. Developing a deep understanding of all forms of visual communication will enable you to appreciate the various roles each discipline can take within any given project.

During your studies, you’ll be able to specialise in various areas of visual communication — the first of which you’ll choose in your second term — with tutorial guidance and advice.

Our expert staff will be there along the way to ensure you can create with confidence, but you’ll be the master of your own destiny, growing in confidence and preparing fully for life after graduation.

Related courses

  • BA (Hons) Advertising (with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year)

  • BA (Hons) Graphic Design (with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year)

  • BA (Hons) Illustration (with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year)

Ways to study this course

Campuses

  • Canterbury

Study options

  • BA (Hons) • Full-time including foundation year • 5 Years

Start dates

  • 15 September 2025

Apply by
29 January

This is the equal consideration deadline. You can still apply after this date, but your application may not receive guaranteed consideration.

Application codes

Course code:
W21G
Institution code:
C93
Campus name:
Canterbury
Campus Code:
C
Points of Entry:
Foundation

University for the Creative Arts 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?

How to apply

Apply by
29 January

This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.

Application codes

Course code:
W21G
Institution code:
C93
Campus name:
Canterbury
Campus Code:
C

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Foundation

Entry requirements

UCAS Tariff 32 - 168 points

We consider the strength of our applicants’ portfolios as well as their grades and we therefore may make offers which are lower than our standard entry criteria of 32 tariff points (this is the entry requirement for our degrees which have an Integrated Foundation Year). This may be to students who have faced difficulties that have affected their performance and who were expected to achieve higher results - in these cases, a strong portfolio is especially important.

A level

32 UCAS tariff points from one A-Level qualification. As this course requires a portfolio review, you are not required to have a Art and Design-related subject.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016) PPP

48 UCAS tariff points from BTEC Extended Diploma qualification. As this course requires a portfolio review, you are not required to have a Art and Design-related subject.

Access to HE Diploma

A minimum 45 credits (54 UCAS tariff points) from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma. As this course requires a portfolio review, you are not required to have a Art and Design-related subject.

Scottish Higher

32 UCAS tariff points from Scottish Higher qualifications. As this course requires a portfolio review, you are not required to have a Art and Design-related subject.

Pearson BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF) MPP

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme 24 points

24 total points in the International Baccalaureate Diploma with one subject at Higher Level 5 (H5). As this course requires a portfolio review, you are not required to have a Art and Design-related subject.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

In addition to 32 UCAS tariff points, you also required to achieve a minimum 4 GCSE's, grade 4/C or above, including English Language.

T Level Pass (D or E)

Minimum Pass at E or above. As this course requires a portfolio review, you are not required to have a Art and Design-related subject.

For further information on how to apply to UCA: https://www.uca.ac.uk/study-at-uca/applying-to-uca/

Find out more about qualification requirements for this course.

Additional entry requirements

Portfolio
We’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.
Other
An audition/portfolio review is not required for this course but we will invite you to an Applicant Day to meet the course team. Alternatively, we can arrange an online meeting with the course team. Details will be provided once we've received your application.

English language requirements

TestGradeAdditional details
IELTS (Academic)6Listening 5.5, Reading 5.5, Speaking 5.5, Writing 5.5
We require evidence of your English language ability to meet the requirements for your course. If you're a Home student and studied in the UK, we require GCSE English at a minimum grade C/4 (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2). If you’re an EU student and studied a European qualification, we may accept the English Language score from your main qualification - please review your country from the list on our website to see whether we will accept it: https://www.uca.ac.uk/international-study/equivalent-qualifications/ If your qualification is not on this list, we accept the following English language qualifications: IELTS (overall score 6.0), TOEFL ibt (overall score 88), PEARSON PTE Academic (overall 55), Cambridge Proficiency Exam (overall score 169), Cambridge Advanced Exam (overall score 169). If you need a Tier 4 student visa to study in the UK, you will need to take an IELTS test, and achieve an overall score of 6.0 and a minimum score of 5.5 for each element (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing).

For more information on English Language Requirements, please visit our website: https://www.uca.ac.uk/International-study/language-requirements-support/

Contextual admissions

Universities and colleges consider more than grades when assessing applications and may make offers based on a range of criteria. Learn more about contextual offers.

UCA is a place for creativity, ingenuity, and personality. We always consider the strength of an applicant's portfolio / audition as well as their grades and may make offers lower than our standard entry criteria to applicants with strong portfolios. We also make lower offers to students with mitigating circumstances or who have faced difficulties.

You shouldn’t be deterred from applying if your predicted grades are lower than the range we’ve accepted in the past.

Historical entry grades data

This section shows the range of grades that students who received offers were previously accepted on to this course 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.

Not enough data available

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.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

Per year tuition fees

LocationFeeYear

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.

Additional fee information

If you are classified as a Home student and qualify for the government-regulated undergraduate tuition fee, you will be charged a single tuition fee for each academic year. Our policy is to charge the maximum regulated fee. To reflect increased costs of delivery and maintain a high-quality student experience, we will therefore increase fees in line with any uplift determined by the UK Government by law or government policy in the second and subsequent years of your course. Such increases are usually linked to inflation and determined using RPIX (the Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments).

For all other students, your tuition fees may increase in the second and subsequent years of your course. Any increase in fees will be in line with inflation as measured by the RPIX but in any event by not more than 5%.

We will notify you of any fee increase by no later than July before the start of the next academic year.

For further information on fees, please go to: https://www.uca.ac.uk/study-at-uca/fees-finance/undergraduate/

Sponsorship information

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

Further details can be found via our Scholarships page: https://www.uca.ac.uk/study-at-uca/scholarships/

and our Financial Support page: https://www.uca.ac.uk/study-at-uca/fees-finance/financial-support/

Related courses

At University for the Creative Arts

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