UNDERGRADUATE AND FOUNDATION PROSPECTUS
EXPLORE OPEN DAYS
BA
BA (Hons)
BA (Hons)
BA (Hons)
BA (Hons)
BA (Hons)
BA (Hons)
Transformational creative education for more than 170 years.
I just love being in an environment where everyone is bouncing around ideas - and people are really enthusiastic. It’s exciting.
EVELYN WATSON, CONTEMPORARY DESIGN CRAFTS
Make your mark
For over 170 years, HCA has been a launchpad for original thinkers, designers and makers.
Our workshops, studios, and even our coffee queues are full of people who live to create, and who will help you push yourself to places that you never thought you could reach.
Our commitment to transformational education is something you can feel on campus. This isn’t just a degree. It’s a space where your ideas take shape, grow legs, and run out into the world.
At HCA our courses give you the space, support, and wide-eyed moments you need to grow as a person and as a creative. You’ll find expert tutors, interdisciplinary workshop access, and a community that enriches your journey.
And you’ll get to do all of this in a beautiful location, surrounded by heritage and nature and contemporary culture.
Study a subject that fires you up and keeps you curious. Our degrees are built to stretch your imagination and deepen your craft.
Undergraduate degrees
BA (Hons) Artist Blacksmithing
BA (Hons) Contemporary Design Crafts
BA (Hons) Digital Content Creation
BA (Hons) Fine Art
BA (Hons) Games Design
BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design
BA (Hons) Illustration
BA (Hons) Illustration & Animation
BA (Hons) Jewellery Design
BA (Hons) Performing Arts
BA (Hons) Photography
BA (Hons) Popular Music
BA (Hons) Textile Design
Foundation diploma
Art & Design (one-year, pre-degree course)
Postgraduate degrees
MA Contemporary Crafts
MA Curating
MA Fine Art
MA Forged Metal Arts
MA Photography
For more on courses, skip to page 28
EXPLORE ONLINE
www.hca.ac.uk/courses
Why HCA?
Study in a specialist Arts School and join an exceptional creative community
Hereford is a lovely historic city with green lungs and an entrepreneurial, independent spirit. This is a campus and city to make your creative home and launchpad. 1 2 3 4 5
We have a track record in supporting creative students that goes back more than 170 years - and in embracing innovation to meet the changing needs of the modern world. Here you’ll meet people from many different backgrounds, at different stages of study and career, and find friendship, inspiration, and professional connections to help you succeed.
A more personal kind of learning
You won’t get lost in the crowd here. Our more personal scale and dedicated, friendly teaching staff mean you will get plenty of individual attention, understanding of different ways of learning and easy access to facilities. Our teaching designs in flexibility and wraps around your interests allowing you to dive deep into the skills or subjects that get you most excited.
Interdisciplinary access to specialist facilities, technology and professional expertise
Creativity and careers should not be limited by subject boundaries. Collaboration and curiosity are essential professional skills. Whatever your choice of degree programme, we’ll encourage you to explore and creatively play with other skills and approaches and make the most of the full range of our industry-standard facilities, software and workshops. You will have opportunities to collaborate with students from different courses, gain insight from across our community of expert teaching staff as well as from renowned visiting professionals. You will craft a portfolio of projects and professional experiences that will help lead you to where you want to go after graduation.
Transferable skills connected to industry
Our courses are practice-based with a focus on experiential learning, designing and making. Whether you see your future setting up your own business, working for others within the creative industries, pursuing research or taking your transferable creative skills into another sector – all our courses are designed to equip you for boundless professional pathways. From realworld industry briefs to public exhibitions and performances to grad shows like New Designers and Free Range, we will help you find your voice and put it out there.
A beautiful campus in a creative city
Craft a career you will love
CAMERON PEARSON, NEW DESIGNER OF THE YEAR 2025
ROSIE MERRIMAN, CHANEL METIER D’ART FELLOWSHIP 2024
Build a set of skills as unique as you are
The creative sector is fast-paced with new opportunities emerging all the time. We prepare you to be adaptable and equally fast-moving, and to develop an original voice that stands out. From Day One you will immerse yourself in a subject you love while nurturing the future skills that will give you an amazing foundation as a creative professional for decades to come.
As the course progresses you will dive deep and develop specialist skills to a high level. Our courses give you the independence to build a set of strengths that best matches where you want to be after graduating - and enables you to make your mark.
Work with industry
Starting in Year One, live projects are an opportunity to produce work for a real client or public showcase, building your own real-world expertise with the support of our teaching staff. These projects will also help you identify which jobs, specialisms, or parts of the sector, you might want to go into.
Create your own professional network
With opportunities ranging from annual Professional Practice Conferences to taking part in on-campus industry events and national graduate showcases like Free Range and New Designers, you will have the chance to build your own professional network. By the time you graduate, you will also become confident in the professional skills that unlock your creativity - from research, to idea generation, collaboration, and the ability to communicate concepts to the world.
HCA EMPOWER
By the time you graduate, you will also become confident in the professional skills that unlock your creativity - from research, to idea generation, collaboration, and the ability to communicate concepts to the world.
We have developed HCA EMPOWER, a new skills and attributes framework that helps you track the personal and professional skills you develop through your course, so you can point to them at job interviews - whether that’s inside the creative industries or in another sector.
I didn’t realise how lucky I’d been because of the teaching and the freedom you were given. The art college - and the county of Herefordshire - is where I’m from. It’s what I’m made of. I take it with me everywhere I go.
JAMES PRICE, FORMER HCA STUDENT AND OSCAR WINNING PRODUCTION DESIGNER AND ART DIRECTOR
A more personal approach to arts education
We are committed to a more personal scale of education that invests in our students and means you can ask the questions you want to, when you need to.
Flexibility
to tailor the course to you.
Our courses are designed to wrap around you as an individual. Follow your interests, your passions and leave with a portfolio and creative practice that is uniquely yours – and that makes you stand out in your chosen industry.
Recently scoring among the best institutions in the UK in the National Student Survey, our teaching builds in the space for you to develop specialist skills through one-on-one technical support – and broaden your horizons beyond your degree area through collaboration across disciplines.
Access is everything.
You will have access to industry-standard facilities - and the time you need with technical specialists to learn how to use those resources to bring your projects to life. You will have regular facetime with tutors and course leaders, giving you real, considered, high-quality feedback from specialists within your subject that will help you grow and thrive as an artist.
Future-focused thinking informed by industry. Assessment not exams.
Build your skills and understanding through practical and project-based learning. Our courses are tested and developed with industry to ensure that the education you get best prepares you to have a long and fulfilling career as a creative. And all our courses use the HCA EMPOWER skills framework to line up your learning with in-demand professional skills, both for today’s careers and the evolving, dynamic jobs of the future.
Throughout the course you will be assessed by what you do, not what you can repeat in an exam. This mirrors the world you will go into after graduation and gives you the best opportunity to showcase your ideas and your individual talent.
Support to get the most out of your studies.
Our commitment to a more personal approach to teaching means that every student benefits from outstanding access to lecturers and course leaders.
You will also have access to a dedicated Study Skills or Academic Mentoring team who are there to support you in your studies if required. Whether you need a one-off session, or more ongoing support - our teams will work with you to ensure you can move through your projects with confidence.
You will have access to specialist staff to support your wellbeing, and a 24/7 mental health helpline service if and when you need any extra support - from strategies to manage stress, to getting help through life’s bigger personal challenges.
All our support staff have extensive expertise in supporting students with a range of neurodivergent conditions, and can work with course teams to help meet your needs. All artists are individual by nature - we celebrate that difference and make sure that neurodivergence is a strength and not a barrier to your success, on the course and beyond.
A city that you can call your creative home
A spirit that you can’t find anywhere else
From floating festivals to three-storey murals, Hereford is a city that is full of colour. Dive into an arts and culture scene that is undeniably independent. From DIY house and punk nights, to drag shows, to pop-up exhibitions and centuriesold heritage venues – this is a community you can make your own, and find your niche in.
The city is currently developing a show-stopping contemporary museum and art gallery in its historic centre, while Green Man Festival and Borderlines Film Festival lead the list of essential events you will want to check out while you’re studying here. And we have the world’s best burgers.
Space to breathe
Get up among the clouds with a hike up the Black Mountains, or get your head down on the Lugg Meadows nature reserve. Hereford is a green city with parks, wetlands, paddleboarding and great access to nature and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Studying can be full-on, and this is a great place to stay balanced. Whether you want to get the blood pumping or just get some headspace, the city is set up for it.
Save money without sacrificing your student experience
Small-city living means getting great access to arts and culture without the high rents of London, Bristol or Birmingham. You can earn while you learn through HCA’s popular student ambassador programmes or by picking up parttime work in Hereford’s buzzing independent food and drink culture.
Take advantage of electric buses, a great cycle network and a city celebrated for walkability - as well as a thriving indoor and outdoor market culture with affordable streetfood, fresh veggies and low-cost vintage stalls helping you take a big chunk out of your monthly expenses as a student, while uncovering hidden gems.
A student community you can make your own
Love where you live and make connections for life
HCA’s student culture is thriving on and off campus. An active and truly inclusive Student Union connects all students with everything from Halloween screenings to social clubs. The college sits at the heart of the wider art and culture scene in the city, with pop-up exhibitions and public art commissions putting student work at the centre of the city’s identity.
An annual calendar of memorable events
Traditions can play an important role in making you feel part of something. Alongside the truly unique experience of a Degree Show Private View, we are able to bring the student community together through the year - from BBQs to Winter Balls and Snowdrop Suppers - taking the time to stop and acknowledge key moments in your journey at HCA.
Make connections across different subjects
The scale and style of teaching at the college is designed to foster connections and collaboration across courses. As a professional (and a human) you don’t just work with other games designers or textile artists. Build your personal and professional networks by working with students across disciplines, through specific modules in Year One to major public exhibitions and trips.
A safe environment that builds confidence.
This is a community that builds you up, and gives you the confidence to take creative risks with your work. You produce your best work when you feel secure and we are proud of a campus culture that helps students thrive as individuals.
Outside of college, Hereford is a safe, low-crime environment to study in - and HCA teams are here to support you if you have any questions about personal safety on or off campus.
Among the best student satisfaction scores in the UK
You want to be happy where you study, and we’re proud to be among the highest student satisfaction scores in the UK, year after year.
Our staff are a big part of those scores and in recent years HCA has scored nearly 10% above the rest of the sector with how students feel teaching staff support their learning. Making sure you get the access and support you need - when you need it - is a big part of why students love the experience of studying at HCA.
I love that Hereford is a small city with a large creative community.
SOPHIE FERRIER, CONTEMPORARY DESIGN CRAFTS
Artist Blacksmithing
Course Length 3 years (Full-time)
Explore this course:
Forge your future by joining a degree course at the forefront of education in forged metal arts, where creativity meets craftmanship.
In this dynamic programme, you’ll blend forging with innovative design and critical thinking. Through hands-on projects, develop your unique artistic practice and gain the skills and confidence to thrive in the ever-evolving world of design and forging as part of a course that is at the heart of an international network of artist blacksmiths.
Immerse yourself in drawing, research, and design at the studio, while mastering forging, fabrication, and welding at Europe’s largest training forge.
Contemporary Design Crafts
We are makers - with a sensitivity and understanding of materials, design and context.
3 years (Full-time)
6 years (Part-time)
Explore this course:
This course blends design principles with an innovative approach to process and material through hands-on making, enabling you to innovate and master your craft.
We work collaboratively across a range of disciplines, with regular sessions in wood, metal, ceramic and textiles - and you will have opportunities to present your ideas and products to national and internationally-renowned companies and craftspeople.
The course will empower you as a maker to create sustainable business models and join recent HCA students who have been recognised at some of the top graduate showcases - including New Designers and the Global Creative Graduate Showcase.
Digital Content Creation
3 years (Full-time)
Explore this course:
Navigate the evolving content landscape and gain in-demand skills. Become an adaptable creative who can lead with big ideas.
Enter an exciting new era of storytelling in content. Creators who can hook an audience’s imagination, educate, and entertain online are in high demand by brands and viewers alike.
Learn to develop your own channels, work with industry clients, plan, direct, shoot, edit, design and analyse. You will not only learn how to make great content, but how to make content strategies that get your work seen.
At HCA we believe great Digital Content makes you pause, smile, think, laugh or get up and do something great. Make the content you care about and build a career doing the things you love.
Fine Art
UCAS code W102
Course Length
3 years (Full-time)
6 years (Part-time)
Explore this course:
The world needs fine art thinkers more than ever before.
The ability to see the world through a unique filter, and then express and communicate it is vital in this time of change.
From day one at HCA you will be an artist, exploring the world and expressing your ideas through a wide range of media including paint, print, drawing, ceramics, textiles, photography, video, digital, sound, performance, sculpture, and installation.
You will join a true studio culture, and work on exciting collaborative events with galleries, professional artists and curators including public exhibitions, residencies, highprofile artist talks and site-specific projects.
Games Design
Master the in-demand creative skills needed to thrive in the entertainment industry’s fastest-growing sector.
Immerse yourself in the exhilarating world of games design, where art and animation converge with storytelling, world building and character development.
With a focus on both artistic and technical skills, our games design course encourages creativity and innovation, offering the tools and support you need to push boundaries, build your portfolio and kickstart your career in games.
You will create memorable gaming experiences that captivate and inspire - and explore new ideas and techniques, as part of a thriving community of passionate gamers.
Graphic and Media Design
Immerse yourself in a dynamic design environment and explore the diverse disciplines that are forming the backbone of contemporary graphic and media design.
Discover new areas of design - and dive deep to master specific disciplines including social media design, motion graphics, ethically-sourced generative AI, UI/UX design, print, branding and graphic arts.
Our course emphasises real-world experience, engaging you with local and national media companies, professional designers, artists, and clients.
Smaller group sizes ensure you benefit from those with industry collaborations - and your time with tutors - as you develop your unique graphic style and build your portfolio in a supportive studio environment.
Illustration
(Full-time)
Throughout our lives, illustration helps us all make sense of a complicated world. It is a communication tool that transcends language and culture, entertains and educates.
You will explore both traditional and high-tech approaches to image-making, creating imaginary but believable worlds as the visual stimulus for entertainment, education or persuasion.
You will be encouraged and supported to develop a unique visual language, applying it to a range of outcomes: graphic novels, picture books, zines and small press publications, maps, prints and more.
We work with you to develop a portfolio that fully represents your skills as an artist, preparing you for the next step as a creative professional - joining ex-students who have worked for the New York Times, Little White Lies and IDLES.
Illustration & Animation
Engage with traditional and experimental illustration and animation processes that offer alternatives to digital aesthetics.
The huge growth in our consumption of media on small-screen mobile devices is changing the landscape for visual content creators. Programme makers and advertisers are hungry for imaginative, entertaining work - especially animation.
You will become adept in the creative cycle of research, planning, developing, shaping, making and finishing, in a wide range of outcomes.
This will include illustration that moves, stop-motion animation and short, sharp, witty film-making.
Jewellery Design
UCAS code W700
Course Length
3 years (Full-time)
6 years (Part-time)
Explore this course:
We are jewellers - with a love of materials, making and contemporary design.
On this practice-based degree you will blend physical and digital skills, developing authentic, relevant and criticallyengaged jewellery practices.
Work dynamically with experienced staff across dedicated studio and workshop spaces and develop your unique jewellery practice, underpinned by a depth of skill in a range of materials.
Our specialist workshops allow for playful exploration, design development and growth of technical skill while masterclasses, guest lectures, trips and exhibitions will engage you with contemporary makers and build connections relevant to your future.
VICTORIA HOPKINS
Performing Arts
Step into the performing arts industry: develop your acting, voice and movement skills, create, collaborate and perform.
Your learning journey with us will be unique to you. Our small group sizes and high contact hours mean that you will be mentored and coached by our experienced tutors to become the creative professional you want to be.
You will build your CV, skills and professional network throughout the duration of the course. Along the way you will perform at major public events and get feedback on your creative work from Artistic Directors at the Birmingham Rep.
Photography
UCAS code W643
Course Length
3 years (Full-time)
Explore this course:
Photography does not stand still, it evolves and expands continuously.
On this dynamic course you will find ways to grow and perfect your craft – and make images that say something new about the world.
Discover how to thrive within the ever-changing landscape of professional photography - from fashion and editorial, to fine art photography - building technical skills and the professional confidence to bring your creative vision to realworld projects with industry professionals.
Find your own style as a photographer, moving between digital and analogue techniques to craft images with impact and originality.
Popular Music
Realise your own ambitions as a professional in today’s music industry, and follow in the tradition of some of the UK’s greatest musicians by starting your career at an art school.
We give you the opportunity to discover your authentic voice while studying a wealth of musical styles, while building the skills and experience to allow you to enter the industry on a professional level.
Break down creative barriers and expand your musical influences as part of a collaborative environment of likeminded individuals, where you get the support to develop at your own pace.
This is a vocational course designed for performers, songwriters and producers, covering music ranging from mainstream to underground.
Textile Design
Course
3 years (Full-time)
Explore this course:
Rethink and innovate the role of textiles in the context of today’s dynamic and evolving global landscape.
Grounded in contemporary design principles with a strong emphasis on sustainability and heritage, the course actively engages with design teams at brands like Aston Martin alongside emerging local industry partners to celebrate Herefordshire’s rich rural traditions.
You will engage with eco-friendly practices and revive traditional textile techniques - including cordage and smocking - while also experimenting with modern innovations like 3D-printed knitwear and biomaterials.
By the time you complete your three year degree, you will be fully prepared for the industry, with practical skills and a comprehensive portfolio.
Foundation diploma: Art & Design
Join a one-year course that offers students aged 18+ an experimental and intensive programme of creative study preparing you for undergraduate courses.
You will explore and refine your practice through a series of rotations in different creative disciplines before working indepth on a final portfolio project that is exhibited at a major public show.
Flexible and fast-paced, the course is designed to spark your imagination, introduce you to new ideas and new ways of working, and support you to take your next steps with confidence.
Based on HCA’s degree campus, course fees are fullyfunded for UK students aged 18 at the start of the course. The diploma is accredited by the UAL Awarding Body, allowing you to add to your UCAS points.
Qualification
Level 3 diploma (pre-degree course)
Course Length
One year
How to apply
If you want to study this course, you don’t need to apply through UCAS. For more info about the course, or about applying, visit the course page on the HCA website, or contact the Course Leader Darren Williams at d.williams@hca.ac.uk
Scan to apply direct to HCA and our team will get in touch
Explore this course
CAMPUS AND SERVICES
Our campus
Our campus is designed to give you everything you need to explore and refine your creative practice with open access workshops at the heart.
Professional 3D workshops (metal/wood/ textiles/ceramics/3D printing)
New state-of-the-art Digital Skills Centre, built with UK Government funding
Photography, video and digital design studios and edit suites (including full access to a professional Media Store)
Full digital and analogue recording studios, multiple theatres and rehearsal spaces for performers
Professional print resources and studios (large-format digital printing, risograph, textile printing)
Specialist library resources (10,000+ books and magazines dedicated to design, culture and the arts).
Our support services
Wellbeing services
When you feel better, it frees you up to create your best work. Wellbeing mentors provide inperson support, while all HCA students qualify for a 24/7 service that you can access from your phone whenever you need a little help.
Disability and specific learning differences
We have a dedicated team to ensure all students receive a rich and full learning experience. We provide one-on-one Academic Mentoring for students who need additional help, as well as guidance on accessing funding. Our team has extensive experience supporting students with a wide range of disabilities, long-term medical conditions and specific learning differences.
Student finance
Managing money and applying for funding can seem like a barrier for some students, or a source of anxiety. Our experienced Finance team is on-hand to provide specific guidance when you need it, while the Student Experience team can provide resources that help you make your finances go further.
Study skills and integrated academic support
Courses at HCA are designed to ensure all students can thrive. Variable assessment formats, small class sizes and a dedicated Study Skills team for bolt-on support combine to help you produce work that showcases the best of your ability - and build your confidence in communication and project management skills.
How to visit
Open Days
Tour our historic campus and get a feel for the city. Speed date different courses in our Course Marketplace before exploring them further with studio tours and talks from current students and course leaders.
More students are waiting until later to visit campuses - or doing their research online - but Open Days remain a great way to get a real feeling about an institution. At ours, you can opt in to activities and talks, or just simply stroll around the campus and have a chat with students.
Personal Tours
If you are looking for a more individual experience, Personal Tours are a great way of exploring a specific course area in a more low-key environment than an Open Day. You will spend time with the course leader and get a personal campus tour - allowing you to ask the questions that matter to you - all within 90 minutes.
Shows & events
Public events are a great way to see a buzzing campus - and we can often build in tours or drop-ins with course teams if we have enough notice. If you are planning on attending an event like the Degree Show, CMYK or a public talk - feel free to reach out to our Outreach Team to see how we can help you make the most of your visit.
If you want to arrange a visit for your college or school you can get in touch with our Outreach team by emailing outreach@hca.ac.uk.
Map and connections
Hereford College of Arts has easy access and transport links to most of England and Wales, with direct trains to London, Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff.
By car, it is just 90 minutes to Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff, and around two hours to London and Manchester.
How to apply
When you’re ready to apply, this is what the process looks like. You can contact our Registry Team (registry@hca.ac.uk) at any point in the admissions process for some guidance, even before you apply.
1 2 3
Apply via UCAS (for full-time Undergraduate courses)
While you may have heard of the UCAS January Equal Consideration Date, we accept applications throughout the year. To apply, you will need to create an account with UCAS and complete the application. UCAS will notify us that you have applied. HCA’s institution code on UCAS is H18.
Portfolio/self tape/interview
After we have received your application, our team will be in touch with guidance on how to submit your portfolio/self tape or arrange an interview.
Accept your offer… and get excited
You will receive an email from us with details of your offer and feedback on your portfolio/self tape where relevant. We will also update UCAS with details of your offer. You can then accept your offer via UCAS and use that offer to start planning your next chapter as a student at HCA.
Once you have your offer, next steps may include applying for student finance, booking student accommodation and joining private online groups for HCA applicants, or attending an Applicant Day. We will send you information and guidance on all of these - and our Student Experience team will be available to help make your start at HCA a smooth and enjoyable transition.
Applicants wishing to join the Level 3 Foundation diploma in Art & Design can apply directly to HCA. You can do so on the HCA website, or by following the link on the Foundation diploma page (p56-57).
Our degrees are awarded by the University of Wales, Trinity St David. Revalidation of all our degrees occurs on a periodic basis. Pease check our website to view the most up-to-date information for any course.
Find your course and apply now via UCAS
Questions about your application? Scan the QR code to reach out to our Registry team, or email registry@hca.ac.uk
Applying as a Top-Up or transfer student:
Every year a number of students join HCA having started their degree or other qualification elsewhere. We are set-up to make sure you can hit the ground running whether you join us as a second- or third-year student. Reach out to our Registry Team to talk through what information you will need to provide in order to transfer to HCA - registry@hca.ac.uk.
