Creative Art and Design Practice

This course will provide you with the opportunity to add to your previous qualifications or relevant work experience across a broad range of art, craft and design practice.

The course has a good balance of creative and academic work, being two-thirds practical artwork and one-third theoretical written work. Practical work may include fine art, painting, printmaking, ceramics, crafts, textiles, surface pattern and photography with the ability to combine both traditional and modern techniques.

The course will develop your art and business skills through practical projects and opportunities to create, exhibit and sell your work locally and internationally.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

You will get the opportunity to visit exhibitions, galleries and design fairs, both nationally and internationally, which will help you see the wider picture of the creative and cultural industries and gain industry experience outside the academic environment. You will also attend seminars and develop through reflective journal keeping.

You will have access to the art department’s wide range of resources as well as newly updated cross-college learning resources such as the library and IT based learning with the latest Adobe design software.

After completing this course, you may wish to progress to the BA (Hons) Fine Art or other art degrees, dependent on an interview and your portfolio of work.

If you are aged between 18 and 21 the entry requirements are GCSE English at grade C or above and any of the following:

• 80 UCAS points
• BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design or equivalent

Mature students are welcome and there are flexible entry requirements for those over 21 based on an interview with the tutor.

2025/26

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to.

Additional information about your studies

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.

Contact us

If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.