- Home
- Search
- Art Studies
- University of Oxford
- Master of Fine Art (MFA)
Course options
-
Qualification
MFA - Master of Fine Art
-
Location
University of Oxford
-
Study mode
Full time
-
Start date
13-OCT-25
-
Duration
9 months
Course summary
About this course
The Ruskin Master of Fine Art (MFA) degree is an intensive one year studio-based programme in the practice of contemporary art. You will be part of a small cohort on a course designed to direct and develop your artistic practice and theoretical knowledge in a supportive environment. The MFA provides an outstanding artistic environment for developing your practice in the context of a postgraduate, arts research culture.
The tutorial system is at the heart of teaching on the MFA and you will be supported by tutors of the highest calibre, with a student-to-staff ratio and contact time that are exceptional in UK art schools. The light and spacious MFA studios are located on the first floor of Ruskin's Bullingdon Road building, with easy access to workshops and media facilities downstairs.
The programme encompasses a diversity of disciplines including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, writing, installation, video, sound, performance, and other expanded forms in contemporary art. It aims to encourage experimentation and nurture a critical focus for your work.
Your artistic interests and those of your peers will be embedded in tutorials, seminars, and presentations, determining the direction of your creative development. You will engage with what it means to work as an artist today, considering how an artist’s work and ideas register in different social, artistic, historical, and theoretical contexts. You will be guided and supported by tutors in regular one-to-one tutorials and weekly seminars, focused on your making, key concerns, ideas, and their interdependent development.
Studio-based learning is facilitated through regular group reflection, which is characterised by collective participation in generous and robust discussion. A programme of dedicated masterclasses and skills workshops is designed specifically for the MFA. Facilities, such as the media lab and editing suites, printmaking workshop, casting, metal, and wood workshops, are on site in the Bullingdon Road building (https://www.rsa.ox.ac.uk/study/resources).
Ruskin students benefit from being part of a large University, with access to lectures and seminars in other departments and colleges and to specialist libraries and collections. The city’s varied cultural organisations include the Ashmolean Museum, Pitt Rivers Museum, and Modern Art Oxford, and students can freely access the Botanical Gardens and many other green spaces in and around Oxford.
The MFA is built around three compact eight-week terms, with students expected to continue working through the winter and spring breaks. A typical week on the MFA during the first two terms (Michaelmas and Hilary) includes: a half day research or practice seminar, an individual tutorial, and a skills workshop or masterclass.
The rest of your time on the course is dedicated to independent study: artistic practice and research in the studio, utilising Ruskin’s workshops and facilities and using the libraries. At the end of second term (Hilary), you will submit an Extended Text in support of the studio project. The last term (Trinity) is focused on the preparation of artwork for the final exhibition and a digital portfolio of studio practice for examination. MFA students and staff work together to curate and install the degree show in the MFA space at Bullingdon Road, which opens at the end of term.
Tuition fees
- Hong Kong
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Angola
- Antigua & Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Belize
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burma
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Canada
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Congo
- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Curacao
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- East Timor
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- England
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Italy
- Ivory Coast
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Korea DPR (North Korea)
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Northern Ireland
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Palestinian Authority
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Qatar
- Republic of Ireland
- Romania
- Russia
- Rwanda
- San Marino
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Scotland
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- South Sudan
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- St Vincent
- St. Kitts & Nevis
- St. Lucia
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Swaziland
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Togo
- Tonga
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- UAE
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Vatican City
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Wales
- Western Samoa
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
£ 41,250per year
Tuition fees shown are for indicative purposes and may vary. Please check with the institution for most up to date details.
University information
-
University League Table
2nd
-
Campus address
University of Oxford, University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 2JD, England
Subject rankings
-
Subject ranking
1st out of 84
-
Entry standards
/ Max 239239 100%1st
-
Graduate prospects
/ Max 10071.0 71%21st
-
Student satisfaction
/ Max 4n/a