BA (Hons) Studio Practice (Illustration) (top-up)

As you join the course you'll be alongside final year undergraduate students, meaning you'll get straight to the action with practical and research-based projects. 

Your focus will be on the resolution of your personal approach to content and style, developing your creative skills and production to a high standard and preparing a professional portfolio.

You’ll also participate in external competitions and shows, produce promotional work and develop an online presence, reflecting your ambitions for professional practice.

You'll complete these units:

Visual Voice: 30 credits
The final year is a key time to build your own design voice, so that by the end, you can present a coherent body of design work of professional standard that engages and communicates effectively with a given audience. You’ll do a written design project, a collaborative brief, and a competition brief from a recognised national or international competition or awards scheme, such as the RSA, Penguin Design Awards, Folio Society, Macmillan Prize.

Critical Practice: 30 credits
You’ll interrogate a particular theme or topic, research it, gather material and analyse how it informs your ideas and practice.

Final Project: 60 credits
This final unit provides the opportunity to examine a subject or theme in depth through a self-determined and challenging project, which will demonstrate the maturity of your visual communication skills. Work created in this unit will be exhibited in the end-of-year Degree Show and typically goes on to form a major component of student portfolios upon graduation.

Year one (equivalent in level to year three of a standard BA degree)

• Independent study: 72%
• Scheduled teaching: 28%
• Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 0%

Please note: these details are for 2026 entry and could be subject to change for other years of entry.

BA (Hons) course (top-up)

The standard entry requirements* for this course are:

• 240 credits from a relevant degree (120 credits at level 4 and 120 credits at level 5), with a minimum of 55% overall
• Foundation Degree in a relevant subject
• Higher National Diploma in a relevant subject

And/or Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL)

In recognition that you may already have a relevant professional qualification, or appropriate working experience in the relevant industries, APEL may be accepted for entry on to the course. This will be based on the partnership articulations and will be assessed on a case by case basis.

Other relevant and equivalent UK and international qualifications are considered on an individual basis, and we encourage students from diverse educational backgrounds to apply.

Portfolio requirements

For this courses, 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. View more portfolio requirements

*We occasionally make offers which are lower than the standard entry criteria, to students who have faced difficulties that have affected their performance and who were expected to achieve higher results. We consider the strength of our applicants’ portfolios, as well as their grades -  in these cases, a strong portfolio is especially important.

BA (Hons) course (top-up)

The entry requirements for these courses will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please check the equivalent qualifications for your country:

• Non-UK equivalent qualifications

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

You will be required to submit an online portfolio for review. Further information on specific portfolio requirements and how to submit your portfolio will be sent to you after we have reviewed your application. View more portfolio requirements

English language requirements

To study at UCA, you'll need to have a certain level of English language skill. And so, to make sure you meet the requirements of your course, we ask for evidence of your English language ability, please check the level of English language required:

• English language requirements