Course summary
Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience. In May 2022 we were awarded the Best Small or Specialist University at the 2022 WhatUni Student Choice Awards coming top in a list of well-respected specialist UK universities, and in 2023 were awarded Silver in the same category, based on unbiased and honest reviews from students across the UK, in a category that highlights the quality of our provision as a specialist creative university. MA Museum Studies at Arts University Plymouth offers a unique opportunity to reimagine the role of the museum within contemporary socio-political debates, working with The Box, Plymouth’s award-winning museum, art gallery and archive (also home to the South West Film & Television Archive), and a range of regional and national museums and collections including Tate St Ives, Tate Britain Archives, and RAMM Exeter. You will explore topics that include decolonisation and the repatriation of objects, distributed digital archives, the educational role of museums, and diversifying collections and audiences. With focuses on socially engaged practice, community building and creativity, your work will be situated in a city and region with a colonial and military heritage that is now emerging as a centre for contemporary art and culture. We’ll support you to pursue your own research directions, which could include: examining the complex process of design, museum curatorship and interpretation; interrogating theories of exhibition and display, audiences and museology; and initiating research projects focused on the practical, pedagogical and theoretical questions underpinning museum education and audience outreach. The Masters will prepare you for a wide range of roles in museums, curation, heritage and arts management, as well as for further postgraduate research.
Modules
Through three sequential phases or modules, we support our students in investigating, testing and developing their ideas in depth. The core tuition includes advanced training in specialist disciplines, research methods, critical thinking, research ethics, project design, professional codes and conceptual frameworks, and an opportunity for negotiated study under specialist supervision. All of our programmes have access to our outstanding workshop facilities. By combining our generic modules with specialist assignments and personal project proposals, we provide depth and specialisation within each subject area, while also equipping you with robust approaches, methodologies and techniques that can be applied across the commercial, social and public sectors. All students are asked to submit an initial research proposal on application to the course. This proposal should explain the kind of work that you want to create in the course of the MA or MFA programme, and identify your key professional aims. Of course, we understand the creative practice is all about change and development, so you won’t be stuck with these initial ideas. Instead, they will form the starting point for a dialogue with your tutors about your work. The first module on the MA examines the role of research methods in creative disciplines. The focus will be upon refining your research proposal through a process of making to ensure that it can act as a robust framework for your study. The second module supports you to identify the kinds of collaborations and public-facing opportunities that will strengthen your identity as a creative practitioner. The final module of each programme may be submitted as a dissertation or as practice, depending on which pathway best suits your concerns as a creative practitioner.
Assessment method
The final module of each programme may be submitted as a dissertation or as practice, depending on which pathway best suits your concerns as a creative practitioner.
Entry requirements
BA 2.2; equivalent professional experience or portfolio; exceptional project proposal.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| Republic of Ireland | £8900 | Year 1 |
| Channel Islands | £8900 | Year 1 |
| EU | £16500 | Whole course |
| England | £8900 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £8900 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £8900 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £8900 | Year 1 |
| International | £16500 | Whole course |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Provider information
Arts University Plymouth
Tavistock Place
Plymouth
PL4 8AT