Open College of the Arts

Distance learning at the Open College of the Arts is the ability to access education in the arts anywhere in the world without the need to travel to a campus, classroom, or teacher. Instead, the learning comes to you, into your office, your studio, your dining room. 

From Great Britain to the Galapagos Islands, America to the Arctic, throughout the EU and beyond – no matter where you're living, if you want to study with OCA, we can help. All you need is somewhere for us to post the course and work to, and an internet connection.

OCA offers a range of online creative courses in arts subjects, giving you the ability to study at a level you'd like, at a pace that suits you, anywhere in the world.

Degree-level study is the beginning of an in-depth look at a specific discipline. You'll learn to research, experiment and think around the subject, questioning your own thoughts and those of others. Most importantly, you'll develop your own style and method of working, so that you can create something that is unique to you.

A Masters degree is highly specialised and focuses on a particular subject area. This enables you to become an expert in your chosen field.

We also offer Personal Development courses for students who want to develop their understanding before starting a degree. These highly creative courses offer an excellent entry level introduction to a wide range of artistic disciplines, with both broader and highly specialised course programmes offered.

Creative skills are highly regarded in today's market and host a variety of employment opportunities. Holding a creative arts degree can open many more doors for your personal and career development. Maximise what's available to you and join on an OCA course today.

OCA degree courses are roughly a third of the cost of a campus university and are paid for and delivered on a course unit by unit basis so that your learning experience is as fruitful as it can be.

All OCA degree courses are listed with Student Finance England, Wales, and Northern Ireland allowing eligible students to apply for a Student Loan towards the cost of course fees. Unfortunately, OCA courses are not eligible for Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS).

Being able to work and study at the same time may mean you wish to self-fund your degree. Pay for the course on a unit by unit basis, or even spread the cost even further by taking advantage of our deposit and instalment option available with each course unit, for which a £50 instalment fee is included in the deposit you pay.

As part of OCA's charitable purpose to widen participation in arts education, funds are allocated each year to our Learner Support Scheme.

This means we can offer bursaries to help with the cost of the unit fee where students would be unable to pay the full cost of the fees themselves, and are not eligible for other funding. This includes Scottish students who are not able to gain funding for our courses via Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) and students who are evidenced to be ineligible for Student Finance funding (England, Wales or Northern Ireland).

We accept enrolment for our BA (HONS) and Persoanl Development courses all year round, so you can start at any time that suits you. You don't need to wait for a specific intake month, simply complete the online enrolment form and indicate your preferred start date.

Due to our up-and-coming merger with the Open University, the next intake for MA students is October 2023. Applications are expected to open in Spring 2023.

We have around a hundred tutors based throughout the UK who, just like you, work from their home, studio and workplace. All of our tutors are artists, photographers, designers, writers or composers, as well as being experienced teachers at higher education level.

Your tutor is there to help you develop your skills, give you constructive feedback and guide your practice – think of them as a critical friend. You will work with a number of different tutors during your studies, ensuring you can benefit from the wide ranging experience our tutors can offer.

Throughout your course unit, a combination of audio-visual and written feedback can be negotiated with your tutor, depending on what works best for you.

Whilst at OCA, you'll work primarily from a set text of course materials and resources, but can also sign up to webinars, workshops and study groups in addition to your core learning. Your course materials are accessible online through the virtual learning environment, OCA learn, where you'll also have access to student forums and the student handbook.

Students undertaking Undergraduate or Postgraduate degree study with OCA can access UCA's extensive online library. This includes all e-magazines, e-books and journals.

At the earlier levels of study this may mean subscriptions you made before your studies to subject relevant e-magazines are available to you online. As you progress through your studies you will find the journals invaluable as you increase your contextual research and knowledge.

OCA has a Learner Support Team who work with students with disabilities including mental health issues and other long-term health conditions during their studies.

The team can offer you advice before you start on a course as well as coordinate with relevant departments to make reasonable adjustments for students. They also provide information and support on applying for Disabled Students Allowance and information, resources and advice about specific learning difficulties to academic staff.

As an OCA student you can gain access to discounts with retailers and other services across the country.

In addition, as a fully-fledged student, you’re also part of the National Union of Students (NUS) and entitled to a TOTUM Card, formerly known as an NUS Extra Card. This you have to pay for (you can buy a 1, 2, or 3 year option), but can also act as an ID card, and gives you access to circa 200 discounts including Amazon Prime.

Apart from retailer discounts, you can also gain discounts on software and other packages to help you as a student. 65% off Adobe Creative Cloud, Apple Store for Education offer discounts on a range of Apple hardware, and you can get Office 365 free along with discounts on Microsoft hardware.

Our Enterprise Enhancement Scheme provides funding to students to engage in enterprise activity. This new initiative is open to all students at Level Two (HE5), and Level Three (HE6). This is to cover activities that support you in securing your ambition post-study. This could be attending a conference, an exhibition, a training course or event. It could be setting up a project with other students to design graphics for e-greetings cards, or investment in digital technology to enable you to take innovative images.

We aim to develop post-study skills, provide opportunities to network with other students, alumni, and businesses, and help launch student initiatives.

Open College of the Arts is home-based study so doesn't offer accommodation.

Ask any questions you may have on our forum linked here.