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  • Architecture
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  • Business and Management

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  • Wildlife Conservation
  • Zoology

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  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Architecture
  • Art
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  • Biomedical Sciences
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  • Construction Management and Engineering
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Creative Enterprise
  • Creative Writing

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  • Economics
  • Education
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  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Film, Theatre and Television
  • Finance
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Geography and Environmental Science
  • Graphic Design

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  • History
  • Information Management and Digital Business
  • Information Technology
  • International Development and Applied Economics
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Project Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Policy

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  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Social Policy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Strategic Studies
  • Teacher training
  • Theatre
  • Typography and Graphic Communication
  • War and Peace Studies
  • Zoology

BA Art and Creative Writing

  • UCAS code
    QW32
  • Typical offer
    BBB
  • Year of entry
    2024/25 See 2023/24 entry
  • Course duration
    Full Time:  4 Years
  • Year of entry
    2024/25 See 2023/24 entry
  • Course duration
    Full Time:  4 Years

Develop as an artist, curator and writer with our BA Art and Creative Writing programme.

This four-year, joint honours course reflects recent developments in art and culture. For example, you will:

  • learn about new digital art and publishing platforms
  • expand your understanding of contemporary literature and art theories
  • develop your skills in art writing.

Art and creative writing are a stimulating combination at degree level – they enhance and inform one another. Additionally, studying theories and practitioners across the art and literature disciplines will inspire and influence your own art and writing as you hone your technique and form.

Art

Studying at the Reading School of Art allows you to explore a vast range of media and experiment with emerging art forms.

Over the course of your four years of study, you will:

  • work with academics who include artists, curators and researchers
  • be encouraged to participate in exhibitions, public art commissions and events
  • receive dedicated studio space, accessible 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, and a studio tutor to help develop your individual and professional practice.

You will complement your practical art with modules in contemporary art theory and the history of art. Through the lectures, seminars and studio teaching – as well as weekly visiting artist talks – you will be exposed to the language, vocabulary and debates that have emerged historically and evolved to forge contemporary art.

Creative writing

Explore literature creatively as you develop characters, shape poems, and draw on your imagination. We are ranked 11th for Creative Writing in the Complete University Guide 2023.

You will learn from prize-winning authors and academics who are committed to teaching through the workshop model. These small group sessions are the heart of Reading’s writing community: guided by one of our lecturers, you and your fellow students will gain confidence as your share your writing and help each other improve.

You will also have the opportunity to publish your work – and gain experience in editing and publishing – by participating in our online creative magazine.

Find out more about our creative writing studies, including information about our academics, on our Department of English Literature’s creative writing webpage.

Your learning environment

You will learn through a mixture of:

  • seminars
  • lectures
  • studio teaching
  • group workshops
  • technical inductions
  • one-to-one tutorials
  • museum and gallery visits.

You will also receive academic guidance through oral and written feedback.

Your creative writing modules will place a strong emphasis on small-group learning within a friendly and supportive environment, and you will have access to our resident professional writer who advises our students individually.

For your art modules, you will have access to our range of facilities. These include:

  • studios for construction, printing and casting
  • darkrooms for photography
  • digital tools for film and video editing, imaging, sound and web building
  • a dedicated audio-visual room and sound-recording booth.

Placement

You will be encouraged to undertake academic placements during your studies.

The Department of English Literature has an innovative placement scheme, and previous art students have:

  • interned at Studio Voltaire and the Frieze Art Fair
  • performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
  • taken part in an Arts Council-supported film project at the Museum of Rural Life
  • participated in an international exhibition at the Seoul Institute of Arts in South Korea.

Study abroad

In your third year, you can spend a term studying abroad at one of our partner institutions. To find out more, visit our Study Abroad site.

 

Overview

Develop as an artist, curator and writer with our BA Art and Creative Writing programme.

This four-year, joint honours course reflects recent developments in art and culture. For example, you will:

  • learn about new digital art and publishing platforms
  • expand your understanding of contemporary literature and art theories
  • develop your skills in art writing.

Art and creative writing are a stimulating combination at degree level – they enhance and inform one another. Additionally, studying theories and practitioners across the art and literature disciplines will inspire and influence your own art and writing as you hone your technique and form.

Art

Studying at the Reading School of Art allows you to explore a vast range of media and experiment with emerging art forms.

Over the course of your four years of study, you will:

  • work with academics who include artists, curators and researchers
  • be encouraged to participate in exhibitions, public art commissions and events
  • receive dedicated studio space, accessible 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, and a studio tutor to help develop your individual and professional practice.

You will complement your practical art with modules in contemporary art theory and the history of art. Through the lectures, seminars and studio teaching – as well as weekly visiting artist talks – you will be exposed to the language, vocabulary and debates that have emerged historically and evolved to forge contemporary art.

Creative writing

Explore literature creatively as you develop characters, shape poems, and draw on your imagination. We are ranked 11th for Creative Writing in the Complete University Guide 2023.

You will learn from prize-winning authors and academics who are committed to teaching through the workshop model. These small group sessions are the heart of Reading’s writing community: guided by one of our lecturers, you and your fellow students will gain confidence as your share your writing and help each other improve.

You will also have the opportunity to publish your work – and gain experience in editing and publishing – by participating in our online creative magazine.

Find out more about our creative writing studies, including information about our academics, on our Department of English Literature’s creative writing webpage.

Your learning environment

You will learn through a mixture of:

  • seminars
  • lectures
  • studio teaching
  • group workshops
  • technical inductions
  • one-to-one tutorials
  • museum and gallery visits.

You will also receive academic guidance through oral and written feedback.

Your creative writing modules will place a strong emphasis on small-group learning within a friendly and supportive environment, and you will have access to our resident professional writer who advises our students individually.

For your art modules, you will have access to our range of facilities. These include:

  • studios for construction, printing and casting
  • darkrooms for photography
  • digital tools for film and video editing, imaging, sound and web building
  • a dedicated audio-visual room and sound-recording booth.

Placement

You will be encouraged to undertake academic placements during your studies.

The Department of English Literature has an innovative placement scheme, and previous art students have:

  • interned at Studio Voltaire and the Frieze Art Fair
  • performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
  • taken part in an Arts Council-supported film project at the Museum of Rural Life
  • participated in an international exhibition at the Seoul Institute of Arts in South Korea.

Study abroad

In your third year, you can spend a term studying abroad at one of our partner institutions. To find out more, visit our Study Abroad site.

 

Entry requirements A Level BBB

Select Reading as your firm choice on UCAS and we'll guarantee you a place even if you don't quite meet your offer. For details, see our firm choice scheme.

Typical offer

BBB including a grade B in English Literature or a related subject. Related subjects include: English Language, English Language and Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, and Creative Writing.

All suitable applicants will be interviewed and will need to provide a portfolio of their work.

International Baccalaureate

30 points overall including 5 in English or related subject at higher level.

Extended Project Qualification

In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) provides to students for University study, we can now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer.

BTEC Extended Diploma

DDM including comparable subject modules.

English language requirements

IELTS 7.0, with no component below 6.0

For information on other English language qualifications, please visit our international student pages.

Alternative entry requirements for International and EU students

For country specific entry requirements look at entry requirements by country.

Pre-sessional English language programme

If you need to improve your English language score you can take a pre-sessional English course prior to entry onto your degree.

  • Find out the English language requirements for our courses and our pre-sessional English programme

Structure

  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3
  • Year 4

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Compulsory modules:

  • Art Studio
  • Drawing
  • Introduction to Creative Writing
  • Poetry in English

Optional modules:

  • Introduction to Drama 
  • Modern American Culture and Counterculture
  • Thinking Translation: History and Theory
  • Shelf Life
  • What is Comparative Literature? 

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Compulsory modules:

  • Art Studio 2
  • Creative Writing: Poetry

Optional modules:

  • History of Art 3
  • International Study 
  • Creative Writing: Non-fiction and Long-Form Journalism
  • Creative Writing: The Short Story
  • Early Modern Literature
  • Eighteenth-Century Satirists and Novelists
  • Romantics and Victorians 
  • Myth, Legend and Romance: Medieval Storytelling
  • Modernism in Poetry and Fiction 
  • Contemporary Fiction 
  • The Business of Books 
  • Writing America: Perspectives on the Nation 
  • Writing the Public Sphere
  • Critical Thinking

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Compulsory modules:

  • Art Studio 2b
  • Situated Art Practice

Optional modules:

  • Hitchcock 
  • Utopia and Dystopia in English and American Literature 
  • Psychoanalysis and Text 
  • Family Romances: Genealogy, Identity, and Imposture in the Nineteenth-Century Novel
  • Black British Fiction 
  • American Graphic Novels
  • Writing Women: Nineteenth Century Poetry
  • Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury 
  • Dickens
  • Oscar Wilde and the World of Art
  • Publishing Cultures: Writers, Publics, Archives 
  • Nigerian Prose Literature: From Achebe to Adichie 
  • Medieval Otherworlds 
  • Environment, Ecology and Literature 
  • Creative Writing Master Class: Poetry
  • Creative Writing Master Class: Prose
  • Decadence and Degeneration: Literature of the 1880s and 1890s 
  • Margaret Atwood 
  • Bibliotherapy: Writing and Health
  • Modern and Contemporary British Poetry
  • Literature and Mental Health
  • Shakespeare on Film 
  • Childrens Literature
  • The Bloody Stage
  • From Romance to Fantasy

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Compulsory modules:

  • Art Studio 3b
  • Dissertation for Art and Creative Writing: Joint Honours Students

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Fees

New UK/Republic of Ireland students: £9,250

New international students: £22,350

UK/Republic of Ireland fee changes

UK/Republic of Ireland undergraduate tuition fees are regulated by the UK government. These fees are subject to parliamentary approval and any decision on raising the tuition fees cap for new UK students would require the formal approval of both Houses of Parliament before it becomes law.

EU student fees

With effect from 1 August 2021, new EU students will pay international tuition fees. For exceptions, please read the UK government’s guidance for EU students.

Additional costs

Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

Placement year fees

If you spend a full year on placement, you will only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee for that year. For more information, please see our fees and funding pages or contact placements@reading.ac.uk.

Careers

A degree in art and creative writing will prepare you to enter professions across the cultural field. For example, you could choose to work in:

  • museum and gallery education
  • publishing
  • postproduction
  • theatre
  • television
  • public relations.

You will enter the job market with practical experience and highly-developed research and communication skills. You will know how to access reliable information and present your findings in clear and persuasive language. These are valuable skills in today’s economy, where information and communication skills are vital. You will also have the critical and cultural awareness necessary for working in the public sector and the media.

Some of our students decide to continue their studies at postgraduate level; others have successful careers in fields as diverse as law, business administration, web design, teaching, and journalism.

97% of leavers are in work and/or study 15 months after the end of their course (Graduate Outcomes Survey 2018/19; First Degree responders from Art).

Past art and literature graduates have gone on to work for employers such as:

  • Tate
  • Whitechapel Gallery
  • The Burlington Magazine
  • Christies
  • Microsoft
  • BBC
  • The Telegraph
  • Oxford University Press
  • Waterstones
  • Cisco Systems
  • Royal Mint.
 

Contextual offers


We make contextual offers for all our courses.

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