Study a Creative Arts degree with OCA

Do you have a love of all things creative? Are you inspired by multiple art practices? Or would you love to experiment with a variety of medias?

Our Creative Arts BA (Hons) degree is truly interdisciplinary and is specially designed for you to enjoy the freedom to explore artistic practices and express your unique voice as a creative. Your journey on this course includes the opportunity to create original and exciting ways to communicate complex ideas and concepts.

Studying a creative arts degree online gives you the flexibility to study in your own space, at your own pace, while being supported by OCA’s tutors and student community.

You’ll explore all areas of the creative arts, providing the finest opportunity to explore your artistic skills and creative identity. You can develop your artistic and design skills in a range of disciplines from Writing, Drawing, Graphic Design, Illustration, Moving Image, Music, Painting, Printmaking, Photography, Sculpture and Textiles. The course will support your ambitions for making in your chosen areas to form the perfect degree for you.

What is a BA Creative Arts course?

Creative Arts is a dynamic degree where you will learn what it means to become an interdisciplinary creative artist. You will encounter central themes like time, place and identity to broaden your engagement with a wider world. In addition, you will access a suite of skills content to apply to your ideas and grow your distinct creative language. The degree balances practical and academic input, so you will have the right skills to develop as a creative arts practitioner.

The course offers students a choice of relevant subjects and through regular tutor support builds these into the learning structure, with a view towards broader engagement with the arts. The course is interdisciplinary in the way it engages students with ideas in the wider world and applies this to a creative practice made up of two or more disciplines.
This interdisciplinary course is structured to deliver a broad array of content and provide opportunities for both personal and professional development in students’ choice of disciplines.

Students’ individual practices will develop out of the connections they form between the subjects covered and their practical work from their distinct chosen disciplines. The three stages of study provide a framework for pacing the content, affording regular points of contact with their tutor to guide their learning and assist in their choices.

Our online creative arts degree is designed for students who wish to fulfil their ambitions for a diverse practical and critical engagement with the arts and understand how their unique creative voice situates itself within contemporary practice and the broader cultural world.

We regularly review our curriculum; therefore, the programme of study described on this page – including its availability, its structure, and available units – may change over time. If we make changes to this programme, we’ll update this page as soon as possible. Once you’ve registered or are studying this programme, where practicable, we’ll inform you in good time of any upcoming changes. If you’d like to know more about the circumstances in which OCA might make changes to the curriculum please contact enquiries@oca.ac.uk.

'Jerusalem Sage' © copyright Bob Coe 2021. Poems © copyright Anne Osbourn 2021

Course Structure

As of September 2021, the BA Hons Creative Arts course will deliver 3x 40 credit units in each Level of the course.* You can watch a conversation with programme leader (Doug Burton) and unit developer (Rachel Smith) about the first core unit of the degree, Experience Creative Arts here.

Stage 1

Students encounter the term interdisciplinarity to understand what it means and how they will apply it to their studies. Subjects explored include time, place, global and cross-cultural perspectives, and how to use research from within and outside of the arts to apply to their practical work. Students also test and experiment with skills from a range of disciplines before choosing their distinct creative path. Stage 1 students have the opportunity to show their work online as part of an end of level peer-reviewed presentation that forms a bridge to their studies at Stage 2.

Stage 2

Students develop their understanding through interdisciplinary thinking. We encourage an emphasis on finding your distinct creative voice through developing your practical work across disciplines. A furthering of research of your perspective on the world and how you form relations to subjects that interest you is crucial to your development. Students test their interdisciplinary creative language and are encouraged to take risks in preparation for Stage 3.

Stage 3

Stage 3 units provide students with a breadth of intellectual, practical and transferable skills required for a range of roles in the creative arts. The level requires students to answer key questions defining the nature of their interdisciplinary practice, articulating their ideas, researching the theory and applying it to their creative work. Students are encouraged to progress their studies, and the course provides them with the opportunity to collaborate online, present their work as they establish external projects for further application of their interdisciplinary studies in either a professional or personal context.

*For current students enrolled to a Level of this degree prior to September 2021, existing units across all levels will remain available as ‘teach out’ units to ensure no students are disadvantaged due to the changes. Once enrolled to a new level, students will follow the new degree pathway. 

We regularly review our curriculum; therefore, the qualification described on this page – including its availability, its structure, and available units – may change over time. If we make changes to this qualification, we’ll update this page as soon as possible. Once you’ve registered or are studying this qualification, where practicable, we’ll inform you in good time of any upcoming changes. If you’d like to know more about the circumstances in which OCA might make changes to the curriculum, see our Academic Regulations or contact us. This description was last updated on 14 December 2022.

Programme Specification 2023/24 New Curriculum

This Programme Specification is for all units on the new curriculum

Review Programme Specification here

Programme Specification 2023/24 Running Out Curriculum

This Programme Specification details the units and learning outcomes that are being taught out.

Review Programme Specification here

Creative Arts Accessibility Guides

Accessibility guides give an indication of the type and format of content, teaching, and learning activities on the course, and how these are ordinarily delivered.

Review Accessibility Guides Here

Foundations

£1025

Per course

Level 1 (HE4)

£4,950

For the level

Level 2 (HE5)

£4,950

For the level

Level 3 (HE6)

£4,950

For the level

Total approximate undergraduate fees

Breakdown of costs...

Foundations

£1,175

Per course

Level 1 (HE4)

£5,670

For the level

Level 2 (HE5)

£5,670

For the level

Level 3 (HE6)

£5,670

For the level

Total approximate undergraduate fees

Breakdown of costs...

More Information
  • With the OCA, you can study a BA (Hons) degree in our flexible online learning model at approximately one third the cost of a degree at a traditional physical university.

    Students study and pay for the course on a unit-by-unit basis, so you only pay for the course as you enrol to each unit.

    This course is eligible for a part-time tuition fee loan from Student Finance England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or you can self-fund the course and break down costs even further through the deposit and instalment option.  Find out more about your funding options here.

  • You will require regular use of a computer or laptop and internet access. Most essential reading materials can be accessed through the digital library services and eBooks.

    Students are responsible for sourcing and, where necessary, purchasing any additional software and resources specified. These can be around £400 at Level 1, £500 at Level 2, and £550 at Level 3. Where possible, open or freeware equivalents will be discussed alongside industry standard options.

    On this course, resources will vary depending on which creative disciplines you study. You will be introduced to various disciplines within your first two units, after which you can make an informed decision about where you take your creative practice.

    You may be eligible for any student discounts on computer equipment and software by using your student email, and you can find out more information about student discounts here.

  • Our courses are designed with open access in mind, meaning you don’t need specific subject qualifications to enrol. You can review the study requirements here so you’re prepared for online study at higher education.

    If you plan to study Music on this degree course, you will need to have prior knowledge of music theory, specifically Grade 5 of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music or equivalent.

  • We accept enrolment for our BA (HONS) courses in monthly intakes throughout the year.

    Review the key enrolment deadlines on the link below.



  • Our part-time degree courses are completed on average between 6 and 9 years. The degree is structured into three levels (instead of three years) so you’re able to manage study around other commitments.

    Once enrolled, you’ll have a maximum of 12 years to complete your degree course. There are unit and level timeframes within the overall degree time frame, and you’ll need a minimum of 10 study per week to keep on track. To find out more about course duration and managing your time, click here.

  • Your course materials are accessible online through the virtual learning environment, OCA Learn, where you’ll also have access to student forums, a subject space, the student handbook and the online library. You’ll work primarily from a set text of course materials and resources, but can also sign up to webinars, workshops and study groups in addition to your core learning.

    Once you’ve completed the required assignments within a course unit and received tutor feedback, you’ll submit a portfolio of work to an assessment event. This gives you the opportunity to develop your work before you have it formally assessed to achieve credits towards your degree.

  • Upon completing our BA (Hons) Creative Arts degree, you’ll be set with skills to achieve great things. You could use your practice as a Creative Director, Designers and Illustrator, Photographer, Printmaker, Web developer, to Stylists or Glass Blowers, the options are endless. Prospects can help you with a variety of options of where your degree could take you.

    In May 2022 the Department for Culture, Media, & Sport estimated there were some 2.3 million jobs in the UK creative industries, and post pandemic the Creative Industries are growing faster than the UK economy as a whole.

  • The Academic Regulations for Subsidiary Institutions of The Open University are applicable to all taught courses offered by the Open College of the Arts (OCA).

    You can review the Academic Regulations on our policy page.

     

     

     

To Join

Get started with our BA (Hons) Creative Arts degree here!