The Open College of the Arts (OCA) is an
open learning
Open learning is an innovative movement in education that emerged in the 1970s and evolved into fields of practice and study. The term refers generally to activities that either enhance learning opportunities within formal education systems or b ...
arts college
An Arts College, in the United Kingdom, is a type of specialist school that specialises in the subject fields of the performing, visual, digital and/or media arts. They were announced in 1996 and introduced alongside Sports Colleges to England i ...
, with a Head Office in
Barnsley in
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Founded in 1987 by
Michael Young, it is a
registered charity and the distance learning partner of the
University for the Creative Arts (UCA). As of the 2016/17 academic year, the full cost of a part-time degree with the Open College of the Arts is less than £10,000.
Courses
The OCA offers
BA honours degrees in the following areas:
*Creative Arts
*Drawing
*Fine Art
*Garden Design
*Interior Design
*Music
*Graphic Design
*Illustration
*Painting
*Photography
*Textiles
*Creative Writing
*Visual Communications
An award-winning MA in Fine Art was launched in 2011. The MA in Graphic Design was launched in 2021. Degrees are awarded by the
University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.
It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Ins ...
.
The OCA has an
open-door academic policy An open-door academic policy, or open-door policy, is a policy if a university accepting to enroll students without asking for evidence of previous education, experience, or references. Usually, payment of the academic fees (or financial support) i ...
for its level 1 courses. Each student is assigned one of the college's 115 specialist tutors, who are arts practitioners and have experience teaching in higher education. The tutors' responsibilities are limited to marking and providing feedback on student assignments.
Courses offered by the OCA are frequently updated or rewritten and new courses are added from time to time. Recent introductions are graphic design, illustration, digital film production and visual culture and there are new courses in photography and printmaking, adding to existing courses in these areas. Students and tutors all work from home and there is a well attended programme of study visits.
Management
As a charity the OCA is overseen by a board of trustees.
External links
*
College Blog11 plus tutorsUniversity for Creative Arts
Art schools in England
Buildings and structures in Barnsley
Distance education institutions based in the United Kingdom
Education in Barnsley
Music schools in England
Charities based in South Yorkshire
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