Maker? Thinker? Futurist? Coder? Performer? Technologist? Conservationist? Designer? Interested?

This four-year Art and Design degree course with a Foundation Year has been specifically designed to allow you to undertake an additional year of study which will build stronger creative footings to ensure successful progression through your chosen degree course.Working in a lively and energetic environment, you will be given the freedom to expand your knowledge of practical skills, creative exploration and conceptual development, underpinned by broad critical understanding, academic writing and emerging theoretical principles.There will be a range of opportunities to work on collaborative projects aimed to develop employability partnerships and to identify the role of developing practitioner. BA teaching staff from across all schools within the Birmingham Institute of Creative Arts (BICA) will work closely with you throughout the foundation year to prepare you for progression.After successful completion of your foundation year, you will have the flexibility to switch (should you wish to change direction) onto a number of related undergraduate degree programmes within the Birmingham Institute of Creative Arts.

Many innovative creative studios now define themselves as interdisciplinary, a word which we define as the fluid movement across the fields of art, design and technology. Rather than specialising in a particular creative discipline, our cutting-edge course reflects how these studios practice by exploring the intersection between art and design, with the implementation of new creative digital technologies.

All students will be introduced to the fundamentals of interdisciplinary art and design practice with a focus on new creative technologies, which forms the core ethos of this course. In line with the development of our digital futures we are introducing an optional pathway in Creative Technologies which will give you the opportunity to focus specifically on further developing your digital skills through a breadth of technological approaches.If you choose the Creative Technologies pathway you will cover the same curriculum, but will opt for technology-based outcomes. You will be assessed in relation to your exploration, questioning and use of a range of contemporary digital technologies and your creative applications in relation to the module theme. Work may still embrace a sense of physicality, but the focus will retain an element of Creative Technologies. You can either choose the Creative Technologies pathway at the start of your studies, or transfer over to the Creative Technologies pathway at the end of each academic year. At the end of each year, during feedback with tutors, you can transfer over to the Creative Technologies pathway, but you will be required to evidence 80% engagement with the weekly Creative Technologies workshops, which you will document on a digital platform ‘Workshop Log’. If you have not engaged in workshops to 80%, you will need to evidence sufficient engagement over the summer.