Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Early Years Childhood Studies

at University of Bolton United Kingdom

Our BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Studies degree runs in parallel with our dual accredited BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Work course. Both courses involve work-based learning through fieldwork placements, and academic studies that support the development of knowledge and skills for practice.

Placing greater emphasis on academic skills development and research expertise, and requiring 200 placement hours, the BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Studies is ideal if you’re seeking the flexible and adaptable skills and knowledge needed for a career changing lives by challenging discrimination and oppression through informal social inclusion, or if you’re considering Master’s level or postdoctoral study.

Our passionate and knowledgeable staff will guide you to explore issues such as social education, social policy, community engagement, politics, globalisation, social justice, equality and diversity, social history, housing and homelessness. You'll also be supported to develop key transferable skills such as communication, self-awareness and time management. Completing a dissertation in your final year offers an excellent preparation for higher level study.

Fieldwork placements or work-based learning could be in a number of distinct settings that work to improve the lives of people in communities and young people, preparing you to adapt to the changing environments in which you may be employed in future.

Highlights

• The course has been designed in consultation with employers, ensuring the relevance of the skills and knowledge gained by graduates.
• Work placements offer you the chance to gain 200 hours of practical and professional community development and youth work experience.
• Our excellent links with over 70 partners and external agencies means we can offer a wide variety of placements; for instance, in youth and community centres, schools, alternative education projects, women's refuges and community projects, or housing, health, leisure and youth training schemes, resettlement projects, and detached, outreach and mentoring projects.
• You have the chance to graduate with a wide range of practical and transferable skills that apply in all kinds of social, professional and academic areas.

Key Features

• Our programme gives you the chance to gain significant practice-based experience.
• You’ll have access to excellent academic and pastoral support from teaching staff who are also experienced professionals in community development and youth work.
• Throughout the course, we’ll support and encourage you as you develop your understanding and articulation of the key theories of personal and social change affecting young people and communities today.
• Specialists in the field of community development and youth work join us as guest speakers and lecturers throughout the course.
• You can change routes within the programme should you wish to – until the end of the first semester at HE4. If your circumstances change and you’re confident you can meet the placement requirements for the professionally endorsed route, you can transfer to our parallel course – the BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Work.

Bolton was one of the first institutions in the UK to offer a degree in this exciting subject and studying in our well-respected, vibrant learning and research culture offers you an excellent start to your career. Whilst working towards a BSc (Hons) in Psychology here at the University of Bolton, you’ll have the opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of the subject in terms of the science and theories of psychology, and their application in everyday life.

You’ll explore a range of core modules that provide a strong grounding in study and research methods, as well as a deep understanding of the science of psychology. There’s also the option to choose specialised modules according to your areas of interest, or that relate to a particular career path you wish to follow after graduation.

As a psychology graduate you may use your qualification as the basis for a career as a professional psychologist or to enter a wide range of other careers, including teaching, human resource management, the police, the armed forces and social work.

Highlights

• Our psychology courses are ranked top in the UK for teaching quality by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020, as well as top in the UK for student satisfaction by The Complete University Guide 2020.
• You’ll have an opportunity to carry out a work placement module in an approved professional setting.
• There is a strong focus on employability skills as well as academic success. Modules focusing on applied psychology and applied experience introduce these skills and a range of career options.
• You’ll also have support throughout your degree from your personal tutor, part of our team of helpful and approachable psychology staff who possess a diverse range of research interests.
• We work hard to create a learning environment that offers innovative methods of teaching and assessment, and access to high-specification facilities such as our observation and psychophysiology laboratories, Neuroscan software and hardware, and Stim2 software.
• The course provides opportunities to achieve the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) of the British Psychological Society, as well as additional qualifications (e.g. Test user certificate in occupational (ability) assessment).

Key Features

• The BSc (Hons) in Psychology at Bolton is one of the most well-established psychology courses in the UK. It’s accredited by the British Psychological Society, so offers opportunities to progress to further professional qualifications and employment as a professional psychologist when you graduate at the required standard.
• You’ll be guided to explore the theories and concepts of psychology that apply to a wide range of human behaviour, including the philosophical, historical and social issues that have influenced the study and practice of psychology.
• You’ll have the chance to examine the relevance of psychology across the spectrum of human activity, including criminal behaviour, the psychology of cyberspace, therapeutic practices, and group and individual behaviours.
• We’ll explain the methods of psychological research, including collecting and analysing data, and encourage you to explore key skills such as accessing and evaluating information and effective communication skills.
• Throughout the course, you’ll be encouraged to devise, implement and write up research projects that focus on psychological phenomena.
• Personal supervision from staff throughout the course ensure you have the best possible opportunity to achieve your true potential. The course team is also committed to maximising your opportunities for future graduate-level employability.

Professional recognition

• Successful completion of the degree course is approved as conferring eligibility for the Graduate Basis for Chartership (GBC) of the British Psychological Society, provided the minimum standard of qualification of second class honours is achieved.
• The British Psychological Society is the professional body of psychologists.

The power of arts and culture to effect positive change to communities, social regeneration, and health and wellbeing is increasingly being recognised by central and local government agencies. If you have a passion for helping arts and cultural organisations to engage their communities more effectively, this master’s degree offers you a route into a rewarding career in applied and community arts. Whether you are progressing straight from undergraduate study, or are already working in the sector, this programme aims to prepare you to work in partnership with a range of arts and cultural organisations to undertake projects that have tangible social, educational and cultural benefits.

Our dedicated team will support you as you investigate the current arts landscape to develop your understanding of the social, political and cultural contexts for the arts, examining growth areas such as arts and wellbeing, social prescribing, social engagement and regeneration. The applications for arts in the community are varied and you’ll have the opportunity to explore areas such as youth work, arts in prisons and the probation service, and arts for health and wellbeing.

Your studies will focus on key aspects of applied and community arts practice, including facilitation, project management and leadership. Audience engagement and impact evaluation will also form key cornerstones of your learning. You’ll have the opportunity to work with a number of arts and cultural organisations via live briefs and work-based learning, as well as gain additional qualifications such as safeguarding, health and safety in the workplace, and first aid to further strengthen your professional profile. Our aim is to support you to develop the real-world skills that will enable you to work freelance, on contracted roles within existing organisations, or to set up your own company.

Highlights

• This MA offers opportunities for you to work with a range of arts and cultural organisations across Greater Manchester and the North West region on live projects.
• Our industry-engaged staff are experienced in developing and leading applied and community arts projects, so are well-versed in the skills and knowledge needed for success in the field.
• We’ll focus on helping you develop the practical, real-world applied and community arts skills you’ll need to work as a freelance arts practitioner with a focus on funding applications, project design and planning, self-employment and enterprise.
• We'll help you learn about tax self-assessment, invoicing, intellectual property and risk assessments, as well as offer business start-up sessions to prepare you to take advantage of opportunities for enterprise development.
• We’ll support you as you learn to reflect on your professional persona and delivery style and adapt your delivery and approach to the requirements and challenges of different groups.

Key Features

• Teaching and supervision are delivered by our dedicated team of experienced and well-qualified staff who are engaged in applied and community arts practice and research.
• We offer an engaging programme of visiting speakers and practitioners that gives you opportunities to network with and learn from industry professionals.
• You’ll have opportunities to gain additional qualifications such as safeguarding, health and safety in the workplace, and first aid, alongside your master’s degree to ensure you achieve a strong professional profile in preparation for employment.
• This MA has strong theoretical underpinnings and a key focus on research-led practice.

The BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bolton has been awarded professional accreditation by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and uses UK-SPEC learning outcomes designed to meet in part the academic requirements leading to Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.

This course may also be studied as a part-time option on a dedicated one day a week basis. It's ideal if you're an HND student looking to top-up your qualification to degree standard. Year 2 or 3 HND students will be selected according to their level of mathematics, science, and experience. If you’re interested in a degree apprenticeship, the department is actively looking at collaboration with local companies.

The department provides a friendly, yet challenging, environment where the emphasis is on both the theories and principles of mechanical engineering and their application in a work context. You’ll carry out case studies, practical and laboratory work and problem-solving projects. You’ll also develop the presentation and managerial skills that you'll need to manage engineering projects and support your future employment in the industry.

Highlights

• You’ll have the opportunity to work on live engineering projects, both as an individual and as part of a group.
• There are also opportunities to participate in inter-university student competitions including the IMechE’s annual undergraduate design challenge, which includes all the universities in the North West.
• Professionals from national and multinational mechanical engineering firms are regularly invited to give guest lectures about the sector and job opportunities. You’ll also have industry visits and work placements.
• You’ll get hands-on experience using state-of-the-art equipment and software such as SolidWorks, Ansys, and MATLAB, for analysis and design, prototyping and control.
• Your final year project allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding when investigating and providing solutions to engineering problems. Some projects may be on ‘live’ problems from local industry or in-house research activity.

Key Features

• Our engineering department has a strong tradition in the field of engineering education and high-quality engineering courses have been delivered successfully at Bolton for many years.
• It has modern, dedicated engineering laboratories and state-of-the-art design development and project facilities. These include CAD, analysis, optimisation, CAM and CAE software.
• You’ll be taught in a supportive learning environment with small class sizes. Your tutors are experienced professionals and academics, highly qualified in their fields, and many of them are chartered engineers.
• We’ll encourage you to develop an understanding of all aspects of engineering projects; for example, costings, the science and maths of these projects, functional design materials, and project management.
• You’ll have opportunities to develop business skills for a career in this field, including problem-solving, managing workloads, and communicating with a range of personnel. You’ll also be able to develop your decision-making abilities and your ICT capabilities.
• Our mechanical engineering graduates enjoy high levels of employment, finding interesting and financially rewarding professional careers in the UK and overseas.

The BA (Hons) Education and Learning is a fascinating degree at the University of Bolton, giving you the chance to study a balanced combination of current educational policy, the history of education, and sociology, philosophy and psychology. It’s a great opportunity to explore in depth some of the key current issues affecting education in the UK and abroad.

Key themes on this course include critical and reflective thinking, equality and diversity. By thinking about how we learn consciously and subconsciously, we’ll guide you in an exploration of how formal learning, alongside acquired knowledge, shapes our lives, interests and value structures.

We also encourage you to research and analyse a range of educational practices, and reflect on your own and others’ experiences of education. This will help you think critically about learning and teaching, and how education is perceived and received.

On competing this course successfully, you will be well prepared for related postgraduate studies. Although the course doesn’t lead directly to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), you’ll have first-hand experience in schools or other educational establishments to support your application for teacher training.

Highlights

• Small class sizes mean a more keenly focused attention on your learning needs and strategies for success.
• You’ll be studying at a University known for its friendly atmosphere, and get to study alongside students from a variety of backgrounds, each with an individual and unique perspective on education.
• Our professional and approachable tutors will guide and support you throughout your course, offering attentive one-to-one support.

Key Features

• The programme is designed to help you gain some of the required knowledge and experience required for direct entry to Primary Teacher Training courses (QTS), or for entry-level employment in education.
• You’ll have the chance to take on a systematic and reflective study of education that’s illustrated and informed by the diversity of teaching and learning approaches in different sub-sectors of education.
• You’ll be able to take at least one placement opportunity in an educational setting, where you’ll observe learning and teaching in progress, and talk to teachers and students about their roles and experiences.
• Our teaching draws on your own experiences of learning as a starting point for understanding the formal educational process. This means contributing to research and discussion through critical reflection on your own education, and by listening to others’ experiences.

There are over 2250 active games companies in the UK, with over 95 in the Manchester area alone*. Our Games Art degree was designed after consultation with industry experts from a number of these companies and aims to prepare you for a career creating interactive worlds and charismatic characters for the games industry.

Taking an intensely practical approach that is designed to mimic the working environment found in the games industry, we’ll work to develop your understanding of the creative and technical possibilities of games art. Our studio-based course will guide you from the basics of digital art, through character and environment modelling, texturing, lighting, level design and concept art, to the latest technologies in traditional and handheld game art.

We share your passion for games and offer a supportive atmosphere where you can show your work and respond to critiques, which may come from staff, your peers or guest experts from industry. These sessions help you learn to develop your ideas and improve your presentation and communication skills ready for a career in this ever-growing industry.

*Ukie, June 2018, UK Games Map - http://ukie.org.uk/research/ accessed on 22 August 2019

Highlights

• Interdisciplinary projects with students from our other games courses give you opportunities to learn the vocabulary, production pipelines and work cultures of these disciplines along with valuable team working skills.
• We collaborate with games development companies on games usability testing, and offer you the opportunity to test these upcoming games before they go to market. Previous students have even had their names mentioned in the game credits.
• Our dedicated games labs feature high-specification hardware and industry-standard software, including Wacom Cintiq drawing screens, Pixologic Zbrush, Autodesk Maya, and Substance Painter/Designer.
• Our Game Jams are great opportunities to build your social network and practice your team working, problem solving and project management skills.
• In our portfolio modules, you can focus your project on the area of games art in which you wish to specialise, giving you the chance to create a large portfolio piece for your showreel.
• During your final year, you’ll work with students from our other games courses to produce a complete game demo that will be available for industry employers to view at the end-of-year degree show.

Key Features

• University of Bolton games graduates have been enjoying careers in the games industry for longer than most – we were one of the first UK universities to offer games courses.
• Our dedicated games tutors have a vast range of industry experience and an extensive network of contacts in the games industry. Members of our team have worked in AAA studios, run their own studios, authored books and are actively conducting research.
• Team working and collaboration are essential for games industry success, so we encourage you to work on games projects in interdisciplinary teams with students from our other games courses.
• We organise studio visits and field trips to games development companies, and will encourage and support you to undertake work experience and industrial placements with relevant studios.
• Industry experts from the leading games studios in the UK, along with Bolton graduates now successful in the sector, are regularly invited to give guest lectures on aspects of games development.
• We’ll help and support you to develop a portfolio of work that demonstrates your skills in readiness to impress potential employers.

If you've been struggling to find a postgraduate course that exactly matches your ambition then the University of Bolton's MA (Specialist Title) via Creative Practice could be the answer. Our expert team will work with you to devise a series of projects that enable you to develop your creative practice. You may choose to focus on a single discipline, such as Animation, Illustration, Art and Design, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Media, Performance, Dance, Photography, Textiles and Surface Design, Fashion, Creative Writing, Live Events Design and Production, or an associated subject. Alternatively, you may combine several areas of practice to follow an interdisciplinary route. When you successfully complete the master's, your degree title will be chosen to reflect the focus of your studies.

We'll support you to develop a unique body of creative work through a series of negotiated projects that will be underpinned and informed by industry practice. You'll work with a specialist supervisor who will provide support and guidance throughout the developmental process. Alongside this, you'll undertake two taught modules. The first investigates current contexts for creative practice and offers you the necessary skills to undertake research at an advanced level. The second invites you to place your practice within a professional landscape to help you gain the skills to develop your industry profile and ensure your work reaches your desired audience.

With a strong theoretical underpinning, this MA is designed to develop your skills in research, critique and synthesis. We’ll guide you as you learn to work with self?direction and originality and develop your analytical and critical competencies. This combination of academic, creative and professional skills development helps to prepare you for a career in the creative industries, as well as providing a sound basis for doctoral-level study.

The MA is designed to enable you to develop a considerable body of work and a plan for its future development beyond the course. This may take the form of applications for funding, exhibitions, publication, or small?scale tours.

Our industry?engaged staff are practising artists, writers and performers. You'll benefit from our strong industry links with a range of arts and cultural organisations across Greater Manchester and the North West region, which offers opportunities for industry masterclasses and lectures, joint projects and networking.

Highlights

• You can develop your unique body of creative practice under the supervision of our experienced teaching team.
• We'll support you to prepare your creative practice for industry via funding applications, business plans, exhibitions, publication or small?scale tours.
• You'll be able to make use of specialist facilities across the University of Bolton's Schools of the Arts and Creative Technologies to develop high-quality creative outputs.
• We'll help you learn about tax self-assessment, invoicing, intellectual property and risk assessments, as well as offer business start-up sessions to prepare you to take advantage of opportunities for enterprise development.

Key Features

• Teaching and supervision are delivered by our dedicated team of experienced and well-qualified staff.
• The programme provides opportunities to engage with and learn from industry professionals, including visiting speakers and practitioners.
• We'll offer you opportunities for interdisciplinary work and collaboration.
• You'll benefit from our strong industry links with local and regional arts, culture and trade organisations, studios, galleries, publishers, manufacturers and companies specialising in creative art and design practice.
• Your final master’s degree title will reflect your specialist areas of practice (please note that the final award title will be selected in agreement with the University within the parameters specified in programme documentation). For example, your title might be something like MA Animation via Creative Practice, MA Dance via Creative Practice or MA Fashion Photography via Creative Practice.

Graduate Sport Rehabilitators (GSRs) are in demand due to our increasing participation in sport and exercise and the injuries that we inevitably sustain. Sport rehabilitators are trained in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and are essential across all levels of sport, from amateur to elite. Our British Association of Sport Rehabilitators and Trainers (BASRaT) accredited BSc (Hons) Sport Rehabilitation degree offers industry-approved training ready for a career working with sports men and women and members of the public.

We focus on equipping you with hands-on practical experience teamed with an invaluable grounding in theory, so you can graduate with a well-rounded skillset. Our dedicated and professionally experienced team will guide you as you explore musculoskeletal injury prevention screening, specific exercise therapy and clinical treatment skills. Extensive practical and laboratory work will help to cement your understanding of human anatomy, the biomechanics and physiology of the human body, and the pathology of injury and dysfunction.

You may gain direct experience on-campus at our Sports & Spinal Injury Clinic and Athlete Development Centre in Bolton One, as well as through external placements, safe in the knowledge that as a graduate you’ll be eligible to practice as a registered GSR, rehabilitating athletes from injury.

Highlights

• This course is accredited by BASRaT. As a graduate of this degree you will be eligible to join the BASRaT practitioner register, and subsequently use the title of Graduate Sport Rehabilitator (GSR). BASRaT’s accredited practitioner register is approved by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care.
• Our solid links with professional and elite sport mean we can access an extensive array of placements. We work with Olympic sports, Premiership and Super League rugby clubs, professional and semi-professional football clubs, as well as with an army specialist mobility rehabilitation centre, private clinics and orthopaedic departments.
• Two of our final year students, who meet the specific entry criteria, are chosen each year to attend our prestigious overseas placements that are co-ordinated with a USA university, allowing them to gain experience in athletic training departments for NCAA sports.
• You will be encouraged to attend world-class guest lectures from renowned sports professionals and practitioners in the orthopaedic, sports and private practice arenas. These enhance your learning, help you make contacts in the industry and contribute to your professional development.
• You’ll have the opportunity to gain additional qualifications as part of your programme. These include a first aid certificate, the Royal College of Surgeons-endorsed level 2 certification in Immediate Care in Sport, assessed by the Rugby Football Union, and eligibility for an externally recognised level 3 sports massage qualification.

Key Features

• Our on-campus facilities are based in the £31 million Bolton One building, including hydrotherapy and swimming pools, rehabilitation suite, strength and conditioning suite, fully-equipped physiology and biomechanics laboratories, and specialist classrooms. We also use some facilities at the world-class Bolton Arena.
• We offer a highly qualified and experienced team of multi-sports practitioners and academic staff with links to top-flight athletes and sports teams. Our chartered, state-registered and BASRaT-accredited lecturing staff are involved in current clinical practice and relevant research.
• Opportunities exist for you to gain experience in our clinician-led Sport & Spinal Injury Clinic and our Athlete Development Centre, where you can engage with a range of athletes: elite, professional, recreational and participatory.
• You’ll complete at least two external placements, and gain over 400 supervised clinical hours of experience prior to graduation. For example, your placements may be at professional sports clubs, physiotherapy clinics, the Ministry of Defence, or even overseas in the USA.
• We offer bespoke pathways if you are keen to have a career in the Military. On successful completion of the Military application and interview process, you will have the chance to partake in paid training alongside your degree; in fields such as Combat Medic Technician.
• Your dedicated personal tutor will support you to develop valuable transferable skills such as communication, self-management, group working, numeracy, research and critical evaluation.

Professional recognition

• The course is accredited by the British Association of Sport Rehabilitators and Trainers (BASRaT), the professional body for Graduate Sport Rehabilitators (GSR), who hold an Accredited Professional Register approved by the Professional Standards Authority for Healthcare in the UK. BASRaT provides full professional liability insurance to all graduates, which enables you to practice as a sport rehabilitation professional.

Accountancy can trace its history back to the beginnings of civilisation. The necessity to keep track of goods and produce led to the development of writing, and this ancient profession is a global necessity in the 21st century. Fundamental to planning and forecasting, budgeting and control, taxation and decision making, competent and resourceful accountants are essential to success in business and commerce, as well as the smooth running of government and public services.

Our BA (Hons) Accountancy is designed to give you the strong academic and vocational background for a professional career in accountancy. It will also support your career development if you are considering a broader management role, as it offers the financial knowledge that is central to many private and public sector careers.

The course draws on the latest practices and theories of accounting and covers the two key areas of management accounting and financial accounting and reporting, as well as offering a number of optional modules that may be selected for study in your final year.

Alongside developing your professional accountancy-related knowledge, we want to help you develop lifelong learning skills so that you can reflect on, articulate, transfer and take ownership of the development of your skills in to the future, maximising your potential for success.

Highlights

• Our accounting and finance courses are ranked second in the UK for student satisfaction, according to The Complete University Guide 2020.
• The course is accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).
• We offer an enviable range of exemptions from professional accountancy body examinations including ACCA, ICAEW, ICAS, CIMA and CIPFA, so once you have graduated you can join their professional development programmes at an advanced stage.
• Our graduates are also entitled to exemptions from the Association of International Accountants (AIA) papers and are eligible to apply for associate membership of the AIA and the Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA).
• We are an ICAEW accredited HEPiL (Higher Education Partner in Learning) and have links with AIA, IFA and CPA Australia.
• Many of our graduates go onto study for the final year ACCA examinations at Bolton. The University is a Gold partner provider of this programme and regularly exceeds the global pass rate targets set by the professional body.

Key Features

• Our tutors are all qualified accountants with experience of working in the profession and of teaching undergraduate, postgraduate and professional accountancy qualifications.
• We’ll encourage you to use mathematical and statistical techniques to solve general business and accountancy related problems – learning from case studies will give you a good grounding in real business situations.
• We use small group and tutorial teaching so that you have the opportunity to benefit from the excellent support offered by our teaching staff.
• We regularly invite guest speakers who hold senior positions in industry and practice to share their experience with our students, so you can benefit from their knowledge and advice.
• We enjoy excellent support from local employers and the Bolton Society of Chartered Accountants, maximising industry-related opportunities.
• We offer two full-time undergraduate Accountancy degrees. The three-year BA (Hons) Accountancy course is for people who will achieve 104 UCAS points (for instance BCC at A-level). Alternatively, our four-year BA (Hons) Accountancy with foundation year programme is for students who will benefit from a period of extra preparatory study and support before making the transition to degree-level study.

Professional recognition

The course is accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).

Our BA (Hons) Fine Arts course will encourage you to develop your individual artistic identity and explore new creative possibilities. We offer a supportive environment where you can develop your creative skills and knowledge, learn to evaluate and draw inspiration from historical, philosophical and cultural influences, and establish the foundation of your professional practice as a working artist.

Our dedicated team will work to help you develop technical skills in the traditional fine arts media of painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. You’ll also have opportunities to learn about and practise a broad range of new media and we encourage critical thinking so you learn to evaluate and understand your own work and that of others.

Career and transferable skills are also essential to your future success so we aim to ensure you gain relevant experience towards running a small business enterprise, creative studio management and a wider knowledge of the arts sector. You’ll be exhibiting your work in a public setting from level 4, and organising your own shows by level 5. Exhibiting your work in our Creative Showcase at the end of your final year will allow you to show off your projects to the public and impress industry.

Highlights

• Our Art courses are placed in the top ten in the UK for student-to-staff ratio by the Guardian University League Tables 2020, so you have access to individual tutor support and small group teaching.
• Previous students have won regional and national competitions and awards, and prestigious commissions and artists’ residencies as a result of the industry connections offered by the programme.
• We use our direct connections with public art commissioners to give you access to a number of exclusive commissions each year. These ‘live briefs’ provide you with invaluable experience in this important creative field.
• Exhibition is vital, and you will be expected to play an active role in the department’s exhibition committee and have the opportunity to present your work to the public, including during Bolton School of the Arts’ Creative Showcase during your final year.

Key Features

• Theory is combined with practice, and traditional techniques with modern technologies. As well as taught practical workshops in a wide range of media and materials, you will receive tuition in using industry-standard digital software.
• Our large, well-lit, open studios have adjacent 2D art facilities that include printmaking, drawing workshops, 3D art facilities including ceramics, a dedicated casting area, sculpture space, fully equipped metal and wood workshops, spray booths capable of accommodating large-scale works, and a suite of MAC computers with large-scale printers.
• The programme is delivered by a dedicated team of practising artists, working in both group and private studios in the region, with extensive experience of exhibiting (nationally and internationally), curation, public and private commissioning, and strong connections to arts organisations and commissioning agencies nationally and internationally.
• Prominent guest speakers from a range of fine art disciplines are invited each year to talk about their practice. The department has strong links with arts groups, including the Bolton-based neo:artists studios and galleries, which were set up by graduates of the course.
• We develop opportunities to explore public art practice, through the programmes’ connection to public art and arts organisations. As a student, you'll have access to commissioning possibilities providing experience in public art making and commissions.