Fine Art and History of Art MA (Hons)

Level: Undergraduate

Subject: Art

Year of entry: 2027

Key facts

UCAS Code

VW27

Award

MA (Hons)

Duration of study

4 years

Delivery

Full-time

Study location

Lauriston campus

Start date

September 2027

School

Edinburgh College of Art

College

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Study abroad

Available

Placement

Available

Open days and events

About the degree programme

If you love both making art and studying the history and theory of art, then the Fine Art and History of Art MA (Hons) degree is for you.

This four-year programme combines the studio practice of fine art with the academic study of the history of art. It provides an equal split between art practice and art history.

You will gain a professional understanding of artistic practice and an extensive knowledge of art history and its study methods.

How long it takes to complete this degree programme

This programme is studied over 4 years.

Programme benefits

  • Study fine art at a renowned art college within a research-intensive, world-leading university.
  • Have full access to the range of technical facilities and workshops offered at Edinburgh College of Art, as well as full access to the libraries and study spaces at the University of Edinburgh
  • Benefit from working with staff that include practising artists, theorists, writers and curators with in-depth specialist knowledge and experience.
  • Benefit from regular research seminars and artist talks during term time, when visiting experts and artists come to speak to staff and students about their latest research and work.
  • History of Art at the University of Edinburgh is one of the largest departments of its kind in the UK, offering a wide range of specialist subjects. In the first two years of your degree, you can choose ‘electives’ or outside courses to study including language courses.
  • Be part of an active and engaged student community, including the History of Art Society, the Contemporary Art Society, the Edinburgh Gallery Society, Art Society and the Photography Society. 

Find your entry requirements

Use the dropdowns to find out your entry requirements.

  1. Select the country or region where you are studying or where you studied your qualification.
  2. Select the qualification you are studying or studied.
United Kingdom,

Additional costs

To fully participate in this programme students are recommended to budget a minimum of £100 per year for general art materials such as sketchbooks, pens, pencils, paper.

Cost of materials

Course organisers will support you in meeting intended learning outcomes of studio courses while keeping material costs to a minimum. However, depending on the focus of your projects during the programme, you may optionally choose to incur costs associated with realising aspects of your work.

Such costs are not compulsory and depend on the nature of your chosen individual project work.

Travel costs

There will likely be costs associated with travel to visit exhibitions or local sites for History of Art course. 

These are usually limited to £10 to £20 per visit and normally take place once per semester.

 

Costs for an optional year abroad

If you study abroad in Year 3 through the University's study exchange programme, you will need to pay related costs. These include:

  • tuition fees
  • accommodation and living costs
  • country-specific expenses like travel, visas and insurance

You can use our budget calculator to help estimate your costs.

Find out more about costs for studying abroad

You can also use a tool like Numbeo to compare the cost of living abroad to Edinburgh or your home town or city.

Numbeo

Accommodation and living costs

You will need to pay for your accommodation and living costs (such as rent, food and utility bills) for the duration of your programme.

For 2026-2027, we estimate that it will cost an average of £1,546 each month to live in Edinburgh as a single undergraduate student. This equates to £13,914 for a 39-week academic year and £18,552 for a full year.

The exact amount you spend will depend on different factors, especially the accommodation you choose.

Living costs: estimates explained 

Scholarships and funding

Funding information

You can find detailed information on financial support available, based on where you are living, in our funding section.

Funding

What you will study

You will study both the history of art and studio-based disciplines throughout this four-year programme.

This will include:

  • painting
  • sculpture
  • intermedia art
  • printmaking

You can expect a mix of lectures, seminars, and tutorials in both art and history of art, as well as self-guided study and studio time. You will also engage with critiques in the studio, in which you will have the opportunity to hear feedback on your work from both tutors and peers. 

More detailed information on the degree programme and course options will be published in April 2027.

In Year 1 your study is equally weighted between art practice and the history of art.

Art Practice

For this side of your studies, you will work in studios and learn alongside students from other School of Art BA (Hons) subjects.

You will take Art in Practice 1.

This will involve projects introducing different methods, materials and approaches to art practice. Teaching methods in the School of Art include tutorials, demonstrations and critiques.

History of Art

For history of art, you will take History of Art 1A and History of Art 1B. These courses cover the period from years 500 to 1700, introducing you to a global art history and developing your skills as an art historian. Teaching is delivered in lectures and tutorials.

You will also choose 40 credits of option courses from across the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. These are normally made up of two 20-credit courses. 

In Year 2 your study is also equally weighted between art practice and the history of art.

Art Practice

You will take Art in Practice 2.

In the studio, you will begin to study with a more focused range of materiality and practices.

Through seminars, you will learn the links between art history and studio methodologies.

History of Art

For history of art, you will take History of Art 2A and History of Art 2B, continuing your journey through a global art history from the year 1700 to the present day.

Option courses

You will also choose 40 credits of courses from across the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

In Year 3 the emphasis shifts towards specialisation.

Art Practice

You will take Art in Practice 3.

In this course you will continue to develop your engagement with, and understanding of, artistic studio practices. It will support you to develop and conduct your own independent artistic enquiries while enriching your understanding of artistic research and professional practice within the field of art.

Individual tutorials and group critiques will help you critically analyse your work. This includes analysing your work and methods of investigation with current fine art practice.

History of Art

For history of art, you will choose two 20-credit optional specialist courses from a range of topics. In the past, these have included:

  • ancient, medieval, renaissance and modern art in Europe
  • Islamic and Asian art
  • contemporary art history and theory courses covering 21st-century practices in an international context

You will have the opportunity to apply for a work placement in a local cultural organisation.

In Year 3 you will also develop your research skills by writing an independent history of art project. You will be supported with regular supervision from a member of staff.

You may also apply for international exchange to study abroad in Year 3. 

In your final year, you will choose between writing a dissertation or participating in the Graduate Show. You will continue to take specialist option courses in history of art, and consolidate your studio work in Art in Practice 4.

History of Art Dissertation

If you choose to focus on the history of art dissertation, you will spend the year researching an independent project on a topic of your choice, which will be submitted at the end of Semester 2. You will be supported with regular supervision from a member of staff.

Graduate Show

If you choose to focus on preparing for the Graduate Show, this is an opportunity to exhibit your work at the annual Edinburgh College of Art degree show.

You will spend most of the year on research and producing work in the studios. You will present a self-directed body of work to show your ability. This should demonstrate a high level of:

  • critical analysis
  • personal vision
  • awareness of its context in current art practice

You can see work submitted by previous graduates on our 2026 Graduate Show page.

MA Fine Art Graduate Show

Study abroad

You will have the opportunity to study abroad in Year 3 of this degree at one of our partner universities.

If international travel restrictions allow, you may be able to choose where you study from our selection of international partners.

A study abroad experience will allow you to immerse yourself in a different culture, enrich your learning and enhance your future job opportunities.

Your study abroad options

Placements

We work with several industry leaders, including galleries and museums to provide opportunities for Year 3 students to undertake internships in curation, gallery management, exhibition production and archiving. These include:

  • National Library of Scotland
  • Alasdair Gray Archive
  • Talbot Rice
  • Art in Translation
  • City Art Centre
  • Pollock House

Placements are awarded after a competitive application process. All students who are interested in applying for a placement are encouraged to do so and will benefit from workshops focused on writing applications and CVs, and preparing for interviews.

Field trips

You will go on regular field trips to galleries, exhibitions, arts organisations and events across Edinburgh as part of your scheduled teaching.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

In Years 1 and 2 learning and teaching involves:  

  • lectures
  • tutorials
  • independent study, with a focus on reading in preparation for lectures and tutorials  
Lectures  

Lectures are delivered by experts in the field and provide an overview of key themes, concepts and questions relating to the week's topic.  

Tutorials  

In tutorials, the emphasis is on student discussion in small groups. Some courses also incorporate small student study groups, which help you learn from each other in preparation for tutorials.  

Years 3 and 4 involve more seminars (similar to tutorials, but with more emphasis on discussion and debate) and independent study. You will have one-to-one supervision meetings to support your independent learning and individual research projects.    

Teaching in art

Art education takes a diverse range of approaches to developing you as a student and artist.  You are not being trained towards a single goal or skill. You will be educated to develop your visual, conceptual, critical and intellectual abilities.

For your future professional life, you will also need to be able to express yourself in both written and oral forms while also developing your technical competencies relevant to our discipline. To achieve these aims you will be taught through:  

  • group and individual tutorials 
  • critiques of individual and group work 
  • technical instruction through access and induction to ECA’s workshop provision and technical support team 
  • lectures 
  • seminars 
  • workshops 
  • field trips 
  • visiting artist talks

Some of these will be similar to what you have encountered in your prior education. Others are specific to art education and may be new to you.

Tutorials

We use tutorials to focus conversation with you regarding your work, and the work of peers who share your interests. Specialist academic staff will provide you with insights from their own experience and knowledge of the subject of art. This will help you in developing your learning and work, and how to manage this process and expectations connected to it. This is an essential form of learning where you will receive formative feedback and guidance that will help you progress towards assessment.

Project space critiques

A critique or ‘crit’ is an opportunity to see how your work is viewed and understood by others.

Sometimes critiques will take place in spaces within ECA, and at other times if appropriate online or off-site. Part of your learning journey is critically engaging with this form of learning and experimenting with what is useful to you and others in this process.

Regardless of what form they take, the purpose of studio critiques is to create a space to participate in discussion.

Workshops

Workshops come in a range of different forms on our programme. In general, they are either:

  • technical workshops where you receive support from technical staff to learn skills and techniques of making in specific media
  • artistic or research workshops where you are introduced to a specific way of thinking about and/or making work through hands-on experience of the work of an artist, researcher or specialist instructor

What both types of workshops share is the process of working alongside peers to practically explore something and learn from and with one another.

Assessment

Assessment across the Fine Art and History of Art MA (Hons) programme will include both formative and summative assessment methods.

Formative assessment

Formative activities are designed to provide you with experience in modelling what future submissions for summative assessment could look like or include.

Feedback on formative work aids your progress and development but does not contribute to your final grade.

Formative activities also support the teaching team to understand and help you develop your knowledge and skills.

Summative assessment

Summative assessment is the process of evaluating your work at a point in time. You will receive a grade for each learning outcome on every course you take.

Grades are confirmed at the Examination Board. This happens at the end of each semester, and they are then combined to produce a single, numerical mark for each of your courses.

Assessment in history of art

Our courses use a variety of assessment methods, including:

  • exams
  • essays
  • study portfolios
  • exhibition proposals
  • presentations
  • participation in tutorials and seminars
Assessment in art

Across art, you will be assessed across a range of different forms of coursework. These include, but are not limited to:

  • research documents and sketchbooks 
  • portfolios of artworks 
  • reflective accounts of your work 
  • individual and group presentation of work 
  • written and/or audio essays 
  • artist statements and project designs 
  • career plans 
  • documentation of projects

Assessment and grading of this coursework are directly aligned to learning outcomes for each course you study so you can identify what you have achieved.

Each course you study has its specific learning outcomes and forms of assessment.

We have a shared responsibility to ensure you understand how you are being assessed and how you should engage with these processes.

This is an indicative timetable and may be subject to change.

Monday

  • 10am to 5pm: Art in Practice 1

Tuesday

  • 10am to 11am: History of Art 1 lecture

Wednesday

  • Morning: Art in Practice 1 workshops with technical team

Thursday

  • 10am to 11am: History of Art 1 lecture
  • 2pm to 3pm: History of Art 1 tutorial

Friday

  • 10am to 11am: History of Art 1 lecture

Your selected option courses will occur in time slots that do not clash with your core teaching.

You will be expected to undertake self-directed study in the remaining time. This will involve:

  • completing formative tasks and assignments related to your courses
  • preparing for tutorial or seminar discussions
  • undertaking independent research
  • writing essays and other assessments
  • making use of our technical facilities
  • working in the studio 

Support for your studies

ECA’s Student and Academic Support Service (SASS) supports students throughout their studies in all degree programmes at ECA.

You will have a dedicated Student Adviser, based within SASS, who is specially trained to support you during your studies. Your Student Adviser will be your first point of contact for any support, including questions about your studies or your well-being. Your Student Adviser can support you with:

  • personal or wellbeing issues that you are facing, including how to access specialist support
  • queries related to your programme, such as course enrolments, programme transfers and academic progression
  • applying for extensions and special circumstances
  • advice about how to take a break from your studies
  • registering with the Disability and Learning Support Service

If you’re unsure who to ask, you can contact your Student Adviser as a first point of contact.

Support for your studies

Our academic staff

You will join a community of practising artists, writers, critics and curators working across visual, and material culture. We think, make and critically reflect.

The majority of our faculty members in the subject area teach in the programme.

You will meet, and work with most of them during your studies. You can explore the ECA People Directory to discover more of the staff you will learn from.

ECA People Directory

Where you will study

Study location

The majority of your teaching, including lecturers and seminars, will take place at ECA's Lauriston Campus in the Central Area. Each year, you will be assigned a studio in our main building.

You will also get to experience lectures and classes across the wider University of Edinburgh campus.

Academic facilities

Throughout your studies, you will have access to a wide range of spaces, facilities and equipment to aid you in experimenting with artistic processes and making work.

Our purpose-built Main Building includes painting studios and studios for sculptural work.

Specialist workshops

In addition to the studios, you will be taught across a range of specialist workshop environments, which are predominantly located in the ECA Main Building, Hunter Building and our Evolution House building.

You'll have access to:

  • foundry and casting rooms
  • hot and cold glasswork facilities
  • metal workshops
  • wood workshops
  • specialist analogue and digital photography suits
  • printmaking suite
  • digital fabrication facilities

In addition to these facilities, we also have the ECA Store on-campus where you can purchase materials for your artistic projects, along with our Free-Use Hub where you can access free recycled materials.

You will also have access to Bookit, where you can access and loan a wide range of digital and technical equipment for free as part of being a student.

Bookit - Equipment loans and studio booking

You can find out more on the ECA website.

Facilities and resources at ECA 

Virtual tour

You can take a closer look at the Edinburgh College of Art and explore our facilities and campus with our virtual tour.

Take a virtual tour of Edinburgh College of Art

Career paths

Studying towards a degree in fine art is a highly transferable qualification, providing you with a significant foundation upon which to build a dynamic and fulfilling career.

Our students go on to become:

  • curators
  • artists
  • archivists
  • teachers
  • gallerists

Many have had successful careers as artists, exhibiting commercially and in institutions internationally. Previous graduates have gone on to be directors of institutions or started their own galleries.

Students have also gone in less traditional directions and have found careers in:

  • marketing
  • copyediting and copywriting
  • poetry and other creative writing
  • journalism
  • teaching, or art and art history

We have also had students use the transferable skills they have learned through their degrees to work with charitable organisations and project management.

Find out more on the ECA alumni website 

Careers Service

Our Careers Service can help you to fully develop your potential and achieve your future goals.

The Careers Service supports you not only while you are studying at the University, but also for up to two years after you finish your studies.

With the Careers Service, you can:

  • access digital resources to help you understand your skills and strengths
  • try different types of experiences and reflect on how and what you develop
  • get help finding work, including part-time jobs, vacation work, internships and graduate jobs
  • attend careers events and practice interviews
  • get information and advice to help you make informed decisions

Visit the Careers Service website

Further study

After you complete your programme, you may want to go onto further study at Edinburgh or a different university. You could progress to:

  • a masters degree
  • a postgraduate diploma or certificate
  • a PhD
  • a second undergraduate degree

Find out about options for further study 

Postgraduate degrees you might be interested in could include:

Graduate profiles

How to apply

You must submit a full application through UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) before the relevant deadline.

Guidance on applying through UCAS

What you need to apply

As part of your application, you will need:

  • your academic qualifications
  • a personal statement
  • evidence of your English language skills (with relevant qualifications)
  • a reference
  • a portfolio

Portfolio

You need to submit a digital portfolio as evidence of your artistic ability and potential. You should start planning your portfolio as soon as you decide to apply.

You will upload your portfolio through a separate system after you apply through UCAS.

The portfolio submission period is from 1 December 2026 to 27 January 2027.

If you do not complete your portfolio submission by the deadline, your application will be unsuccessful.

Portfolio format
  • 1 PDF containing up to 20 pages (maximum of 5 pages for each of the 4 assessment criteria)
  • The file should be a maximum of 50MB (any resolution)
  • You should name the file with your universal username (UUN), for example, "s2212345"
  • Each page of your PDF can contain multiple images and text
What to include
  • Initial research, investigative work, examples of how you explore your ideas, and your finished pieces of work
  • Short accompanying text that provides insight into your process, critical thinking and reflection
  • Personal projects as well as your school work
Example portfolios

View example portfolios on the Edinburgh College of Art website

Your page layout, type of work and style will likely be completely different, but these examples should give you an idea of the balance of text and image we expect to see.

Do not attempt to copy these examples.

Portfolio assessment criteria

We use four criteria to assess your portfolio: 

  1. Visual research and enquiry: the level of your engagement in structured visual enquiry and how well you communicate this.
  2. Idea development: your ability to explore and develop your ideas, and your level of skill in the use of appropriate materials and techniques.
  3. Selection and resolution: how well you judge which ideas have the most appropriate potential and your ability to complete them to good standard.
  4. Contextual awareness: the depth of your knowledge of the subject, including practitioners and other sources of inspiration, and how your work relates to it.

Your portfolio will be assessed by a team of academic staff with professional expertise and specialist knowledge.

We understand that not all applicants will have access to the same types or level of resources to produce their final works. Instead, we are particularly interested in:

  • your potential
  • how you have researched and developed your ideas in a visual way
  • how you engage with the visual arts through your imagination and creative responses to ideas, observations, processes, and concepts.
Fine Art portfolios

A strong portfolio for Fine Art is likely to include:

  • 5 pages of enquiry and visual research
  • 5 pages of idea development and material/technical exploration
  • 5 pages of critical judgement, selection and resolution
  • 5 pages of contextual and professional awareness
Enquiry and visual research

What have you looked at? How have you examined your chosen subjects and why? How have they influenced or inspired your work?

Include examples from your sketchbooks and notebooks of natural and/or man-made phenomena such as objects, places, and events which have provoked a response in your work, or influenced its content. This could include:

  • photographs and drawings, along with related visual material (both found and/or digital)
  • examples of artworks being used as reference or inspiration for your work
Idea development and material/technical exploration

What materials, ideas and techniques have you experimented with and how? What worked and what did not? What did you learn and what choices did you make based on these developments?

You can include drawings, illustrations and designs that demonstrate the various stages of development in your projects. This could include:

  • 3D works and renders
  • reproductions of textile and printmaking materials and processes
  • moving image stills or storyboards for the development of film works or performances
  • documentation of maquettes or models
  • collages
  • phases of developing sculptures
  • mixed media works
Critical judgement, selection and resolution

Demonstrate your ability to self-edit and curate a coherent selection of works.

Include well-lit and high-resolution documentation of the final outcomes from your projects. This can include, but is not limited to:

  • images of single works
  • images of multiple works installed or exhibited together in a space
  • still images from finalised moving image works
  • documentation from live performances
  • screenshots of online projects and/or digital works
Contextual and professional awareness
  • What kinds of philosophical, theoretical and professional awareness does your portfolio communicate?
  • What exhibitions or events have you attended?
  • What articles about art have you read?
  • What artworks have you seen or watched that have deepened your understanding of contemporary art?
  • What workshops, programmes, or performances have you participated in or attended?

Include documentation and brief reflections on things you have attended or visited in person, or experienced online.

You could share examples of people working in a similar medium, those interested in similar subjects or themes and for similar audiences. 

Make clear links (where possible) between how these examples and experiences relate to your own comprehension of what art is and can be about. This will help us understand how you are developing your work in relation to the field of art more broadly and contextualising your place within it.

Applicants to second year entry

The same criteria applies for applicants to second year entry. However, we expect to see greater depth and breadth in examples of your work and research. 

This reflects our expectations of how students develop during their first year and your suitability for Year 2 of the programme.

When to submit your portfolio

After you submit your application to UCAS, you will need to submit your portfolio to the University through a separate process.

You will receive instructions to the email address you included in your UCAS application. You will not be notified via UCAS.

The deadline for portfolio submissions is 27 January 2027 at 12pm (midday) GMT.

When you will get our decision

We will let you know if your application has been successful after it has been reviewed by our assessors.

We aim to make all decisions by the end of April. You will receive a decision no later than 7 May 2027.

How we select

If you have met, or are predicted to meet, all our entry requirements by the relevant deadline, then your application will go into our selection process.

As part of this selection process, we will review all the information you submit in your UCAS application when we decide who to select for this degree programme.

How we select applicants

When to apply

  • 2027 entry UCAS deadline: 13 January 2027 (6:00pm GMT)

This is the deadline for all UK, EU and international applicants to non-medicine and veterinary medicine programmes.

To find out if any degree programmes have spaces after 13 January 2027, search the University of Edinburgh on the UCAS website.

Search degrees that are open on the UCAS website

Key application dates and deadlines

After you apply

After you have applied for your degree programme, we suggest you have a look at the following information to help you prepare for university:

Applying as an international student

As an international student, you apply for this degree programme through UCAS.  

Find out more about applying through UCAS  

Visas and immigration 

If you do not have the right to live in the UK, you will need to apply for and secure a Student visa before the start date of your degree programme.  

Our Student Immigration Service can help you with the Student visa application process. 

Applying for a visa  

Agents

An education agent is someone who can help you with the application process as an international student. 

We work with education agents around the world and have a list of local offices you can contact.  

Find contact details for an education agent

What our students say

What is it really like to study here? Our students share their experiences on our social media.

You can find out what a day in the life is like for an Edinburgh College of Art Student, from late nights in the library to their favourite walks around the city!

Instagram: Edinburgh College of Art

Accommodation

We guarantee an offer of University accommodation for all new, single undergraduate students from outside Edinburgh. To be eligible, you need to meet all criteria and apply for accommodation by 31 July in the year of your entry to the University.

University accommodation website

Accommodation guarantee criteria

If you prefer to live elsewhere, we can offer you advice on finding accommodation in Edinburgh.

Accommodation information from the Edinburgh University Students' Association Advice Place

Societies and clubs

There are a number of subject-specific societies that might be of interest to you throughout your studies. These include:

  • History of Art Society
  • Contemporary Art Society
  • Arts and Heritage Society

Societies aren't only subject-specific. You can find a society for almost any interest, cause or hobby at the University of Edinburgh.

Societies

Sports clubs

The city of Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s dynamic cultural scene boasts the largest collection of historic buildings, museums, art galleries and theatres of any city in Scotland.

The University of Edinburgh’s museums and galleries include:

  • the Talbot Rice Gallery
  • Centre for Research Collections
  • St Cecilia’s Hall: Concert Room and Music Museum

Edinburgh is home to several major annual festivals, each bringing talent from around the world to our streets and stages, making the celebration of diversity an intrinsic part of the city’s culture. These include the:

  • Festival Fringe
  • Film Festival
  • Art Festival
  • Book Festival
  • Jazz and Blues Festival

Some of our students even participate in our annual festivals.

Health and wellbeing support

You will have access to free health and wellbeing services throughout your time at university if you need them.

The support services we offer include:

  • a student counselling service
  • a health centre (doctor's surgery)
  • support if you're living in University accommodation
  • dedicated help and support if you have a disability or need adjustment

Health and wellbeing support services

Contact us

Contact us through our enquiry team if you have any questions about this programme.

Open days, events and visits

Find out when our next open days will be taking place

Open days, events and visits

Chat to our students on Unibuddy

Related degree programmes

Other degrees in Art

You may also be interested in

Discover Uni data

This information is part of a government initiative to enhance the material that higher education institutions provide about their degree programmes.

It is one of many sources of information which will enable you to make an informed decision on what and where to study.

Some programmes do not have Discover Uni data available.

Source data of all entry requirements for this programme