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Illustration (with Professional Practice Year)

  • Bachelor of Arts (with Honours)
  • 4 Years
  • Full-Time
  • 14 September 2027
  • Undergraduate
Farnham
More about University for the Creative Arts

Course options

2025-20262026-20272027-2028
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Course summary

Learn the language of illustration and find your visual voice.

BA (Hons) Illustration with Professional Practice Year is a four-year degree programme, in year three you undertake a placement within the creative industries to further develop your skills and CV.

Experiment, explore, play, and take risks in studios where ideas are tested through material practice and critical thinking. You’ll work with long‑established techniques as well as emerging technologies, building a practice that shifts easily between approaches and continually redefines what illustration can be. This is illustration taught as a dynamic, materially exploratory, and conceptually rigorous discipline – shaped by the creative possibilities that happen when methods and ideas collide.

You'll have the chance to work on live briefs for brands like Toyota, Netflix, and Hallmark, and enter competitions including the Penguin Design Awards and the Folio Society, and have your portfolio reviewed by creative agents who work with emerging illustrators. These industry connections inform the curriculum and are designed to help you build confidence, experience and a developing professional voice as you progress through the degree.

By the time you graduate, you'll have a distinctive visual voice, a portfolio that spans editorial, narrative, children's books, brand work – and the creative confidence to go freelance, get signed by an agency, or carve out a practice entirely your own.

Ways to study this course

Campuses

  • Farnham

Study options

  • Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) • Full-Time • Placement (mandatory) • 4 Years

Start dates

  • 14 September 2027

Apply by
13 January 2027

This is the equal consideration deadline. You can still apply after this date, but your application may not receive guaranteed consideration.

Application codes

Course code:
W222
Institution code:
C93
Campus name:
Farnham
Points of Entry:
Year 1, 2

University for the Creative Arts has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.

See why these ratings were awarded
What does this TEF outcome mean?

How to apply

Apply by
13 January 2027

This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.

Application codes

Course code:
W222
Institution code:
C93
Campus name:
Farnham

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Year 1
  • Year 2

Entry requirements

Typical qualification requirements

A level

112 UCAS tariff points from A-Level qualifications. As this course requires an audition, you are not required to have a performance-related subject.

T Level
Pass (C and above)-M

Minimum Pass at C or above. As this course requires an audition, you are not required to have a performance-related subject.

UCAS Tariff
32-168

We consider the strength of our applicants’ portfolios as well as their grades and we therefore may make offers which are lower than our standard entry criteria of 112 tariff points. This may be to students who have faced difficulties that have affected their performance and who were expected to achieve higher results - in these cases, a strong portfolio is especially important.

We regularly admit students with a tariff much higher than our standard 112 requirement, and applicants who show potential but aren’t quite at the stage to be able to succeed on the course are offered a 4 year degree with an integrated foundation year which has a standard entry requirement of 32 tariff points.

Scottish Higher

112 UCAS tariff points from Scottish Higher qualifications. As this course requires an audition, you are not required to have a performance-related subject.

Access to HE Diploma

112 UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma. As this course requires an audition, you are not required to have a performance-related subject.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

In addition to 112 UCAS tariff points, you also required to achieve a minimum 4 GCSE's, grade 4/C or above, including English Language.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Offer: 27

27 total points in the International Baccalaureate Diploma with at least 15 IB points at Higher level. As this course requires an audition, you are not required to have a performance-related subject.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
DMM

112 UCAS tariff points from BTEC Extended Diploma qualification. As this course requires an audition, you are not required to have a performance-related subject.

For further information on how to apply to UCA: https://www.uca.ac.uk/study-at-uca/applying-to-uca/

Entry requirements for students joining after Year 1: This course considers applicants for direct entry into year two. To enter directly into year two, you’ll need to have studied 120 credits in a similar subject area or have work experience equivalent to one year of study. Contact us to discuss your options: admissions@uca.ac.uk or 01252 416110 https://uca.ac.uk/study/accepted-qualifications/

Additional entry requirements

Portfolio
We’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

English language requirements

TestGradeAdditional details
IELTS (Academic)6Listening 5.5, Reading 5.5, Speaking 5.5, Writing 5.5

We require evidence of your English language ability to meet the requirements for your course. If you're a Home student and studied in the UK, we require GCSE English at a minimum grade C/4 (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2). If you’re an EU student and studied a European qualification, we may accept the English Language score from your main qualification - please review your country from the list on our website to see whether we will accept it: https://www.uca.ac.uk/international-study/equivalent-qualifications/ If your qualification is not on this list, we accept the following English language qualifications: IELTS (overall score 6.0), TOEFL ibt (overall score 88), PEARSON PTE Academic (overall 55), Cambridge Proficiency Exam (overall score 169), Cambridge Advanced Exam (overall score 169). If you need a Tier 4 student visa to study in the UK, you will need to take an IELTS test, and achieve an overall score of 6.0 and a minimum score of 5.5 for each element (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing).https://www.uca.ac.uk/International-study/language-requirements-support/

Contextual admissions

Universities and colleges consider more than grades when assessing applications and may make offers based on a range of criteria. Learn more about contextual offers.

UCA is a place for creativity, ingenuity, and personality. We always consider the strength of an applicant's portfolio / audition as well as their grades and may make offers lower than our standard entry criteria to applicants with strong portfolios. We also make lower offers to students with mitigating circumstances or who have faced difficulties.

You shouldn’t be deterred from applying if your predicted grades are lower than the range we’ve accepted in the past.

Historical entry grades data

This section shows the range of grades that students who received offers were previously accepted on to this course with (learn more).

It is designed to support your research but does not guarantee whether you will or won't get a place.

Admissions teams consider various factors, including interviews, subject requirements, and entrance tests. Check all course entry requirements for eligibility.

Not enough data available

We are unable to show previous accepted grades for this course. This could be because the course is new, it's a postgraduate course, there isn't enough historical data, or the provider has opted out of sharing their entry grades data for this course - learn more.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

Per year tuition fees

LocationFeeYear
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Republic of Ireland, EU & InternationalTBC

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website.

Additional fee information

No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.

Sponsorship information

Scholarships and bursaries 1

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

Further details can be found via our Scholarships page: https://www.uca.ac.uk/study-at-uca/scholarships/

and our Financial Support page: https://www.uca.ac.uk/study-at-uca/fees-finance/financial-support/

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