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UAL Creative Computing Institute

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BSc Creative Computing

College
UAL CREATIVE COMPUTING INSTITUTE
Start date
October 2020
Course length
4 years (with optional Foundation Year)
UCAS code
W29F/W299
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Applications closed 2020/21

We are no longer accepting applications for 2020/21 entry to this course.

Coronavirus updates

All our courses starting in 2020/21 will be running as a mix of on-campus and online activities and will follow UK government safety advice. It may be necessary to make some adjustments to course delivery as a result of this. We will notify applicants and students of any changes directly.

For more information, read our guidance for prospective students during the Coronavirus outbreak.

The BSc Creative Computing is an exciting mix of computing and creative practice set in the context of a world-renowned creative university. You will learn to code, build apps, craft digital experiences, explore machine intelligence and more.

Creative Computing is part of the innovative new UAL Creative Computing Institute supporting interdisciplinary teaching, research and knowledge exchange at the intersection of creativity and computational technologies.

About this course

An exciting chance to develop and apply contemporary computational skills for the digital creative industries. Throughout the course you will acquire a contemporary set of applied computing skills covering the dominant coding languages and workflows that support innovation in the digital technology sector and creative practice. You'll build apps, craft digital experiences, explore machine intelligence and more. Through exposure to a variety of computational technologies and a set of computing and coding skills – much in demand across the digital sector, you'll be equipped to work in a variety of roles within the digital and development industry.

Great reasons to apply:

  • Learn the skills sought after in industry: Creative Developers are sought after in industry with their ability to both translate creative direction into code and deliver creative direction themselves.
  • Additional year in industry: between years two and three of study you'll have the opportunity to pursue an industry placement.
  • Interdisciplinary teaching: you’ll be exposed to different modes of learning and develop a strong technical fluency with computational technologies with discovery-based learning rooted in creative practice.
  • High-quality research informed teaching: the course is significantly informed by the research themes of the newly established UAL Creative Computing Institute (CCI). Integration of computational and creative practice will ensure you have the opportunity to build a successful career in creative practice, the creative industries or within the digital technology sector more broadly.
  • Critical engagement with technology: engagement with creative practice will also build your ability to self-reflect and think critically about your role in shaping the world.
  • UAL Creative Computing Institute (CCI): this newly established UAL will be located within our new academic building at Camberwell. You will have access to purpose built facilities and technical support, and exposure to creative computing research.
  • A material understanding of computational technologies: through creative practice, you will also develop your ability to innovate, enabling you to understand and explore the cultural agency of computational technology.

Follow CCI on Twitter

@UAL_CCi

Facilities

  • Camberwell College of Arts building exterior
    Camberwell College of Arts
  • Camberwell College of Arts mac suite
    Camberwell College of Arts
  • Camberwell College of Arts library computers
    Camberwell College of Arts
  • Camberwell College of Arts canteen
    Camberwell College of Arts
  • Camberwell College of Arts lecture hall
    Camberwell College of Arts

The newly established UAL Institute for Creative Computing will be located within the new building at UAL Camberwell. As well as the purpose built facilities for the Institute, students will have access to the existing Camberwell facilities including a newly built library, canteen and campus shop.

Course overview

The BSc Creative Computing is an exciting mix of computing and creative practice set in the context of a world-renowned creative university. You will lean to code, build apps, craft digital experiences, explore machine intelligence and more. You will acquire a contemporary set of applied computing skills covering the dominant coding languages and workflows that support innovation in the digital technology sector and creative practice. Building on these skills, and through creative practice, you will also develop your ability to innovate. This will enable you to understand and explore the cultural agency of computational technology. Engagement with creative practice also builds your ability to self-reflect and think critically about your role in shaping the world. This integration of computational and creative practice will ensure you have the opportunity to build a successful career in creative practice, the creative industries or within the digital technology sector more broadly.

Course Structure (BSc + Year Zero): As per the UAL Institutes strategy, the ICC “will offer opportunities to develop a new range of products in the HE market that address a different pipeline of students.” And will develop UAL’s “capacity to support a broader range of HE qualifications” which is “considered highly desirable in the context of current schools’ policy and emerging tertiary funding priorities.” And as such the development offers “subject differentiation and addressing the STE(A)M agenda”. To do this robustly it is important that the course supports flexible routes to entry so as to allow progression to UAL in this subject area. The UK schools landscape tends to both specialise students within a STEM or Arts track relatively early and we need to ensure that the course remains open to both given the dual nature of the provision. This means a year zero option that allows students with creative qualifications but not sufficient maths/computing a way to access the course but also allows students with not enough creative experience a similar level of access to UAL. The year zero option also reflects that arts provision is shrinking within schools (with computing growing) and that the UAL foundation does not include specific preparation for this type of provision.

Course units

Year Zero:

Unit summary:

This optional year introduces you to a foundational understanding of creative computing including creative practice and digital production.

  • Introducing Creativity One (20 Credits)
  • Foundational Methods for Creative Computing One (20 Credits)
  • Foundational Methods for Creative Computing Two (20 Credits)
  • Critical Studies: Computational Thinking and Creative Practice (20 credits)
  • Computational Practices: Digital Production (20 Credits)
  • Introducing Computational Practice (20 Credits)

Year One:

Unit summary:

You will begin to broaden your computational skill set with an underpinning in coding – covering an introduction and building to include Data, Maths and Methods. Skills will be applied to creative making and computational practices encompassing sound and image processing as well as experience and physical computing.

  • Coding One: Introduction to Creative Computing and Coding Practice (20 Credits)
  • Coding Two: Data, Maths and Methods (20 Credits)
  • Critical Studies: A History of Computing and Computational Creativity (20 Credits)
  • Creative Making: Design and Visual Coding (20 Credits)
  • Computational Practices: Sound and Image Processing (20 Credits)
  • Creative Making: Experience and Physical Computing (20 Credits)

Year Two:

Unit summary:

As you develop your computational understanding you’ll progress into digital making involving both Experimental Human Computer Interaction and explore Social Platforms.

  • Coding Three: Web Development Studio (20 Credits)
  • Coding Four: Collaborative App Development Studio (20 Credits)
  • Critical Studies: Network Thinking (20 Credits)
  • Computational Practices: Visualisation and Sensing (20 Credits)
  • Creative Making: Experimental Human Computer Interaction (20 Credits)
  • Creative Making: Big Data, The Self and Social Platforms (20 Credits)

Year Three (Optional Year in Industry):

Unit summary:

(The Diploma in Professional Studies is an optional placement year in industry between the second and third year of the course. It is a managed year of professional experience, largely undertaken in the design profession in a variety of national and international locations.

Successful candidates are selected on a competitive basis from academic performance and studentship, successful completion of the DPS bridging studies and by portfolio and proposal. Please view the Diploma in Professional Studies Programme Specification (PDF - 120KB) for more details.)

Year Three / Four:

Unit summary:

In your final year you will explore computational approaches to machine intelligence and the ethical implications of such technologies. Alongside this you will develop creative project work using machine intelligence frameworks and have the opportunity to develop a self directed graduation project that brings together the skills and expertise you have gained throughout the course.

  • Coding Five: Approaches to Machine Intelligence (20 Credits)
  • Critical Studies: Computational Ethics (20 Credits)
  • Creative Making: Art and Artificial Intelligence (20 Credits)
  • Coding Six: Computational Communities and Professional Platforms (20 Credits)
  • Creative Making: Graduation Project (40 Credits)

Learning and teaching methods

You will experience a range of hands on, industry relevant teaching to inform and build your practice methods featuring;

  • Coding workshops, hack-a-thons and lab sessions
  • Theoretical and technical lectures and large group learning
  • Theoretical and technical workshops and seminar learning
  • Individual academic tutorials
  • Self directed learning, making and online tutorials
  • Industry engaged learning with external speakers and company visits
  • Assessed assignments, course work and exams

Assessments methods

Assessments methods include:

  • Exams and tests
  • Assessed course work
  • Portfolio based project
  • Critical essays
  • Presentations through a range of media

Course structure

The information outlined is an indicative structure of the course. Whilst we will aim to deliver the course as described on this page, there may be situations where it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, for example because of regulatory requirements or operational efficiencies, before or after enrolment. If this occurs, we will communicate all major changes to all applicants and students who have either applied or enrolled on the course.

In addition, the provision of course options which depend upon the availability of specialist teaching, or on a placement at another institution, cannot be guaranteed. Please check this element of the course with the course team before making a decision to apply.

Updates

We will update this course from time to time with new information as it becomes available. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact us.

Learning and teaching methods

The course delivered through a series of lectures introducing core topics, providing context and explaining the purpose of tasks. In labs, students will work both individually and in groups to develop knowledge through a series of practical and creative exercises, undertaken throughout the course. Students will work in a programming environment suitable for the creation of real-time, interactive software. In creative making units’ subjects will be introduced through a range of studio-based workshops and assignments supported where appropriate by lectures, seminars, critiques and visits. Independent creative practice is also required.

Assessment methods

  • Paper exams
  • Multiple choice tests
  • Course work
  • Set tasks
  • Presentations
  • Creative practice

How to apply

Opportunities for all

We are committed to making university education an achievable option for a wider range of people and to supporting all of our students in achieving their potential both during and after their courses.

We welcome applications from people with disabilities. If you have a disability (e.g. mobility difficulties, sensory impairments, medical or mental health conditions or Asperger’s syndrome) we strongly encourage you to contact us on disability@arts.ac.uk or +44 (0)20 7514 6156 so that we can plan the right support for you. All enquiries are treated confidentially. To find out more, visit our Disability & Dyslexia webpages.

Entry requirements

The standard entry requirements for this course are as follows:

For Year 1 entry:

·        Grades BCC or above at A-level

·        Merit Merit Merit (MMM) at BTEC Extended Diploma (preferred subjects include Computer Science and ICT, or Design and Technology, or Art and Design)

·        Access to Higher Education Diploma with 104 UCAS tariff points (preferred subjects include Computer Science and ICT, or Design and Technology, or Art and Design)

·        Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4) and 1 A Level at Grade C or above

·        Equivalent EU/International qualifications, such as International Baccalaureate Diploma.

For Year 0 entry:

·        Grades CC or above at A-level

·        Merit Pass Pass (MPP) at BTEC Extended Diploma (preferred subjects include Computer Science and ICT, or Design and Technology, or Art and Design)

·        Access to Higher Education Diploma with 64 UCAS tariff points (preferred subjects include Computer Science and ICT, or Design and Technology, or Art and Design)

·        Equivalent EU/International qualifications, such as International Baccalaureate Diploma.

And three GCSE passes at grade 4 or above (grade A*-C).

Additional Requirements

If students do not have a Science or Mathematics-based A-level, they should normally have at least Grade B/Grade 6 at GCSE Mathematics.

Entry to this course will also be determined by assessment of your personal statement and mini portfolio.

English Language Requirements

If English is not your first language, IELTS 6.0 (or equivalent) is required, with a minimum of 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking. For more details, please check our main English Language requirements webpage.

APEL - Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

Exceptionally applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

•          Related academic or work experience

•          The quality of the personal statement

•          A strong academic or other professional reference

•          OR a combination of these factors

Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

Selection criteria

We select applicants who can demonstrate current ability and potential to:

  • Engage with ideas of creative computing
  • Show imagination and ambition in proposals for their work;

Demonstrate a range of skills and technical abilities

  • Show experience of experimenting with code
  • Demonstrate engagement and improvement in a recently learned technical skill;
  • Demonstrate an awareness of planning and time management skills;
  • Provide evidence of intellectual enquiry within their work;

Demonstrate relevant research skills

  • Evidence your ability to critically reflect on and evaluate your achievements;

Demonstrate cultural awareness and/or contextual framework of their work

  • Identify social and/or cultural influences on their work;

Articulate and communicate intentions clearly

  • Discuss their work in individual and group situations;
  • Present their work appropriately and effectively;

Demonstrate commitment and motivation in relation to the subject and the course

  • Develop their own ideas and address both set and personal project briefs;
  • Show willingness to collaborate;
  • Show initiative.

Making your application

We are no longer accepting applications for 2020/21 entry to this course.

Applications for 2021/22 entry will open in Autumn 2020.

This section includes all the information you need on how to apply and how your application is considered, including entry requirements, selection criteria, making your application, and what happens next. For EU applicants concerned about Brexit, please see our dedicated page: Brexit Information for Students.

You must apply through Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

You’ll need the following information to complete your application:

  • University code: U65
  • Course code (with Foundation year): W29F
  • Course code (without Foundation year): W299

Application deadline

We recommend you apply by 15 January for equal consideration.

However, this course will consider applications after that date, subject to places being available.

Transfers

Entry to Year 2 or Year 3:

If you are currently studying at another institution and have successfully completed 120 credits (year 1) in the equivalent units or modules on a degree course and wish to continue your studies at the Creative Computing Institute, you can apply to transfer to year 2.

The Admissions Tutor will consider applicants for entry to year 2 on a case by case basis, subject to places being available on the course. You must apply through UCAS and indicate point of entry 2 for entry to year 2 on your application. You can find more information in our UAL External Student Transfer Policy.

Please note that for 20/21 entry, there is no Year 3 entry, as the first intake for this course was 2019.

Deferring your place

This course allows offer holders to defer. If you have an offer of a place, but you would like to defer starting for a year, please contact our Admissions Service as soon as possible via your UAL Portal. Make sure you check our Admissions Policy before requesting a deferral.

If you are an EU offer holder, it is important to consider that, from 2021-22, you may be charged International fees, which are higher. Read our Coronavirus guidance for prospective students for details.

Erasmus

For further information on Erasmus and UAL exchange schemes, please visit the Erasmus and Non-Erasmus Exchanges section on the UAL website.

We are no longer accepting applications for 2020/21 entry to this course.

Applications for 2021/22 entry will open in Autumn 2020.

This section includes information on how to apply, course entry requirements, selection criteria, personal statement and portfolio advice.

International applicants can apply through one of three routes only:

You can only apply to the same course once per year whether you are applying via UCAS, UAL representative or using the UAL online application system. Any duplicate applications will be withdrawn. Read the UAL international application advice for further information on how to apply.

Deferring your place

This course allows offer holders to defer. If you have an offer of a place, but you would like to defer starting for a year, please contact our Admissions Service as soon as possible via your UAL Portal. Make sure you check our Admissions Policy before requesting a deferral.

Application deadline

We recommend you apply by 15 January for equal consideration.

However, this course will consider applications after that date, subject to places being available.

Transfers

Entry to Year 2 or Year 3:

If you are currently studying at another institution and have successfully completed 120 credits (year 1) in the equivalent units or modules on a degree course and wish to continue your studies at the Creative Computing Institute, you can apply to transfer to year 2.

The Admissions Tutor will consider applicants for entry to year 2 on a case by case basis, subject to places being available on the course. You must apply through UCAS and indicate point of Entry 2 for entry to year 2 on your application. You find more information in our UAL External Student Transfer Policy.

Please note that for 20/21 entry, there is no Year 3 entry, as the first intake for this course was September 2019.

More information

Further information on applying via UCAS is provided on the University Applying through UCAS page.

For full details on the application process, visit the Undergraduate application page.

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After you apply

Communicating with you

After you have successfully submitted your application, you will receive an email confirming we have successfully received your application and providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal.  We will request any additional information from you, including inviting you to upload documents and book an interview, through the portal. You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.

Immigration history check

If you are an international student, whether you’re applying online via UCAS, through a UAL representative or by direct application you will need to complete an Immigration History Check to establish whether you are eligible to study at UAL. If you don’t complete the check we won’t be able to proceed with your application.

What happens next

Following the review of applications we select a small number of applicants to move on to the next stage of the process, including making a decision or inviting for interview. These applicants will receive further instructions via email or the UAL Portal.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

If you have applied through UCAS, you will receive the final outcome of your application through UCAS Track. If you are an International applicant and have applied directly or through an agent, we will notify you through the UAL Portal.

Fees & Funding

Home / EU fee

£9,250

This applies for the 2019/20 academic year.

Tuition fees for undergraduate degree courses have been set at £9,250 per year for full-time study. This applies from the 2019/20 academic year, subject to changes in the law. Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students, in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Please visit our Undergraduate tuition fees page for more information.

International fee

£19,930

This applies for the 2019/20 academic year.

Additional costs

In addition to tuition fees you are very likely to incur additional costs such as travel expenses and the cost of materials. Please read the information on our additional costs page.

Accommodation

Find out about the accommodation options available and how much they will cost.

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Careers and alumni

Developing your skills

Graduates of BSc Creative Computing will possess a material understanding of computational technologies and a set of computing and coding skills much in demand across the digital sector.

Career paths

Graduates will be well paced to work in the following roles:

  • Creative Technologist
  • Creative Developer
  • Web Developer
  • UX Developer
  • iOS App Developer
  • Software Developer
  • IoT / Smart Products Developer
  • Front – End Developer
  • Digital Strategist
  • Live Events Technologist
  • Technology Researcher
  • Machine Intelligence Developer
  • Broadcast Technologist
  • IT Specialist
  • Digital Project Manager
  • Digital Entrepreneur
  • Digital Creative
  • Interactive Designer

UAL Creative Computing Institute

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Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 8001
Address
University of the Arts London (UAL)
45 - 65 Peckham Road
London
SE5 8UF