Choosing art therapy or fine art uni options

I want to study art therapy or fine art at uni. Which qualifications or subject backgrounds are best for these courses? Do I need anything specific apart from art itself? 😊

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Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

In terms of art therapy, I'd recommend checking what professional requirements there are for that career (if any) to start with. For example, do you need to register with a particular professional body to become licensed to practice, do you need to do a specifically accredited course, and is that course available at undergraduate level or is it a postgraduate only course? Then you can understand what your training trajectory would be to pursue that career and can look at the specific requirements for the courses and understand at what point you would take them.

In terms of fine art in general, I think A-level Art or equivalent is typically taken although I don't know that it's always a formal requirement. However what is usually required is a creative portfolio, which taking A-level Art or an equivalent art/design course would be sensible for in order to develop an appropriate portfolio through the work you'd be doing on that course anyway. Most courses will also have a history/theory component (albeit this may be small) so a more essay based subject may also be a nice complement but I don't think is normally expected, much less required.

One thing to consider if pursuing fine art is potentially doing an art foundation (FAD) course after your 6th form studies - these are quite commonly done by students pursuing creative arts degrees, and give you a focused year to develop your portfolio while also often having greater leeway in exploring a wider range of media. I think they can be particularly helpful for students who did e.g. A-levels or IB where art is just one of several subjects they're taking usually, as it will also give you a taste of what it's like doing art "full time" so to speak.

They're generally encouraged by art schools and I think many if not an outright majority of students on such courses do take a FAD course before doing the degree. Usually students do a FAD course at a local 6th form or college - it's an FE course (as with A-levels/BTECs/IB etc) so if you're under the age of 19 when starting you usually don't have to pay for it (note though a FAD course is not the same thing as a foundation year at uni, even if the FAD course is itself delivered by a uni! Some unis might also offer both a FAD course and a foundation year or another foundation course that is not a FAD course - the naming is all a bit confusing unfortunately!).

You can read a bit more about FAD courses here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5017684 (note while the original thread was made some years ago PQ keeps it up to date :smile:

Reply 2

Whatswhat

Art therapy is a post graduate masters degree course ,it’s a protected title and practitioners have to be registered with the HCPC. People come via different backgrounds so it might be via an art or other creative first degree or via eg.psychology, social work, nursing backgrounds. Art and psychology plus one other would be a good fit for A level if that’s open to you but it’s more about demonstrating a long term interest/ commitment to art making and making a portfolio. https://baat.org/art-therapy/how-to-become-an-art-therapist/