BA (Hons) Applied Arts
(with foundation year)

• Includes a foundation year to prepare you for further years of study.
• Excellent gallery and commercial links, with the focus on craft skills to enable you to become exceptional makers.
• Focus is placed on developing your business skills in areas such as pricing, publicity and marketing; we are consistently praised by external examiners for how well prepared our students are for professional life.
• You will be taught by a dedicated team of research-active practitioners who exhibit their own work both nationally and internationally.
• Work on live projects, exhibitions, competitions and commissions for public and private clients; this will give you confidence for your future career, for example, when approaching galleries and retail outlets with your work.

Year 1 (Foundation year)

The foundation year will introduce you to the key elements of art and design, including design practice, applied and fine art.  You will explore the creative thought process relating to various art and design disciplines, developing your ability to put ideas down on paper quickly.  There will be a range of practical assignments which will increase your recognition of strong ideas and original concepts.

Modules

• Introduction to Art and Design
• Introduction to Applied Art
• Introduction to Fine Art
• Creative Thinking
• The Skills You Need
• Contextual Studies

For further details on the foundation year modules, please visit our Foundation year page.

Year 2 (Level 4)

Introduces you to the breadth of materials and techniques within the Applied Arts, where you have the opportunity to work across all the material areas, experimenting with glass, ceramics, metal and mixed media.

Modules

• History and Context
• Creative Futures 1
• Visual Communication
• Material Exploration
• Craft Processes
• Material and Language

Year 3 (Level 5)

Expands your making skills within your main material choice, developing a depth of knowledge and understanding about materials and craft skills and allowing you advance your own creative style. The key professional skills of understanding market, publicity and costings are also developed through practical projects.

Modules

• Critical Thinking
• Creative Futures: Making a Living
• Extended Practice (Applied Arts)
• Art Practice
• Practice in Context
• Specialist Study (Applied Arts)

Year 4 (Level 6)

Allows you to realise your ideas in the direction of your choice, with students developing their own individual themes to produce collections, demonstrating high quality making skills and innovative design solutions.

Modules

• Dissertation
• Creative Futures: Professional Practice
• Negotiated Practice
• Applied Art Degree Project

The information listed in this section is an overview of the academic content of the programme that will take the form of either core or option modules. Modules are designated as core or option in accordance with professional body requirements and internal academic framework review, so may be subject to change.

BA (Hons) Design: Applied Arts (four years including foundation year)

UCAS code:  W202

Entry requirements for our foundation year are 48 UCAS tariff  points. We also take into account any work experience you have that is relevant to a particular course.

The Applied Arts programme team welcomes applications from anyone who can demonstrate a commitment to the subject and the potential to complete their chosen programme successfully. This can be established by showing appropriate academic achievements or by demonstrating that they possess the knowledge and ability equivalent to the academic qualifications.

All candidates will either be individually interviewed or invited to an applicants’ day where they will have the opportunity to display a portfolio of their work. Experience may also be taken into consideration, particularly for those applicants who do not meet the academic requirements above, depending on the extent and depth of subject knowledge.

If you have studied in another European country, please check the Entry Requirements for your qualification.

International Students - BA (Hons) Design: Applied Arts (four years including foundation year)

Students from overseas, who are unable to attend an interview are invited to send their portfolio of work digitally for consideration.

If you are an international student please visit the countries page and select your country to see the relevant academic and English language entry requirements.

Assessment is predominantly through practical and design work such as maquettes, sketchbooks, samples, and finished objects. Work is presented to tutors, and verbal feedback is given instantly, followed by more expansive written feedback.

You'll be assessed for each module. Formative assessments are used to monitor progress and can take place at any time. These consist of a band grading, plus evaluative comments and a feedback tutorial if appropriate. Grading isn't finalised until the end of the year, when work is reviewed and moderated by an external examiner.

Teaching and learning

Wrexham Glyndŵr University is committed to supporting our students to maximise their academic potential.

We offer workshops and support sessions in areas such as academic writing, effective note-making and preparing for assignments. Students can book appointments with academic skills tutors dedicated to helping deal with the practicalities of university work. Our student support section has more information on the help available.

Contact time is 14 hours per week for Level 4, 12 hours per week for Level 5, and 10 hours per week for Level 6. The workshop facilities are open and staffed 5 days a week and students have constant access to the workshops.

Our Careers and Employability service is there to help you make decisions and plan the next steps towards a bright future. From finding work or further study to working out your interests, skills and aspirations, they can provide you with the expert information, advice and guidance you need.

Designers who can respond creatively to applied art and design problems remain in high demand.

Our graduates have careers in a wide range of areas including education, restoration work, museums and retail. A proportion go on to work in or set up their own galleries.

The majority of our graduates work in applied arts businesses, become self-employed as artists, technicians, designer craftspeople, and often set up their own making businesses.

Further study opportunities are also available at PG Diploma Advanced Professional Practice, MA or PGCE level.

You do not have to pay your tuition fees upfront.

Wrexham Glyndŵr University’s tuition fees for 2022/23 for a full-time undergraduate degree course are TBC.

The fees you pay and the support available will depend on a number of different factors. Full information can be found on our fees & finance pages. You will also find information about what your fees include in the FAQs section of those pages. 

You can see the full programme specification here.