OCA’S MA, Fine Art shortlisted for postgraduate award

OCA’s MA, Fine Art, has been has been shortlisted for a Prospects Postgraduate Award.  We are competing against three other institutions for the title of Best Teaching Team (Arts and Humanities): Camberwell College of Art (MA Visual Arts Team); Royal Holloway, University of London (MA Cultural Geography (Research) Team);  and Lancaster University (Creative Writing Team). Our congratulations to MA, Fine Art programme leader Caroline Wright, and Angela Rogers, who tutors on the MA and also tutors on OCA’s undergraduate programme, and the rest of the MA teaching team.  The winner will be announced in Manchester on 19 November.

The Prospects Postgraduate Awards were launched this year by UK postgraduate academic publisher Prospects. They recognise and reward excellence and innovation in postgraduate education and are the only annual event in higher education dedicated to celebrating best practice and the most exciting developments in UK postgraduate education. OCA was up against tough competition for the shortlisting – more than 150 students, universities and businesses from across the UK entered the Awards across eight categories.
The judges include representatives from Universities UK, the Assoication of Graduate Careers Advisory Services, NUS, UK Council for International Student Affairs, Higher Education Academy, Association of Graduate Recruiters, the British Council, Higher Education Data and Information Improvement Programme, Million+, Thirtythree, Higher Education Academy and the UK Council for Graduate Education.
The other award categories are Best Teaching Team (Business and Social Science), Best Teaching Team (Science, Technology and Engineering), Best University Campaign, Best Prospectus, Best International Campaign, Best Faculty Campaign, Best Website, Best Agency and Best Business Partner.
The MA, Fine Art is OCA’s first step into post-graduate provision in its 25-year history. It was launched in 2011 and was the first MA, Fine Art in Europe to be offered by open learning. The delivery of the programme goes beyond standard practice for creative arts courses at postgradudate level through its use of technology to facilitate and support international peer-to-peer and tutor-led group learning, and personal tuition. The varied use of online teaching and learning methods includes:  a coffee-shop style forum for discussion and debate between students and tutors;  personal tutorials through Skype; video lectures which can be revisited as many times as a student chooses after initial delivery; online seminars; a blog to which all tutors and students can contribute; regular emails to the cohort as a whole; and signposting to web resources to help students develop their own practice and engage with contemporary thinking and debate.
Whatever the news for OCA on 19 November, Caroline and the MA, Fine Art teaching team can be proud of the fact that a higher education charity delivering Europe’s first distance learning MA through online learning has been shortlisted alongside three more established higher education institutions.  The recognition of excellence in teaching a cohort of students based in the Middle East, the Far East, North America, the UK and mainland Europe is a tremendous boost for the tutors teaching on the programme.