Postgraduate Study in Fine Art

Postgraduate programmes in Fine Art

Newcastle University offers two postgraduate programmes - the MFA, and the PhD. 

The programmes are delivered and taught by staff who engage in a wide range of innovative practices and research in contemporary Fine Art and Art History. This includes all areas of Fine Art, digital cultures, digital and time-based art, sound, performance, collaborative and interdisciplinary practices, and critical engagements with approaches to both art history and curating contemporary art. 

MFA Fine Art

Our postgraduate MFA (Master of Fine Art) is a two-year full-time studio-based programme in contemporary Fine Art practice. It is designed to enable students to develop careers as professional artists. It is designed for graduates in Fine Art and for those with other backgrounds who wish to establish or extend their position as leading practitioners in the contemporary art world.

We admit a maximum of 12 students per year on to our MFA course.

The programme also offers a grounding for those hoping to progress to PhD degree study.

More information about the MFA programme can be found here.  

Available funding

The NewBridge Project and Newcastle University are pleased to offer two bursaries for students taking the Master of Fine Arts course, starting in September 2024.

These bursaries offer an exciting and significant opportunity to prospective students who might otherwise be unable to undertake postgraduate study due to financial barriers.

The bursaries cover full tuition fees for the two-year MA, as well as a stipend toward living costs of £8000 per year.

This initiative is part of a 3-year programme of development activity led by The NewBridge Project, in partnership with Newcastle University, and supported by the North of Tyne Combined Authority Skills for Growth Programme.

Aimed towards prospective students living in the North of Tyne area (Newcastle, the Borough of North Tyneside, and Northumberland), these bursaries aim to help those who have faced barriers to accessing higher or postgraduate education.

They are intended to create pathways into study for people who have experienced financial hardship or other barriers, and/or have not previously participated in higher education but have a creative practice.

The application deadline for this opportunity is Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

For further information and to submit your application, please visit - https://thenewbridgeproject.com/news/apply-for-a-newcastle-university-mfa-bursary/

Postgraduate Research - PhD

Fine Art has a thriving community of approximately 30 PhD students; it has built a strong reputation for quality of supervision, for its excellent resources for practice and research, and for the success of its graduates.

Newcastle University supports a wide range of both theoretical and practice-led research in Fine Art, Digital Cultures and Art History.  

A practice-led PhD would require three years of full-time study (or six years part-time) and the final submission for the PhD would be a combination of an exhibition of creative work made over the period of study/research and an accompanying/supporting written text of (typically) 30 - 40,000 words.

A text-based PhD would require three years of study (or six years part-time) and the final submission would typically be a thesis of 80,000 words.

Proposals for interdisciplinary projects are also very welcome.

More information about the PhD programme at Newcastle University can be found here.