The MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths subjects art-making to sustained and rigorous critical scrutiny. Artists on the programme actively engage in seminars, tutorials and lectures to strengthen the motivation, self-reflection and ambition of their practice and its leading ideas.

While on the programme you will continually engage with what it means to practice as an artist today and the position taken by an art-practice in relation to art's complex history and its currency in wider social and cultural processes.

Given the wide international breadth of artists on the programme and the open range of media welcomed in it, a primary concern in discussion is how a particular artist's work and ideas are understood in and across different social, artistic and intellectual contexts.

Our primary emphasis is on how artists look to shift prevalent expectations and whether their work does so – perhaps then transforming what art might be.

What you study

The Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art places a strong emphasis on student-centred learning, particularly in the studio seminars and personal tutorials based on your art-making, its key concerns and ideas and their mutual and inter-dependent development. A lecture programme will in addition contribute to your understanding of concerns relating to contemporary art in broader contexts.

The programme is divided into two parts:

Year One (Diploma stage) can be taken either full-time for one year (until late July), or part-time for two years (until late July in both years). This year seeks to establish the core concerns and ambitions of your art. 

Year Two (MFA stage) can be taken either full-time for one year (until late August) or part-time for two years (until late July, and then until late August in the final year). This stage of the programme enables you to address your ambitions for your art with an awareness of how it is situated.

Applicants who have already a good understanding of the core concerns of their practice in the view of the programme team are able to enter directly into Year Two of the programme on either a full-time or part-time basis. 

You may also take advantage of an exit point at the end of Year One of the programme and graduate with the Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art.

If you are an international student and would like to study a 'tailor-made' programme (for up to a year), you may be interested in applying for an Associate Graduate Studentship.

Skills

Our Art programmes aim to equip you with the necessary skills to develop independent thought and confidence in your practice. In addition, these skills are of use in other career paths you may wish to follow.

Careers

Our students have been successful in many fields including media, museums, galleries, education, the music business and academia. Many have continued to be successful, practising artists long after graduating, and have won major prizes and exhibited around the world. The Turner Prize shortlist has consistently included at least one of our former graduates. Six of the prize winners have studied here:

• Grenville Davey
• Antony Gormley
• Damien Hirst
• Gillian Wearing
• Steve McQueen
• Mark Wallinger

Register your interest

If you register your interest in this programme we will keep you informed about open days and send you relevant further information. If you subsequently decide to apply for this programme you will be able to use the same login details to apply.