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Degrees: More Choice, New Specialisms - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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Degrees: More Choice, New Specialisms

We are very pleased to announce that following successful review panels on Tuesday and Wednesday, the OCA has secured validation of six new degrees from the University for the Creative Arts. These degrees are:
BA(Hons) Fine Art
BA(Hons) Drawing
BA(Hons) Graphic Design
BA(Hons) Illustration
BA(Hons) Music
BA(Hons) Moving Image
These six new degrees double the number of undergraduate programmes offered by the OCA and mean students will both have opportunities for greater specialisation and also to choose to study in areas which have not previously offered full degrees. Some of the new programmes represent the first time that degree study by open learning has been offered in the UK (for example, Moving Image) and we believe the Music degree is a global first.
Many of the level one courses which make up the new degree pathways exist already and the degrees will be open to enrol in November for self-funding students. (Unfortunately students wanting to take out student loans to study these degrees will need to wait until September 2016). There will be opportunities for some existing students to transfer to the new degrees, particularly if they are relatively early in their studies with the OCA.
For those of you not familiar with how degrees are approved, the process is that the OCA produces detailed documentation describing each of the degrees and all of the courses units within them. This preparation has taken nearly 12 months. The documents are then reviewed by a panel comprising staff members at UCA and experts appointed by them from other universities. The panel interviews existing students and the the OCA presenting team is then questioned in detail. In addition to approving the degrees the panel commended the professionalism of the OCA team (which comprised Programme Leaders Carla Rees, Caroline Wright, Christian Lloyd, Doug Burton and Matt White) and the quality of OCA course materials. A ringing endorsement.
It will take us a short while to update the pages on our main oca.ac.uk website to provide all the necessary information on these degrees, but we have this in hand. Please bear with us, it is a major undertaking, but the news was too good to keep to ourselves.
Gareth Dent
Principal


Posted by author: Genevieve Sioka

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