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Creative Arts and Humanities BA

London, Stratford (UCL East)
Creative Arts and Humanities BA (2024)

UCL's BA Creative Arts and Humanities is a bold and dynamic interdisciplinary undergraduate degree, uniquely bringing together the theory, practice and wider application of creative writing, film and moving image and performance. The course is the first of its kind in the UK.

UK students International students
Study mode
Full-time
Duration
3 academic years
UK tuition fees (2024/25)
£9,250
Overseas tuition fees (2024/25)
£31,100
Programme starts
September 2025
Application deadline
29 Jan 2025
UCAS course code
W800
Apply via UCAS

Entry requirements

A levels IB Diploma Other qualifications
Grades
AAA
Subjects
One essay-based Humanities or Social Sciences subject.
GCSEs
English Language at grade B or 6 and Mathematics at grade C or 4.

Contextual offer information

Contextual offers are typically one to two grades lower than the standard offer. Grade and subject requirements for contextual offers for this programme will be published in Summer 2024.

Points
38
Subjects
A total of 18 points in three higher level subjects, to include one essay based Humanities or Social Sciences subject at grade 6,with no higher level score below 5.

Contextual offer

Contextual offers are typically one to two grade boundaries (equivalent to A levels) lower than the standard offer. IB Diploma grade and subject requirements for contextual offers for this programme will be published in Summer 2024.

UK applicants qualifications

For entry requirements with other UK qualifications accepted by UCL, choose your qualification from the list below:

Equivalent qualification

Pass in Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 33 credits at Distinction and 12 credits at Merit, all from Level 3 units. Please note, where subject specific requirements are stipulated at A level we may review your Access to HE syllabus to ensure you meet the subject specific requirements prior to a final decision being communicated.

Not acceptable for entrance to this programme.

D3,D3,D3 in three Cambridge Pre-U Principal Subjects, to include an essay-based Humanities or Social Sciences subject.

A,A,A at Advanced Highers (or A,A at Advanced Higher and A,A,A at Higher), to include an essay-based Humanities or Social Sciences subject.

Not acceptable for entrance to this programme.

Not acceptable for entrance to this programme.

Successful completion of the WBQ Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate plus 2 GCE A levels at grades AAA, to include an essay-based Humanities or Social Sciences subject.

International applications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

Access and widening participation

UCL is committed to widening access to higher education. If you are eligible for Access UCL you do not need to do anything in addition to the standard UCAS application. Your application will be automatically flagged when we receive it.
Check your Access UCL Scheme eligibility

Undergraduate Preparatory Certificates

The Undergraduate Preparatory Certificates (UPC) prepare international students for a UCL undergraduate degree who don’t have the qualifications to enter directly. These intensive one-year foundation courses are taught on our central London campus.

Typical UPC students will be high achievers in a 12-year school system which does not meet the standard required for direct entry to UCL.

For more information see: ucl.ac.uk/upc.

English language requirements

The English language level for this programme is: Level 3

Information about the evidence required, acceptable qualifications and test providers can be found on our English language requirements page.

A variety of English language programmes are offered at the UCL Centre for Languages & International Education.

Course overview

UCL's BA Creative Arts and Humanities is an interdisciplinary degree that will enable you to develop both your creative and critical skills, focusing on the role of narrative across three forms of creative practice:

  1. Writing: narratives for paper, screen and the digital sphere in fiction and non-fiction genres.
  2. Moving image: making narratives for screen, both fictional and documentary, from static images, storyboards, texts and scripts, to filming, final edit and display.
  3. Performance: working with voice, body and movement to communicate ideas and emotions through performance for stage, film and digital media.

Working with academics as well as creative professionals, you will develop your knowledge and critical understanding of these modes of creative practice in historical, contemporary and future-facing contexts. You will also develop your own creative skills and explore what creativity means in different contexts and how it can be harnessed for meaningful impact in society.

The degree will encourage you to ground your creative expression in practical engagement, with audiences, with communities and with different organisations or employers. You will learn the skills of collaboration, learning how to create with and for others, and develop a range of skills that can be applied across a range of roles and sectors.

Based at our new campus in Stratford, UCL East, you will be part of a community of students studying interdisciplinary degrees in both arts and sciences subjects that are focused on creating, designing and making, with a strong emphasis on active engagement with the world to effect change.

What this course will give you

The BA Creative Arts and Humanities programme will give you advanced skills in narrative and other forms of communication across three different modes of creative practice: writing, performance and moving image. You will explore how these modes work with and influence one another, developing advanced critical and analytical skills. You will gain the technical and creative skills to develop your own powerful narratives. Alongside this you will collaborate with each other and with partner organisations to apply these creative skills to real world problems. 

You will be able to specialise depending on your area of interest to develop high-level skills in writing, performance or moving image, to allow you to become a practitioner yourself or take your creative and critical skills into a wide range of sectors.

You will benefit from world-class research across the arts and humanities at UCL, as well as from creative practitioners working in different fields. You will also be part of a vibrant community of researchers, creators and makers at our new UCL East campus and have access to the rich variety of London's creative and cultural organisations.

Teaching and learning

In each year of your degree you will take a number of individual modules, normally valued at 15 or 30 credits, adding up to a total of 120 credits for the year. Modules are assessed in the academic year in which they are taken. The balance of compulsory and optional modules varies from programme to programme and year to year. A 30-credit module is considered equivalent to 15 credits in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

Upon successful completion of 360 credits, you will be awarded a BA (Hons) in Creative Arts and Humanities.

Modules

Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

The programme’s structure enables you to engage with three modes of creative practice (creative writing, performance and moving image), both critically and practically, alongside professional practice modules that develop your ability to apply your creative skills to local and global challenges.

Year 1

You will explore the fundamentals of 'creativity' and creative experiment, and develop your understanding of key concepts such as the role of narrative within creative practice. You will be required to take compulsory modules in all three creative disciplines.

You will complete your module selection with one optional module subject to approval. This can include a language module taught at the UCL Centre for Languages and International Education (CLIE) or the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).

Year 2

You will be required to take compulsory modules: The Collaborative Economy and UCL East’s Collaborative Design for Society, along with at least one 'pair' of optional critical/practice modules, for example both writing modules or both performance modules, and at least one other practice based module. You will choose two further optional modules subject to approval.

Your choice of modules in your second year will determine the options available to you in your final year. For example, you will need to have taken performance modules in your second year to take final year performance modules. 

Year 3

All students will take the module The Creative Professional, preparing you for today's rapidly changing world of work and the impacts of technology on working contexts and processes, along with a compulsory module in at least one creative discipline. Your learning will culminate in a final-year project to complete a substantial piece of independent creative work in one or more disciplines of creative practice. You will also collaborate with other students on a final degree show to exhibit your work. You will complete your module selection with two optional modules subject to approval.

In each year of study, you will also be able to select from UCL East electives open to students from different disciplines to explore themes of interest.

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Compulsory modules









Compulsory modules



Optional modules

Collaborative Writing








Optional modules

Making Moving Images III

Preparation for Performance 3: Composition and Making

Understanding Performance III: Dramaturgy and the Play Making Process

Writing III: From Planning to Revision


Your learning

This programme offers a distinctive humanities-based curriculum which will require you to engage with both theoretical/critical and creative/production elements of creative production, channelled through a focus on three forms of creative practice; writing, performance and moving image.

The teaching and learning methodologies used throughout the degree will vary depending on the creative discipline but will include lectures, seminars, practical workshops, peer-to-peer reading, collaborative enterprise activities and body, movement and voice training.

As a full-time student, you would be expected to spend approximately 40 hours a week studying. This is made up of a combination of contact hours and self-directed study.

Assessment

The programme includes a wide variety of forms of assessment reflecting the different nature of outputs developed across creative disciplines. You will be able to demonstrate your learning through both group and individual assessment of group work outputs and processes, where you can develop and build skills relevant to employment, such as team-working, collaboration, organisational and personal time management.

You will be supported to understand assessment in these different areas and how they relate to real-world outputs. You will also be enabled to understand the processes of assessment and what it means to be successful at different levels of your degree programme through different approaches, like peer and collaborative assessment.

Example assessment types include critical essays, performance, short films, presentations and reflective learning diaries or picture essays.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team.

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The foundation of your career

As a graduate of the BA Creative Arts and Humanities programme, you will develop the following skills and attributes to prepare you for a wide range of life and career choices:

  • A critical understanding of the complex, diverse and often tangled stories of the contemporary world, including who gets to tell these stories and why.
  • The ability to develop narratives clearly and innovatively in a range of creative forms, combined with an ability to combine, translate and switch between forms of creative practice.
  • The ability to transfer narrative and creative problem-solving skills into the workplace, understanding how they can of value in economic, cultural and social contexts.
  • Critical understanding of the creative industries as a major global sector, including current issues and future trends, and issues around diversity and inclusion.
  • Experience of creative production across a range of creative formats, including writing, performing, podcast and audio production, and film.
  • Skills in working collaboratively with, and for, others to produce creative outputs.
  • Creative problem-solving skills, and the ability to respond creatively and flexibly to briefs.

You will also be well placed to go onto postgraduate study, whether more specialised programmes in particular forms of creative practice (such as master's degrees in Creative Writing or Drama), more vocational programmes (Master's in Arts and Cultural Management, Master's in Journalism, for example), as well as more traditional master's programmes in the humanities.

Employability

Likely employment destinations for graduates will include the many possibilities contained in the creative economy, including all forms of media, social media enterprise, cultural heritage, journalism and digital content creation.

We believe that graduates of the programme will be valued anywhere that narrative insights are essential to communicating core purposes and where the ability to harness creativity is held in high esteem.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time
Tuition fees (2024/25) £9,250
Tuition fees (2024/25) £31,100

The fees indicated are for undergraduate entry in the 2024/25 academic year. The UK fees shown are for the first year of the programme at UCL only. Fees for future years may be subject to an inflationary increase. The Overseas fees shown are the fees that will be charged to 2024/25 entrants for each year of study on the programme, unless otherwise indicated below.

Full details of UCL's tuition fees, tuition fee policy and potential increases to fees can be found on the UCL Students website.

Additional costs

Media equipment will be provided for students to use as part of compulsory modules.

There may be additional costs to purchase entry to art galleries, museums or similar as part of field trips for some modules (such as Making Moving Images I and II).

Students may wish to purchase entry to other museums/galleries around London as part of their wider experience but this will not be a requirement of the programme.

There may be additional travel and expenses, such as refreshments or meals, associated with an internship or the undertaking of project work at an employer’s premises.

Students may incur travel costs if they wish to attend UCL events on the Bloomsbury campus or if they have permission to undertake a module or other learning on the Bloomsbury campus.

A guide including rough estimates for these and other living expenses is included on the UCL Fees and funding pages. If you are concerned by potential additional costs for books, equipment, etc., please get in touch with the relevant departmental contact (details given on this page).

Funding your studies

Various funding options are available, including student loans, scholarships and bursaries. UK students whose household income falls below a certain level may also be eligible for a non-repayable bursary or for certain scholarships. Please see the Fees and funding pages for more details.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Scholarships

The Scholarships and Funding website lists scholarships and funding schemes available to UCL students. These may be open to all students, or restricted to specific nationalities, regions or academic department.

Next steps

Your application

Your application will be assessed on the basis of past and projected academic performance, your personal statement and your academic reference. Your application should provide evidence that the majority of the following qualities are applicable to you: - Prepared for critical enquiry into the arts and humanities. - Prepared for engagement with practical creative skills, such as in writing, performance and moving image. - Prepared to think critically and creatively to seek new connections between humanities knowledge and humanities practice. - Interested in engaging in wider societal, cultural and global issues from a humanities perspective. - Interested in careers involving cultural entrepreneurship and intercultural exchange. We are interested in your experience of critical thinking in arts and humanities and in areas of arts practice covered in the degree (creative writing, performance, moving image). While these may well be covered in your formal academic performance at school or college, we are also interested if you have developed skills outside of formal learning; for example, in developing practical skills in writing for school magazines or blogs, or participating in film, drama, dance or theatre clubs.

How to apply

Application for admission should be made through UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). Applicants currently at school or college will be provided with advice on the process; however, applicants who have left school or who are based outside the United Kingdom may obtain information directly from UCAS.

Selection

For further information on UCL's selection process see: How we assess your application.

Apply via UCAS
Application guidelines
Download prospectus

Got questions? Get in touch

Arts and Sciences BASc
Arts and Sciences BASc

uasc-ug-admissions@ucl.ac.uk

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