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Discover and develop your own perspective and ideas within contemporary art. Explore your creative interests across a broad range of Fine Art practice and work collaboratively with peers and professional artists in our artist community. Graduate well prepared for a creative career with a strong portfolio of work that will impress prospective employers.
Britain’s creative industries are worth £92 billion, employ two million people and are growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy. This course will give you the skills to join this growing industry.
The tradition of art runs deep at Sunderland, but we don’t stand still. We’ve built on this history and experience, adding innovation and modern teaching approaches to create a course that gives our graduates the edge.
Our Fine Art team, all working artists, have a wealth of professional practice and subject expertise to help you realise your art aspirations. Guided by these experts you'll have the freedom to explore your creative interests across a broad range of Fine Art practice including painting, printmaking, digital photography, film, sound, drawing, sculpture and performance.
Working collaboratively, you’ll learn to see the bigger picture and will develop highly adaptable skills, alongside your technical abilities. Throughout the course you’ll work towards live outcomes, building your confidence as an artist to promote yourself, your art and to understand the impact you can have as an artist in society.
You’ll be taught via a mix of lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials and studio-practice. You’ll be allocated your own studio space from day one. This will be your space to build and develop your creativity alongside fellow students.
The first year is all about exploration. You’ll experience a range of working methods, honing and testing your technical, making and artistic ability, while building your studio practice. At the end of the year you’ll show your achievements at your first exhibition.
In the second year you’ll start to link your artistic practice with live experiences. You’ll work collaboratively with students from other disciplines in the ‘Integrated Creativity’ module; replicating the practice of some the world’s biggest artists who draw on a range of creative talents. You’ll also start to consider your place in society; how you want to work and where your art can take you. You’ll undertake a project with a live outcome that could be a group exhibition, a workshop in the community or a project with a local school. All of this will also extend your understanding of the creative industries and develop your team working skills, which will be essential for professional life.
Your final year is about building your professional practice, skills and experience to prepare you for your Final Degree Show, graduation and beyond. You’ll produce your own book, showing a window into your practice and skills, which will help you promote yourself to employers. Understand what it takes to bid for funding or secure an exhibition space; all before critically selecting your work for public exhibition at your Degree Show.
Assessment methods vary between modules. They include studio presentations of artwork, a variety of written projects, and exhibitions.
Part-time students study the same course as full-time students. If you study this course on a part-time basis you will typically complete 40-80 credits in a year, rather than the 120 credits of full-time students. All modules are taught during the daytime, and you will be studying alongside full-time students.
Our typical offer is:
| Qualification | Minimum grade |
|---|---|
| High School Diploma along with one of the following at the required grade: SAT I and SAT II, ACT or Advanced Placement | GPA 3.0 or above and: Sat score of 1100/1600 from SATs AP (Grades 3+ in at least 2 subjects) ACT (score of 26+) |
If you don't meet our standard entry requirements, you can take one of the foundation pathways at our partners ONCAMPUS Sunderland. Find out more information and whether your course is eligible on our ONCAMPUS page.
If your qualification is not listed above, please contact the Student Administration team at studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk for further advice.
Our admissions policy uses a range of flexible options to support you to study with us. This may include a reduced offer of up to 16 UCAS tariff points, (or equivalent). Find out if you are eligible.
If English is not your first language, please see our English language requirements.
If you are studying an HND or Foundation Degree you may be able to enter the final year of our degree course. For more information, please contact studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk.
Interview/portfolio requirements
We’ll invite you to an informal interview where we'd like to see evidence of your creative potential. Please prepare a portfolio of work you have completed so far. We're not looking for perfection as we appreciate you may still be developing work. We would like to see:
If you are an international applicant, please send a link to your online portfolio.
The annual, full-time fee for this course is:
*Undergraduate fees are set according to rules from Government in line with forecast inflation. The fee for your first year of study for 2025/26 will be £9,535. You will pay tuition fees for every year of study. Fees may increase every year based on the Retail Price Index.
Tuition fees for part-time students are £7,145 per 90 credits. Please note that part-time courses are not available to international students who require a Student visa to study in the UK.
Read more about EU fees and funding in our Help and Advice article.
Take a look at the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.
This information was correct at the time of publication.
Fine artists gather skills that are essential to the world of work. Creative thinkers are called for in a range of sectors beyond the creative industries thanks to the range of transferable skills. This course is an opportunity for self-development and exploration. We’ll support you to develop your professional practice, build your confidence as an artist to promote yourself and your art, help you to understand the impact you can have on society, and explore where your art can take you.
To enhance employability, we encourage you to develop a Professional Portfolio throughout your time at university.
This includes an online art blog and art book publication of your work, with an artist statement and a CV – this will be invaluable for promoting your skills to future employers.
We aim to prepare you to become a confident professional, with transferable skills. Increasingly, creative workers follow a ‘portfolio’ career comprising a range of roles such as teaching in schools, colleges and universities; artist residencies; creative practitioner; and as a practising fine artist. This makes for a really flexible lifestyle enabling you to extend your professional contacts, build your artistic practice and take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
Many creative workers are self-employed, and this course provides sessions on becoming self-employed and our ‘Creative Lives’ lecture programme offers case studies of creative careers.
Destinations for Fine Art graduates also include public arts, curating and other areas within the creative industries. Some of our graduates work as artists and show their work in commercial galleries. Others have gone on to work in museums, galleries, and many different types of employment and self-employment. This course will encourage you to consider employment options both in the creative sector as well as in other types of industry. A number of our students have chosen to progress to postgraduate courses, such as our MA Visual Practice course, Teacher Training PGCE, PCET SCITT teacher training courses.
Sunderland Culture is a collaboration between the University, council and the city’s key cultures organisations. This partnership brings big-name creatives in contemporary visual arts, glass, ceramics and performance to the city; showcases exciting local talent; and gives our students unique experiences including exceptional career-enhancing opportunities.
The best aspect of the course is the studio spaces – they are amazing!
I wanted to stay in the North East as it has a rich creative community.
I truly found myself whilst studying at the University of Sunderland.
