


Explore your creativity, ideas and instincts in a vibrant community of artists, thinkers, and makers.
Shape the future of contemporary art at Norwich University of the Arts, one of the UK’s longest-established Fine Art degrees.
Our BA (Hons) Fine Art degree course encourages ‘thinking through making’ and you will explore the breadth of fine art with workshops in painting, print, sculpture, mixed media and video. You will use project spaces and external venues for performance, display and curation.
You will shape your own distinctive career path as an artist on our BA (Hons) course and join generations of graduates who have achieved national and international success.
Our graduates are renowned for their unique voice and vision, leading them to Turner Prize nomination and inclusion in the UK’s annual New Contemporaries exhibition and Saatchi Art’s Rising Stars.
Explore fine art
Whatever your choice of medium, we will encourage and support you to develop your own practice and develop a substantial portfolio.
Purpose-built studio spaces will provide the perfect environment to realise your creative direction.
You’ll have access to the tools you need to make and create, including:
- Printmaking facilities
- 3D studios and a foundry
- Our historic Munnings Life Drawing Studio
- Painting studios
- Augmented and Virtual Reality.
Professional preparation
Your creative development will include gaining valuable professional skills related to promoting and selling your work, curation, contracts, costing and networking.
Opportunities will emerge through the course team’s close links with regional and national galleries like Tate Modern, Wysing Arts Centre, Firstsite, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and OUTPOST.
Success in awards:
- Inclusion in New Contemporaries and Saatchi Art’s Rising Stars 2020
- 2016 John Moores Painting Prize winner
- 2015, 2014 Caitlin Art Prize winners
Course information
All courses run as a blend of on-campus and digital teaching and learning, and follow current UK government safety advice. Applicants and students will be notified directly if any changes need to be made.
Typical career paths include:
- Practising Artist
- Community Artist
- Exhibition Organiser
- Arts Administrator
- Lecturer Art Consultant
- Gallery Manager
- Researcher
- Curator
- Teacher
- Image Retoucher
- Art Handler
You’ll also get specialist creative careers advice from our Business and Employability Team to help support you as you plan your career.
Course Information
Institution Code: N39Course 3 Year UCAS code: W101 Course 4 Year UCAS code: W102Course length: 3 or 4 year optionsSandwich courses: Creative Professional Development (1 year, Level 5 diploma), or Creative Computing (1 year, Level 5 diploma), available between years 2 & 3
Yasmin Clarke
Typical UK offers
A / AS Levels – GCE
GCE A/AS Levels 3 A-level qualifications at grades BBB. Where candidates are not taking 3 A-levels, Norwich University of the Arts will consider combinations of A-level/AS-level and other Level 3 qualifications.
BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction, Merit, Merit in an art, design or media related subject
BTEC Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction*, Distinction* in an art, design or media related subject
T Levels
A T Level in any subject with overall grade Merit or above
UAL Extended Diploma
Merit
UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Merit
UAL Level 4 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Merit
Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design)
Pass
International Baccalaureate Diploma
A minimum of 27 points
Norwich welcomes applicants of all ages from all backgrounds. Your application will be primarily assessed through your portfolio, responses to questions asked and personal statement, so even if you have no formal qualifications or do not meet our typical offers it can still be worth applying.
If you are studying at the time of your application and your application is successful it is likely that you will receive a conditional offer.
If the qualification that you are studying is not shown, do not worry as we are able to accept other pre-entry qualifications as well as combinations of different qualifications. Please do contact our Student Recruitment Team if you have any queries.
International applications
We accept qualifications from all over the world. To find our entry requirements from a specific country, please check our dedicated international pages.
Most international students are required to hold an English language qualification. Applicants are required to have a minimum UKVI approved IELTS exam score of 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each section. Equivalent English language qualifications are acceptable such as, IB English language syllabus A or B/English Literature (Grade 4).
We also accept some alternative English qualifications. Learn more about our English entry requirements.
You can email us on international@norwichuni.ac.uk if you’d like to discuss your application individually.
BA (Hons) Fine Art degree portfolio guidance
We are calling the traditional portfolio a ‘development portfolio’. This is to emphasise that what we would like to see is where you are now in your creative journey. You don’t need to spend a long time making the perfect work, as we can assess your potential from your work in progress. Your development is the most important part of your learning.
Your development portfolio should be relevant to this course, but you can include a wide range of work that shows your creativity, technical competence and understanding of space.
You may wish to include some of the following:
- Evidence of working independently, developing your own ideas or inquiries
- Drawing, which could include images from observation, experimental or imaginative work
- Sculpture, or installation in any medium
- Painting
- Printmaking
- Collage and mixed media
- Textile work
- Photography
- Sound design
- Film or moving image
- Performance, installation, socially-engaged or interactive work
- Collaborative group work
- Digital work (using Adobe Creative Suite or free open source software)
Further portfolio advice and tips
Get more advice on presentation formats, layouts and when to submit your development portfolio in the application process.
2023/24 University fees for new entrants
Norwich University of the Arts will assess students’ tuition fee status using the guidance provided by the UK Council for International Student Affairs
Students from the UK or Ireland and EU students with ‘Settled’ or ‘Pre-Settled’ status will be charged ‘Home’ fees if they meet the relevant residency requirements. They will usually be eligible for a tuition fee loan from the UK government, meaning that they won’t have to pay Norwich’s tuition fees upfront.
Students who do not meet the necessary residency requirements will usually be charged ‘Overseas’ fees and will not be eligible for the UK government tuition fee loan. Since 2021/22, this includes new entrants from the EU, EEA, and Switzerland who do not have ‘Settled’ or ‘Pre-Settled’ status, because the UK has now formally left the EU.
Fee status | Course | Annual fee |
---|---|---|
Home | Undergraduate degree (full-time three and four year degree) | £9,250 |
Overseas | Undergraduate degree (full-time three and four year degree) | £18,000 |
For Home undergraduate students starting in 2023, inflation may be applied to your fees in later years, if the UK government were to increase the fee cap beyond the current limit of £9,250 per year. If such an increase were to apply, we would confirm this in advance to you of each academic year, and we would limit the increase to the maximum allowed by the Office for Students.
For Overseas undergraduate students starting in 2023, inflation will be applied to your fees in later years. We will confirm this in advance to you of each academic year, and we will limit the increase to no more than the Office for Students’ recommended inflationary measure, which is RPI-X. RPI-X is calculated by the Office for Budget Responsibility. In setting fees for the following year, we will use the Office for Budget Responsibility’s RPI-X forecast for quarter 3 of the relevant year.
See our Fees and Funding page for further information which is also available in a downloadable format.
Financial support for UK students in 2023
Tuition fee loans and loans for living costs are usually available to UK and some EU students, as well as non-repayable Norwich University of the Arts bursaries based on family income. Find out more about applying for funding.
Four year degree
Our innovative four year degrees are exactly the same as our three year degrees but include an extra year of study at the beginning – Year 0.
Year 0 is about developing the skills, foundation, knowledge and the confidence you need to successfully complete your degree course. Building on your experience from A Level or equivalent courses, the Year 0 curriculum allows time to develop the practical, creative and conceptual skills that are critical to successfully completing an undergraduate degree at Norwich.
While studying Year 0 BA (Hons) Fine Art you will begin to establish your individual creative voice and follow your own direction through projects designed to challenge and stretch you. You’ll undertake both studio and research led projects that will inform the development of your work and enhance your contextual awareness.
You’ll benefit from inductions in the workshop areas used throughout your degree, and you will also have mixed year critiques with Year 1 Fine Art students. You will also be able to engage with the Fine Art lecture programme, which is open to all years, as well as having the opportunity to curate and realise an exhibition outside the confines of the University.
Typical UK offers and entry requirements for Year 0 entry
GCE A/AS Levels
2 A-level qualifications at grades CC or higher.
BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Merit, Merit, Pass in an art, design or media related subject
BTEC Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction, Merit in an art, design or media related subject
T Levels
Pass (D or E on the core)
UAL Extended Diploma
An overall Pass
UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
An overall Pass
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design)
Pass
International Baccalaureate Diploma
A minimum of 24 points
Norwich welcomes applicants of all ages from all backgrounds. Your application will be primarily assessed through your portfolio, responses to questions asked and personal statement, so even if you have no formal qualifications or do not meet our typical offers it can still be worth applying.
If you are studying at the time of your application and your application is successful it is likely that you will receive a conditional offer.
Recent Awards
Top 10 for
Teaching Quality
by the Times and Sunday Times 2022
Top Two UK
Creative Arts
University
by The Complete University Guide 2024
GOLD-rated
University
the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
@norwichuniarts
Norwich University of the Arts is excited to reveal our new brand…
View this post

Gold for Norwich in the Teaching Excellence Framework
Norwich University of the Arts has achieved the highest recognition, a Gold rating, in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). It is the only specialist creative arts and design University to earn a triple Gold TEF rating
View news article

Poulomi Basu
East Gallery in partnership with Autograph presents the solo exhibition of Indian transmedia artist and activist Poulomi Basu’s powerful series Fireflies
View event