Jewellery at UCA

UCA’s Jewellery course offers you a unique opportunity to add depth and breadth to your jewellery-making and design practice, as well as your research skills.

This course is based at UCA Farnham, where top-class facilities and a culture of craft collide. As a project-led and studio-based course with close tutorial guidance, it is suited to highly motivated and talented people who want to work at the forefront of their creative discipline.

Rigorous research will encourage you to explore a wide range of approaches, from traditional to contemporary influences, within art, craft, design and technology.

You will be taught by leading specialist designers, artists and crafts experts, creating a range of objects and experimenting with different materials and processes to develop your creative thinking and create bespoke pieces for exhibition or display in-person. Your ideas and opportunities will be unrestricted, and we encourage you to enhance your own creative journey through practice and theoretical learning.

Throughout the course, you’ll work closely alongside students from other fields such as textiles, ceramics, metalwork and glass. This will enable you to broaden your knowledge and incorporate elements from various disciplines into your own practice, ensuring your final project is tailored to your desired audience and is a reflection of your own personal journey on the MA course.

Our Farnham campus offers extraordinary facilities, with extensive workshops and equipment to support your study. It's also home to the Crafts Study Centre – a purpose-built museum, research centre and gallery dedicated to crafts.

The MA is also available as an MFA route which offers a further enhanced opportunity for students wanting to develop their professional portfolio to the highest level, or to build a proposal for Doctoral level study, and pursue an academic research career path. Applicants can apply to undertake the full MFA, or undertake an MA and transfer to the MFA at the end of the MA period.  

 

Course entry options

Select from the following options to find out more about the different study options available for this course:

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Jewellery
MA

A one-year course of advanced study for furthering your research skills and specialising within your discipline. Also available part-time over two years. 

Apply now Submit an enquiry
Campus
UCA Farnham
Start date(s)
September 2025
Duration
1 year full-time
Entry requirements

Honours degree (or equivalent qualification) in the subject/related discipline
and/or
Relevant work experience

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Jewellery
MA (part-time)

The MA course is also available part-time over two years for student who do not require a visa to study in the UK.

Apply now Submit an enquiry
Campus
UCA Farnham
Start date(s)
September 2025
Duration
2 years part-time
Entry requirements

Honours degree (or equivalent qualification) in the subject/related discipline
and/or
Relevant work experience

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Jewellery
MA with Integrated Pre-Masters

This course includes a year-long preparatory course of study to ready you for your Masters course, developing your specialist knowledge, research skills and confidence in working alone.

Apply now Submit an enquiry
Campus
UCA Farnham
Start date(s)
September 2025
Duration
2 years full-time
Entry requirements

A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject

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Jewellery
MFA

The MFA is a two-year course with a Summer break. You can apply to undertake the full MFA, or undertake an MA and transfer to the MFA at the end of the MA period.  

Apply now Submit an enquiry
Campus
UCA Farnham
Start date(s)
September 2025
Duration
2 years full-time
Entry requirements

Honours degree (or equivalent qualification) in the subject/related discipline
and/or
Relevant work experience

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Jewellery

Apply now Submit an enquiry
Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
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Jewellery

Apply now Submit an enquiry
Campus
Start date(s)
Duration
Entry requirements
Rachael Plassard, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Evie Hubbard, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Shuya Qu, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Viki Benwell, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Sarah Lewis, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Jiangyu Han, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Muyun Zhang, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Yushan Ning, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Michelle Chung, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Sarah Lewis, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Naomi Aindow-Clark, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham Rachael Plassard, MA Jewellery, UCA Farnham

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What you'll study

What you'll
study

The content of the course may be subject to change. Curriculum content is provided as a guide.

On this course you’ll prepare for postgraduate study with a mix of online and face-to-face learning that will give you the study skills required to complete a Masters course.

Exploratory Practice
In this unit you’ll develop your practice into a means of inquiry – investigating the potential of skills, techniques, ideas and themes to analyse and interrogate approaches to practice.

Research Contexts
Exploring the design, construction and expression of practice as a process of research, you will be introduced to critical research methodologies which you will employ in your independent research enquiries.

Reflective Practice
This unit promotes rigorous self-critique and the subsequent progression of increasingly independent practice. You will begin to interrogate your research and practice in a far greater depth with a view to constructing a specific Major Project proposal. You will also consider modes of display, audience and the documentation of work in preparing you for the professional realisation of ideas.

Professional Contexts
Focused on professional development, you will engage with professional contexts through opportunities and projects developed with partner organisations. Through group work and individual research, you will establish and develop a sense of your position in relation to your identified subjects, interests and practice areas. This unit also includes the opportunity to develop a creative business plan, funding application, or pitch to professional audiences.

Major Project
To conclude your studies, you will undertake a sustained, in-depth and critically informed research inquiry. You will define your practice through your own work and an understanding of how it sits in relation to others — identified industries or professional contexts, collaborators and audiences. The major project will culminate in a substantial body of work.

Advance Practice
Should you choose to undertake the MFA route of this degree, you will spend this unit developing, extending and furthering your professional practice. Through advance research methods, this unit will require you to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, confidence and originality that you have developed as a practitioner and researcher. Through this unit you will be supported in preparing PhD applications, organising public events and seeking external platforms to work with professional contexts and engage audiences.

Course specifications

Please note, syllabus content indicated is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change in line with our Student Terms and Conditions for example, as required by external professional bodies or to improve the quality of the course.

Fees & funding

Fees & financial support

Tuition fees

MA course:

  • 2025/26 (full-time): £10,500
  • 2025/26 (part-time): £5,250

MFA course:

  • 2025/26 (full-time, year 1): £7,000 

Tuition fees

MA course:

MFA course:

  • 2025/26 (year 1): £7,000  (see fee discount information)

Tuition fees

MA course:

  • 2025/26 (MA): £18,000
  • 2025/26 (Integrated International Pre-Masters course - Sept & Jan): £17,500
  • 2025/26 (Integrated International Pre-Masters course - May): £8,750

MFA course:

  • 2025/26 (MFA year 1): £11,700

Please note: the fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. For more detailed information about our course fees please see our fees and finance pages. 

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

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

Current UCA students and alumni may be eligible for a tuition fee discount.

Financial support

There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources. Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information.

Additional course costs

In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of the Course Information Document for details of the costs you may incur.

Explore our Gradshow

Each year, we’re privileged to be able to share our graduates’ incredible work with the world. And now’s your chance to take a look.

Visit the online show

Facilities

Our jewellery studios and facilities include rolling mills, presses and small tools; a machine shop with mills, lathes and bandsaw; chemical room for etching, patination and enamelling; silversmithing area with draw bench, roller and folder; casting area for working in wax, mould making and casting in precious and non-precious metals. We have a hearth for large-scale working, chasing and repoussé; and finishing area for grinding and polishing.

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Jewellery Studios, UCA Farnham

Jewellery Studios, UCA Farnham

Jewellery chemical room

Jewellery chemical room, UCA Farnham

Jewellery hearth, cutting and polishing area, UCA Farnham

Jewellery Studios, UCA Farnham

Jewellery studio, UCA Farnham

Career opportunities

This course has excellent support from:

  • Worshipful Company of Ironmongers
  • The Goldsmiths' Company
  • The Worshipful Company of Pewterers
  • Association of Contemporary Jewellery
  • Jewellers and Silversmiths Network
  • The New Ashgate Trust

Our course will equip you with a host of valuable and transferable skills. Upon successful completion, you might decide to become a self-employed artist, or forge a career within the craft and design industries, for example.

Recent graduates work as:

  • Artists
  • Designers
  • Makers
  • Arts administrators
  • Gallery curators
  • Teachers
  • Writers

You may want to undertake further study or research to specialise even further.

Our Staff

Debra Allman staff profile picture

Debra Allman

Programme Director of Crafts
Ashley Howard

Ashley Howard

Senior Lecturer in Ceramics
Grant McCaig Profile Picture

Grant McCaig

Lecturer Silversmithing, Goldsmithing & Jewellery
Joshua Kerley 2021

Joshua Kerley

Senior Lecturer in Glass
Adrian Bland

Adrian Bland

Senior Lecturer in Critical and Contextual Studies
Tom McDowell

"The facilities at UCA were great and allowed me to experiment with a variety of creative techniques. I also really enjoyed the multi-disciplinary course structure and I found that bouncing my ideas off people whose specialities differed from mine was really mind-opening."

Tom McDowell

Entry & portfolio requirements

For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review. You can either submit a digital portfolio or request an in-person portfolio review with the course team. Further information will be provided once you have applied. View portfolio advice

Select your country to find the equivalent requirements

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