Develop your skills by entering the creative industries on an Integrated Foundation Year degree.
If you’re interested in taking on a new subject that you’ve not had the opportunity to study in depth before, or have been out of education for a while, then our Integrated Foundation Year courses might be for you. These four-year courses include an introductory year to help you build the core skills needed for specialist degree-level study.
This is a chance for you to let your imagination run wild and explore your creativity, expand your professional skills and develop enhanced subject knowledge in the domain you want to study. We’ll help nurture your expertise in problem solving, risk-taking, designing and making as you develop your abilities through five core modules.
After your foundation year, you’ll have a deeper knowledge of your subject, a clear understanding of your strengths, a developed practical and technical skill set and the confidence to excel in your chosen degree subject when you join other students for the rest of your course.
Push your drawing practice into the professional realm. Explore the versatility of drawing on this stimulating studio-based course. By investigating material, digital, spatial and conceptual processes and approaches, you’ll become an independent and ambitious critical thinker, identifying a wide variety of social, public and professional contexts for your work.
You’ll be supported to experiment freely and take creative risks as you generate innovative visions, proposals and concepts to self-initiated projects and live briefs. You’ll graduate as an entrepreneurial, resilient and resourceful practitioner with a unique portfolio and equipped with the technical and transferrable skills needed to forge an exciting career in the creative industries and beyond.
Why study this course at Falmouth?
Develop technical, design thinking and production skills in your chosen specialism.
Learn teamwork, leadership and project management skills through a variety of learning environments.
Develop critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills through the development of unique and innovative projects.
Complete your chosen degree over a four-year period.
Develop your practice and collaborate with peers in Falmouth’s renowned School of Art studios and facilities.
Work on exciting projects with a wide range of partners such as Trelissick House, Wheal Martyn Clay Works, Gallery Tresco, R.K. Burt Paper Gallery, and ShelterBox Truro.
Enhance your practice and research through inspiring off-site visits.
Produce a distinctive body of work and stage it in a public exhibition curated alongside the work of your peers.
You'll be supported by expert practitioners and researchers. You'll build your technical skills, critical understanding and career opportunities through exploring wide-ranging areas of drawing practice and contemporary critical studies.
Working individually and collaboratively, you’ll consider the world around you and develop presentations, shows and portfolios that showcase an ethical and boundary-pushing approach to drawing and the wide array of future real-world applications for your practice.
Foundation Year:
In your foundation year, you'll study five core modules: three short modules in the first study block and two in the second (one short, one long). These are all designed to help you explore the foundational elements of both creative practice and your chosen specialism. You'll gain relevant technical skills, learn to experiment and take risks, develop an understanding of professional practice, have opportunities to work across disciplines and collaborate with other students on live project briefs.
After your foundation year, you'll have a deeper knowledge of your subject, a clear understanding of your strengths, a developed practical and technical skillset and the confidence to excel in your chosen degree subject when you join other students for the rest of your course.
Modules:
Explore
Technique
Apply
Industry
Launch
Year One
Working in our dynamic studio environment you'll take on a series of projects to develop drawing-specific skills and concepts within a range of contemporary arts contexts. You’ll start to develop rigorous research skills too, understanding where your own practice sits within the 21st century cultural landscape. You'll also have opportunities to show your work in the studios and engage with peers across all three years.
Modules
Practice in Context 1
Press Play
Practice in Context 2
Initiating Practice
Year two
In the second year of your Drawing degree, you'll delve deeper into your own practice, developing your technical prowess whilst learning how to articulate and present your work in a broad range of professional and public contexts.
Modules
Sustained Personal Enquiry 1
Situating Practice: Studio
Sustained Personal Enquiry 2
Testing Ground: Collaboration
Testing Ground: Studio
Year three
The modules in your final year give you the opportunity to demonstrate originality, skills and professionalism in producing a distinctive body of work and showcasing your ideas. You'll work on a project reflecting and building on your personal discoveries and ambitions. You'll also work on a major negotiated project, which will culminate in a public exhibition.
Modules
Entrepreneurial Practices: Agencies and Audiences
Practice as Research
Public Platforms
Realisation
As part of our process of continuous improvement, we routinely review course content to ensure that all our students benefit from a high-quality and rewarding academic experience. As such, there may be some changes made to your course which are not immediately reflected in the content displayed here and on our website. Any students affected will be informed of any changes made directly.
Foundation Year assessments are 100% coursework based.
Assessment will take place at the end of each module, and you'll get feedback and evaluation throughout the year. You'll be assessed through visual, verbal and written assignments, including your portfolio and a reflective journal. In your foundation year all assessments are pass/fail to encourage students to take risks and engage with the feedback provided.
Progressing in your specialism
Students studying on courses with an Integrated Foundation Year must successfully complete and pass all foundation modules before they can progress to the next stage of their course.
Your specialism:
100% of your assessment will be coursework.
Assessment methods
Foundation year assessments are 100% coursework based
Continuous monitoring
Twice-yearly studio practice
Written assignments
Self-evaluation
Final-year dissertation, project and exhibition
This course is available in Clearing. If you have submitted an application, you can add this course. If you haven’t sent us an application yet, you can do this until 24th September 2026.
This is the equal consideration deadline. You can still apply after this date, but your application may not receive guaranteed consideration.
Falmouth University 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?
The following entry points are available for this course:
If English is not your first language, you will need to demonstrate English language skills that are sufficiently developed for successful completion of your studies. We accept a range of recognised English language qualifications that are equivalent to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic minimum score of 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. Through the award of international scholarships, we aim to support academic enrichment by encouraging diversity and excellence at Falmouth. For details of our international scholarships, and how to apply for them, please visit our website at www.falmouth.ac.uk
At Falmouth, we recognise excellence in many forms, and we see the whole you.
Our diverse community is creative, innovative and entrepreneurial.
We recognise that these qualities aren’t always shown in academic grades alone. That’s why, while many of our applicants achieve high academic grades, we also welcome those who can demonstrate their potential through an exceptional portfolio or performance.
At a minimum, we typically require the equivalent of 64 UCAS Tariff points for undergraduate courses where we can review a portfolio or audition, or a minimum of 96 UCAS points for those courses that do not require a portfolio or audition. For our Integrated Foundation Year courses, we typically require a minimum of 32 UCAS points for courses where we can review a portfolio or audition, or 64 UCAS points for those that do not require a portfolio or audition.
To support this approach, during a friendly conversation with our academic team, we’ll consider your ideas, your creative output and your ambition to ensure you’ll thrive at Falmouth.
If you are able to demonstrate relevant, current, equivalent experience instead of formal qualifications, we encourage you to apply. Please contact our Applicant Services team before applying, for advice regarding your individual experience and eligibility.
If you are an international applicant and require a Student visa to study in the UK, you must have a recognised English language test approved and vouched for by the University at the appropriate level. You can see what we accept on our website https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/study/international/english-language-requirements Our Applicant Services team can help you with any general questions you may have about study visas or suitable language tests. For more specific advice, we recommend you also consult UKCISA http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/
Find out more about qualification requirements for this course.
View our list of accepted English language tests and qualifications using the link belowhttps://www.falmouth.ac.uk/study/international/english-language-requirements
At Falmouth University, we take a rounded approach to admissions. Instead of focusing on criteria like grades alone, we operate a contextual admissions policy, where we look at you as a person: your talents, your experiences and your potential. Every offer we make is shaped around you and your circumstances, and our conditional offers are always intended to be realistic and achievable.
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.
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.
This report uses your grades to show how students with similar results have done when applying to this course in the past. Sometimes, there isn’t data for every possible set of grades. When that happens, universities and colleges occasionally fill in the gaps for sets of grades that are typically accepted.
No fee information has been provided for this course
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.
No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Apply for September 2026 through Clearing
Email:applicantservices@falmouth.ac.uk
Phone:01326 213730
Explore our courses available through Clearing and contact our friendly Course Advisors via phone or our online form.
Email:applicantservices@falmouth.ac.uk
Phone:01326 213730
Woodlane
Falmouth
TR11 4RH
At Falmouth University
