Skip to main content
Postgraduate

MA Intercultural Practices

Coloured graphic collage of a diagram and photo of mushrooms
Design by Boyle & Perks featuring the work of Jane Lawson photographed by Julian Lister,
College
Central Saint Martins
Start date
September 2023
Course length
2 years (part-time) - low residency

Preparing you for future careers where intercultural collaboration is essential.

Applications closed 2023/24

We are no longer accepting applications for 2023/24 entry to this course. Applications for 2024/25 entry will open in Autumn 2023.

Global themes are best understood and acted on from multiple cultural and disciplinary perspectives. This course encourages the sharing of these perspectives to develop your agency as an artist and cultural producer.

Why choose this course at Central Saint Martins

  • Future-oriented: This course prepares you for global creative and cultural sectors increasingly reliant on communication, co-operation, debate and idea exchange
  • Transformative: Our student-centred curriculum enables you to balance your own research needs and focus on process – not product – as a route to change.
  • Flexible and interactive online and face to face learning: This course is designed for an international community of students, with real time and asynchronous learning supporting work across different time zones.
  • International co-operation: As a student on this course, you will be encouraged to engage in intercultural and transcultural activities to forefront co-created learning through cross-cultural exchange

Open days

There are currently no open days scheduled for this course, please check back at a later date.

Scholarships, bursaries and awards

Course overview

Practice based inquiry between spaces, places, and disciplines.  

This is an MA by project. Study on the course prioritises making, action research and intercultural dialogue. The unit structure builds from your context and experiences to lead you in the development of your own personal project with potential extensions that might bring about change.  

Global themes are best understood and acted on from multiple cultural and disciplinary perspectives. This course encourages the sharing of these perspectives to develop your agency as an artist and cultural producer.
The opportunity to engage with transcultural activities means that you will be able to access a broader network of academic interest and practice, from beyond the course community, offering transnational experiences and intercultural conversations.

UNESCO supports interculturalism as a practice and approach that leads to a deeper understanding of the other’s global perception. As interconnection across and between societies grows, and cultural diversity is increasingly recognized as an inescapable reality of modern life, it is essential that practitioners are equipped with the capacities and knowledge to positively respond to difference and pluralism. This course prepares the next generation of creative practitioners for future careers where intercultural co-operation and the sharing of knowledge through practice is essential. The course proposes a reflexive consideration. of our relationship with both site and history and generates co-operative learning and an exploration of collective memory, evolving new traditions and relational politics. Study on the MA engages with transnational, intercultural and co-operative learning, giving you individual agency within your chosen field while engaging fully with emerging global priorities affecting you and your wider context.

This is a part-time two year course delivered through a mix of online and in person residentials blending teaching, intensive workshops, international teaching exchange, and independent projects. The intensive residentials will primarily focus on critical discourse and habits of reflective practice. 

The anticipated student community will have a broad international reach. The course encourages you to draw from your communities of practice and interests and engage with wider transnational networks.

We are committed to developing ethical intercultural practices. To achieve this, we are working to embed UAL's Principles for Climate, Social and Racial Justice into the course. 

Contact us

Register your interest to receive information and updates about studying at UAL.

Contact us to make an enquiry.

Course units

Studying this course embeds intercultural awareness as a basic stance and intercultural co-operation as its fundamental practice. 

The course is structured in three sections. Units 1, 2 and 3 challenge you to initiate discoveries for yourself, deconstruct existing interpretation and explore ethics from applied perspectives. Units 4 to 8 focus on reflection and reflective encounters that support engagement with transcultural themes. Unit 7 and 8 prioritise processes and strategies for both making and impact.

Unit 1:  Curiosity and Place 

This first unit explores place and context through active searching and sharing, or foraging. Foraging is a branch of behavioural ecology that references searching and discovery specific to time and place; it frames an individual's association to the time of an event with the place of an event. It is the starting point for making beyond the studio. This unit is primarily taught through seminars and workshops supporting student led and centred enquiry.

Unit 2: Stuff of Cultures 

Progressing from Unit 1, Stuff of Cultures asks you to appraise your own situation as a creative practitioner, maker, and producer. It begins with an exchange of material. Using shared materials, and without relying on a workshop or studio, the unit invites you to deconstruct context and its relevance. This unit promotes a sense of mutual understanding and empathy; sharing the co-ordinates of one’s own cultural environment provides triggers and promotes curiosity in others.

Unit 3:  Consideration 

The initial focus for this unit is the consideration of ethical practices and intention. The premise is thoughtfulness, care, reflection, and analysis; and thinking relating to ethics. The purpose is that you generate theory for testing through applied methods and lay the foundations for further exploration and experiment.  

The unit is introduced through a series of interactive lectures, seminars, and reading groups. Practices formed here will prepare you for the final units of the course. 

Unit 3 includes an intensive in-person residential workshop; normally 2 weeks duration.  

Unit 4: REBEL (Options: Unit 4A, Co-operative Practices; 4B, Analysis and Application; 4C, Making and Production; 4D, Communication and Connectivity; 4E, Enterprise and Innovation; 4F, Initiative and Creativity; 4G, Process and Responsibility; 4H, Skills and Application; 4I, Curiosity and Enquiry)

Through reflective practice and self-analysis, you will start to determine your own future learning. You will select one of nine options for qualities and outcomes against which you wish to be assessed. The unit supports you in building a portfolio of experience drawn from personal projects, intensive workshops, and intercultural learning exchange. Core teaching is shared across all of the options and encourages you in gathering experience and evidence of learning from independent enquiry (practice) and from engagement with transnational sharing.   

Unit 5: Collective Memory  

Teaching on this unit is focused on group work, new explorations, and storytelling in rich media. Considerations of collective memory extend over much of the course. This unit frames the relevance of collective memory in relation to storytelling and the authentication of knowledge through inter-relational aesthetics.

Exploration refers to experiment with unfamiliar tactics and practices of making. The activity is student-centred and individually focused. You will be supported through group tutorials and workshops. The theme for the unit is experimentation rather than completion and success; the focus is on process not product. As such, your brief is to initiate and expand your practices into unfamiliar and untested areas. Failure is a welcome reality of process and helps you to build resistance into your practice. 

The final Master's component is principally concerned with processes and strategies of making, dissemination, and impact.  

Unit 6: Putting it into the World. 

This unit supports you in presenting your practice or study and making your content public. Experiences from all the other units contribute to this moment of production and making culminating in sharing your practice publicly. Students will consider means of locating a new audience beyond the place of encounter. You will explore methods of feedback and interaction with your audiences. 

Unit 7: Strategy and Dynamics 

In this unit, you may be pursuing independent projects but will still be working closely with your peers, through collective discussion and review. The final major project is forward looking and propositional, consolidating the intercultural base of the course. As a cohort, you will build and maintain networks and connections developed through your time on the course.    

The early stages of this unit includes the in-person intensive residential, focussing on habits of reflective practices and future practices. 

Important note concerning academic progression through your course: If you are required to retake a unit you will need to cease further study on the course until you have passed the unit concerned. Once you have successfully passed this unit, you will be able to proceed onto the next unit. Retaking a unit might require you to take time out of study, which could affect other things such as student loans or the visa status for international students. 

Mode of study  

MA Intercultural Practices is delivered through distance learning with some low-residency in person or intensive workshops. It is a part-time course over 84 weeks covering 22 months. The majority of the course teaching and learning will be experienced fully online with some campus-based residential workshops. They are typically 2 weeks duration held on-site at CSM. They are intensive in that they cover weekdays and weekends for the duration of the residential.

Other than the in-person residentials the teaching and learning engagement takes place through online platforms. You will be expected to commit 20 hours per week, which includes teaching time and independent study.  

The course supports a dispersed community of students that may be based at distance and across global regions. Online delivery works successfully by managing student groups in relation to time zones and by developing records and documentation from teaching and co-operative learning. Carefully timed synchronous sessions are supported with asynchronous materials. Intensive periods of residential and online workshops are staged at regular points for community building and consolidating learning. In addition, in-person residential workshops offer the opportunity to share cultural influences and complexity. 

The digital platforms and applications used for teaching on the course are best supported by a cable connection. Our platforms have been selected to suit medium band width.  

Credit and award requirements  

The course is credit-rated at 180 credits.  

On successfully completing the course, students will gain a Master of Arts (MA degree).  

Under the UK Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, an MA is Level 7.  

The classification of the final award is based on assessment outcomes form Units 6 and 7. 

If you are unable to continue on the course, a Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) will normally be offered following the successful completion of 60 credits, or a Postgraduate Diploma (PG Dip) following the successful completion of 120 credits. 

Learning and teaching methods

The learning and teaching methods devised for this course include:

  • Online socials;
  • Group on-line ‘orientation’ exercises;
  • In-person intensive residential workshops
  • Unit briefings and introductions;
  • Story Circles;
  • Collective and collaborative development of reading and viewing resource lists;
  • Self and peer critical evaluation; 
  • Co-operative Practice and Projects; 
  • Open forums and online symposia; 
  • Reflective journals; 
  • Experience Based learning; 
  • Guest speakers with Q&As; 
  • Personal and peer tutorials; 
  • Short courses and symposia. 

The majority of this activity is delivered and experienced online.  

Low-residency courses, such as MA Intercultural Practices, include intensive in-person mini residential workshops, hosted at CSM, scheduled for the mid-way point of each academic year.

Students on the course are encouraged to participate in learning and collaborative projects involving international partners. In such circumstances, there is a wide range of platforms, classrooms, and tools for peer-to-peer exchange. There are options for campus-based teaching at UAL and the potential for activities that might be hosted by partner institutions and for place-based intensive workshops or residencies that connect learners both physically and through the digital realm.

Course overview

Facilities

Fees and funding

Home fee

£5,435 per year

This fee is correct for 2023/24 entry and is subject to change for 2024/25 entry. Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£10,310 per year

This fee is correct for 2023/24 entry and is subject to change for 2024/25 entry. Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

Scholarship search

Entry requirements

The standard entry requirements for this course are as follows:

  • An honours degree;
  • Or an equivalent EU/international qualification.

The course should be of primary interest to practitioners with experience. It is intended to meet the needs of candidates from diverse cultural, economic, and social backgrounds. We welcome mature students. 

Applicants are likely to come from a disparate range of academic disciplines and vocational fileds that include: performance, theatre, installation art, film, design practice, the humanities, social practices, social practice, community development, or from other areas of interdisciplinary and creative practice.

AP(E)L – Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

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. 

  • A portfolio of practice and/or vocational experience;
  • A personal statement;
  • A strong academic or other professional reference.

Each application will be considered on its own merit.  

English language requirements

IELTS level 6.5 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking (please check our main English language requirements webpage).

Selection criteria

We select applicants according to potential and current ability in the following areas as evidenced through the CV and personal statement: 

  • Prior experience and achievement;
  • Creative practice evident through documentation in the portfolio; 
  • Capacity for independence in learning;  
  • Awareness of cultural and social contexts of relevance to the candidate and their practice;
  • Appropriate communication skills and a preparedness to support others in the learning community. 
  • Experience of working with digital software for writing, image-making, and communication. 

Selection is based on evidence demonstrated through an annotated CV, a personal statement (letter of application) and an edited online portfolio. You can upload up to 10 pages or documents using Pebble Pad. This could cover between 1 and 10 examples of practice and can include written accounts as well as image, film, documentation, and audio materials.  

  • Where appropriate, include short annotations and notes to give context to the work;
  • If you have worked on any group projects or collaborations, you may want to explain your role; 
  • In many instances, it is helpful to indicate the scale of the work and the media used. 

The personal statement should reflect on your readiness to engage with self-directed learning; that you are able to learn from experiences (trial and error), and that you are motivated to learn from others. You should briefly describe what you hope to gain from the course.

With the exception of the intensive residencies running at key points of each academic year, this course is delivered online for the majority of the timetable. Consequently applicants will need to have access to: 

  • A recent computer with an IT system and web browser;
  • A reliable broadband connection (slow internet connection can affect the learner experience, especially during a live session in a virtual classroom. A cable connection is the most reliable); 
  • Webcam, microphone, and headphones.
  • Connectivity between students will be further supported by postal exchange and low bandwidth web-based platforms. 

The University runs a means tested hardship fund for students who require support for equipment and learning resources.  

Apply now

Applications closed 2023/24

You should apply by clicking on the link to the direct form below. The application form can be saved as you fill it out, so you do not need to complete it all at once. You will also have the chance to review all the information and make any necessary amendments before you submit the application form.

Deferred entry

Central Saint Martins does not accept applications for deferred entry. You should therefore apply in the year you wish to study.

Transfers

If you are currently studying at another institution and if you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units and modules on your current postgraduate course and wish to continue your studies at Central Saint Martins, you can apply to transfer. The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible.

Please check our Student Transfer Policy for more important information and be ready to provide us with your current course handbook and unit transcripts.

You will need to provide an official document (translated into English) from your current university, explaining the learning outcomes of the units you have completed.

Before you apply, please take time to read the guidance below. You will be asked to provide the following information when completing the online application form:

General information

  • Personal details (including legal full name, preferred name, date of birth, nationality, addresses)
  • Current English language level
  • Current and/or previous education and qualification details
  • Employment history

Personal statement

Please submit a short statement in support of your application to the course. We are looking for information that demonstrates the relevance of the course to you in your current situation and your readiness to embrace postgraduate transcultural learning.  As a rough guide, please provide up to 700 words. Your personal statement should reflect on:

  • Your readiness to engage with self-directed learning and that you are able to learn from experiences (trial and error)
  • Your capacity for independence in learning and your motivation to support others in the learning community
  • Your awareness of cultural and social contexts with relevance to your practice
  • Your awareness and competence with online platforms and digital software.

We cannot consider your application if you do not provide all the information above.

CV

You should provide a full and detailed CV or résumé which demonstrates how you meet the selection criteria.

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 / portfolio / book an interview, through the portal.  You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.

We are no longer accepting applications for 2023/24 entry to this course. Applications for 2024/25 entry will open in Autumn 2023.

When you'll hear from us

If this course requires a digital portfolio as part of the application process, you will be invited to submit this through UAL’s online submission tool, PebblePad. We will request this separately after initial processing of your application is complete. Once we request your portfolio, you will have 7 days to submit it.

Once you’ve sent in your application, this will be sent through to our course teams for review. Find out more about what happens after you apply.

Applications closed 2023/24

There are two ways international students can apply:

If you are applying directly you click on the link to the direct form below. The application form can be saved as you fill it out, so you do not need to complete it all at once. You will also have the chance to review all the information and make any necessary amendments before you submit the application form.

Deferred entry

Central Saint Martins does not accept applications for deferred entry. You should therefore apply in the year you wish to study.

Transfers

If you are currently studying at another institution and if you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units and modules on your current postgraduate course and wish to continue your studies at Central Saint Martins, you can apply to transfer. The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible.

Please check our Student Transfer Policy for more important information and be ready to provide us with your current course handbook and unit transcripts.

You will need to provide an official document (translated into English) from your current university, explaining the learning outcomes of the units you have completed.

Before you apply, please take time to read the guidance below. You will be asked to provide the following information when completing the online application form:

General information

  • Personal details (including legal full name, preferred name, date of birth, nationality, addresses)
  • Current English language level
  • Current and/or previous education and qualification details
  • Employment history.

Personal statement

Please submit a short statement in support of your application to the course. We are looking for information that demonstrates the relevance of the course to you in your current situation and your readiness to embrace postgraduate transcultural learning.  As a rough guide, please provide up to 700 words. Your personal statement should reflect on:

  • Your readiness to engage with self-directed learning and that you are able to learn from experiences (trial and error)
  • Your capacity for independence in learning and your motivation to support others in the learning community
  • Your awareness of cultural and social contexts with relevance to your practice
  • Your awareness and competence with online platforms and digital software.

Immigration history check

Whether you are applying online or through a UAL representative you will need to complete an immigration history check to establish whether you are eligible to study at UAL.  If you do not complete the check we will not be able to proceed with your application.

We cannot consider your application if you do not provide all the information above.

CV

You should provide a full and detailed CV or résumé which demonstrates how you meet the selection criteria.

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 / portfolio / book an interview, through the portal.  You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.

Application deadline

We are no longer accepting applications for 2023/24 entry to this course. Applications for 2024/25 entry will open in Autumn 2023.

When you'll hear from us

Once you’ve sent in your application, this will be sent through to our course teams for review. Find out more about what happens after you apply.

After you apply

What happens next

Initial application check

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course.  If you do, you will be invited to submit a portfolio through the UAL Portal.

Portfolio

Following the submission of your application we will invite you to upload an edited online portfolio of, for example, image, film, audio, documentation. You can upload up to 25 pages or documents using Pebble Pad. This may cover examples of practice and can include written accounts as well as visual material.

  • Where appropriate, include short annotations and notes to give context for the work
  • If you have worked on any group projects or collaborations you may want to explain your role.
  • In many instances, it’s helpful to indicate the scale of the work and the media used.

Portfolio advice

Your portfolio will feature documentation spanning your creative practice, such as art, design, performance, education, curating and critical and creative writing. You can also include documentation of third-sector activity (activism, community organising, NGO work) and business activity (profit and/or not-for-profit) if this will be foundational to your work on the course.

When selecting work, documentation or evidence for inclusion in your portfolio, please think about how the work was made, the context for making and who else was involved. This may be information best describe through written annotations. Alternatively, you may find it more effective to submit two or three pieces of evidence to demonstrate one work or action. You may feel that your practice is best described through one detailed project. Conversely, there will be applicants who need to describe breadth and diversity in their range of work.

Where relevant to you, as a practitioner, please feel free to use the portfolio to demonstrate process or research as much as completed or resolved work. We are interested in you as an individual, your personal interests, your creativity and initiative in finding out about your proposed area of study. We would also like to know about your favourite designers and artists, where you have seen their work at first hand and how you have acquired more information about the work that interests you.

For more portfolio advice please visit our portfolio advice page.

Interview

Following the review of the portfolio we select a small number of applicants to move on to the next stage of the process.  These applicants will be invited to an online interview lasting 15 to 20 minutes.  These sessions are intended to offer opportunities to get to know the learning community and to ask questions, as well as develop your awareness of learning on the course.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the outcome of your application through the UAL Portal.

Feedback

This course receives a high number of applications, and unfortunately we cannot provide feedback to everyone who is unsuccessful. We can only provide feedback after you have had an interview.

If you would like to request feedback, please contact us via your portal.

Each and every application is carefully considered by a member(s) of our academic team. With so many strong applicants to choose from, it is often a very difficult decision to make. If you are unsuccessful, you are welcome to apply to us again in the future.

Deferring your place

This course accepts requests from offer holders to defer their place for one academic year. Deferral requests are granted on a first-come, first served basis until all deferral places are filled, or a deadline has been reached, whichever is sooner.

Additional Information

Applicants will be expected to be computer and social-media literate. Because of the online delivery mode, applicants will need to be able to have access to:

  • A recent computer with an up-to-date operating system and web browser
  • A reliable, fast broadband connection (slow internet connection can affect the learner experience, especially during a live session in a virtual classroom)
  • Webcam, microphone and headphones.

Careers

MA Intercultural Practices will support you in becoming a creative agent who operates across multiple and often contrasting cultures.

Some alumni will explore culture as an explicit concern and contextualize their work in the ecology of art, design, curating, performance and their education and organisation.

Other alumni will operate further afield to create new cultures. Contexts include grassroots and other civic sector activities; business, government and industry; research and innovation. There is a desperate need for better ideas, customs and behaviours – in a word, cultures – to grapple with complex scenarios. The curriculum of MA Intercultural Practices takes up this challenge through teaching and learning UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Competencies. The care, curiosity and courage that mark this curriculum prepares graduates to join the avant-garde of contemporary cultural production.

The intersectional sensibility you will develop through MA Intercultural Practices weaves together diverse types of understanding: personal, professional, practical, political, theoretical, technical, sensuous and more. This builds on the knowledge and life experience you bring to the course. MA Intercultural Practices will support you in recognising and resourcing this expertise as you embrace lifelong and lifewide learning as the lifeblood of your practice.

Growing complexity and uncertainty have made ‘learning how to learn’ a meta-skill for future proofing your practice and career. You will develop this through fieldwork, lectures, tutorials, workshops and other formal aspects of your post-graduate study. You will test this sensibility through your research-led project, collaborative activity and dissemation of practice via exhibitions, events, publications and other public forms of public presentation. As you build your capacity for learning how to learn, you will critically reflect on what this means to you as a practitioner and the work you do. The value system you hone through MA Intercultural Practices will support your intersectional sensibility as you negotiate diverse and yet-to-be imagined contexts and create new opportunities for both yourself and others.