Pre-master's in Art and Design

If you are an international student who has completed an Art & Design degree outside of the UK and are looking to come to the UK with the ambition of studying on a Master's course in the same, or related, art and design discipline, our Pre-Master's programme will help prepare you for this transition. This course also suits any UK or European creative practitioner looking for an opportunity to develop their portfolio in anticipation of an application to any UK Master's programme, in any Art & Design discipline, or simply as a means of investing in their own creative practice and professional development.
You should choose to study a Pre-Master's in Art and Design at CSVPA if you
have studied your BA outside the UK and are wishing to adapt your work and study practices to a UK higher educational environment
would like to improve your English Language level for application to a Master's course
would like to develop your portfolio within a dynamic, project-led, attentive, transformative, interdisciplinary creative studio environment
would like to develop potential lines for creative and critical enquiry, developing assumptions and ambitions for further research
This innovative programme is designed to help you develop the skills required for success at Master's level, at CSVPA or elsewhere, bridging the gap between your existing abilities and experience and the realities of postgraduate study. Emphasis is placed on encouraging you to become an independent creative practitioner, who is both critically informed and professionally aware, who wishes to develop deeper understanding of both historical and contemporary contexts for Art and Design, and who wishesto operate with confidence within an English-speaking educational environment.

Our Pre-Master's course will also help you withpresentation and communication skills, will enable you to develop your portfolio, and assist you in acquiring a more sophisticated understanding of specialist terminology and understanding required for entry onto leading Master's courses. The programme will additionally provideyou with the experience of working at apostgraduate level, as you undertake a pilot Master's project, building on existing skills and developing potential lines of research in the process.
There are three pathways within our Pre-Master's programme, which are designed to suit your disciplinary ambitions. You can choose between Art and Design (Fine Art, Product/Industrial Design, Spatial Design, Speculative Design), Fashion (Fashion Design, Fashion Branding, and Creative Communication), and Visual Communication (Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation, Photography, Moving Image).

Participation in a range of experimental labs and workshops will enable the development of new skills, interdisciplinary perspectives, and experience with collaborative creative practice.

Throughout the course, you will assess/evaluate your existing knowledge and skills (technical, conceptual, and contextual). Also, you will learn skills and references that can be applied to all areas of Art & Design, before focussingon any area of specific interest. You will encounter critical thinking and scholarly methods that will help you explore possible lines of research for your intended MA, and which may feed into any study proposals that MA courses may require at the point of application.

Designed activities will provide you with an opportunity to develop your own research proposals, while still working on developing your portfolio.

All the way through this intensive course, you will be focussing on the development of your own creative practice, through detailed research and development. The final outcome is a capstone project, which represents the culmination of your experience at CSVPA, as well as the platform for continued creative enquiry on a Master's programme in the UK.