Masters Degrees (Glass)

Glass has remarkable properties; its transparency, durability and versatility have been explored in architectural and artistic contexts for thousands of years. Recent technological advances provide continuing opportunities for creative application. Its unique properties of transparency and interaction with light gives MA Glass students the opportunity to explore new possibilities and build specialist knowledge as a material for the future.

Course Overview

The MA Glass programme within the Contemporary Dialogues portfolio offers an exciting and innovative re-thinking of Postgraduate provision that reflects the strategic thinking of Swansea College of Art. The portfolio facilitates migration between diverse thematic disciplines, exploring new ideas and conceptual approaches to allow young artists and designers to confront the issues that face society today and into the future.

The portfolio’s ethos of collaborative dialogues through material practices provides an innovative model of design, fine and applied arts education. This development allows students from all pathways to experience and share creative practices and innovative mind-sets through inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary dialogues. This ethos is enhanced within each programme to stimulate ‘collaborative’ practices and experimentation across a broader spectrum of specialist fields, developing graduates with the contextual awareness, creative thinking and technical skills to operate at the forefront of their discipline.

During the course of your studies you will be supported by specialist staff, leading professionals and practicing artists through lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. We have exceptional traditional and digital facilities, housed in spacious purpose-build workshops. Through these, we encourage creative freedom within all of our students and support you in challenging conventional thinking and established practices and facilitate new technological advances across a broad range of disciplines. We have found that through collaborative experimentation and innovative design thinking our students are able to produce work that meets the challenges and respond to the demands of the 21st century.

Facilities include:
-Firing kilns for glass and ceramics
-Printmaking, Screen Printing and Digital Textile Technologies
-Traditional and Digital Stitch
-Wood, Metal, Clay
-Cutting Etching and Engraving Technologies - Waterjet, Laser, Plotter
-3D Printing and CNC
-Chemical and Digital Darkrooms
-Specialist computer facilities with commercial standard software

Modules

-Collaborative Dialogues (20 credits)
-Co-Existent Perspectives (20 credits)
-The Thought Experiment (20 credits)
-Explorative Research Praxis (60 credits)
-Confirmative Praxis (60 credits)

Key Features

Students use the Master's Programme for all kinds of reasons; to gain an extra qualification, to achieve a higher and more sophisticated level of practice, as well as to have supported research and development time in order to elevate themselves to a more professional plateau with their artwork.

In this century, glass as a material offers a unique place in design and architecture and there are very few institutions that offer the opportunity to explore this material, with particular reference to its applications in architecture. Swansea glass department has a long established reputation for glass and strong industrial links help underpin the educational experience for students. The history of the department enables a broad spectrum of approaches that draw on the historical, cultural and technological uses of this material. Glass in its many forms; mosaic, glaze, enamel and window façade covers a broad association of surfaces, which offers for the maker a rich and varied pallet. This is a hands-on course!

The main strands of the programme are: design and philosophy, material innovation and glass design. These themes are considered in the context of glass for the environment, to fulfill the need to develop innovative, sustainable and possibly universal solutions for a variety of architectural, public and private spaces.

The programme prides itself in newly equipped workshops that provide excellent specialist facilities including sandblasters, acid etching bay, cold working machinery, screen printing facilities for glass and an extensive range of glass and ceramic kilns for casting and decorative processing. Beyond this specialist equipment, you will also have access to an extensive range of facilities including an excellent library, open-access computer suites and workshops in other areas within the art school such as wood, metal, ceramics, 3D printing and water jet and laser cutting.

The teaching team consists of highly experienced glass artists and designers who are either engaged in professional practice or are research active, supported by industrially trained technical staff. This ensures that the course delivers a qualification and experience that is highly relevant to the changing needs of the industry and wider architectural glass community.

The department works closely with the Architectural Glass Centre, which often supports and advises the students on live commissions and commercial work. We also work with the CIRIC research centre within the faculty, with 2 members of this research centre specialising in glass. This provides research opportunities and access to high technology resources giving the students opportunities to link with creative industries infrastructure in the region as a potential starting point for future employment.

With an eighty year history the glass department benefits from strong support from Alumni and the local glass community as well as networks and connections from world-renowned glass artists.

Assessment

The main modes of assessment used on this programme are; studio projects, written assignments and seminar presentations.

Assessment at postgraduate level is reflected by your ability to reformulate and use relevant methodologies and approaches to address problematic situations that involve many interacting factors. It includes taking responsibility for planning and developing courses of action that initiate or underpin substantial change or development, as well as exercising broad autonomy and judgement. It should also reflect an understanding of the relevant theoretical and methodological perspectives and how they affect your area of study or work.

Career Opportunities

Students from the Master's Programme have gone on to many varied careers within the Architectural Glass Industry, Glass Studios, teaching and lecturing positions, in community arts and the cultural industries in general. Many have continued to practice as designers and artists and some have progressed to PhD study.

Possible career pathways have included:
-Establishing yourself as an artist, designer or maker
-Setting up a studio as a sole supplier or in a partnership with others
-Employed in specialist glass studios
-Engaging in freelance work on architectural and interiors projects
-Designing for industry or working in the glass industry
-Working on private and public commissions
-Working on art projects and community projects
-Other opportunities include arts administration, curating, teaching and mentoring, community work and arts editorial
-Continuation of studies to postgraduate level on our MA programme
-Further academic research leading to MPhil, or PhD is available

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The University of Sunderland has the largest glass and ceramics department in Europe.

Course overview

This programme is for individuals who wish to develop both their practice and critical understanding with regards to glass and ceramics. The subject is explored and contextualized in its widest sense through both practical and theoretical investigation and application.

We do not have a ‘house style’, instead you will be encouraged and supported to develop your own focus, independent creativity, improve your technical skills through expert support, and develop academic skills in research and communication.

You’ll be joining the largest glass and ceramics department in Europe, made up of an international team of creative and experienced educators and practitioners. All academic staff on this course are engaged in professional practice or research and are at the forefront of their discipline.

Sunderland is a thriving research hub and hosts the Ceramics Arts Research Centre (CARCuos), which aims to develop, support and disseminate new knowledge and scholarly activity whilst also providing a platform both practically and theoretically for discussion aligned to the ceramic arts.

Graduates from Sunderland have gone on to work throughout the creative industries. MA graduates have also wished to extend their work through a research degree either at MPhil or PhD level and continue studies within CARCuos the ceramic arts research centre at the University.

This course can also be taken part time - for more information, please view this web-page: http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/courses/artsdesignandmedia/postgraduate/ceramics-part-time/

Course content

The content of the course is shaped by your personal interests with guidance and inspiration from Sunderland's supportive tutors.

Modules on this course include:
Stage 1 (60 Credits)
-Contextual Studies: Critical and Professional Contexts in Contemporary Art and Design (30 credits)
-Experimentation in Glass and Ceramics (30 credits)

Stage 2 (60 Credits)
-Contextual Studies: Professional Practice in Glass and Ceramics (30 credits)
-Developing Practice in Glass and Ceramics (30 credits)

Stage 3 (60 Credits)
-Contextual Studies: Research Project in Glass and Ceramics (30 credits)
-Synthesis in Glass and Ceramics Practice (30 credits)

Teaching and assessment

Compared to an undergraduate course, you will find that this Masters requires a higher level of independent working. The course aims to stretch your creativity and maximise your sense of personal fulfilment.

We use a wide variety of teaching and learning methods which include lectures, seminars, critiques, workshops and practical demonstrations. These are supported by a range of guest speakers from diverse academic and industry backgrounds. You will also have high levels of contact with tutors who give regular feedback and support.

Facilities & location

Facilities for this course include:
-26 glass kilns, including a large glass casting kiln
-13 ceramic kilns and two large gas kilns
-Ceramics mould-making and glaze workshops
-Hot glass workshop with international-quality equipment
-Two cold working studios (sandblasting, cutting, grinding and polishing)
-Printing facility for ceramics, glass and other surfaces
-Architectural glass studio
-Decal printer
-3D MakerBot Printer
-Water-jet machine/Computer Aided Design
-Project and exhibition space
-Multi-function creative and social space
-Lampworking and future light workshop
-Computer suite and project space
-Arts and Design Library
-Journals and research

We subscribe to a comprehensive range of print and electronic journals so you can access the most reliable and up-to-date articles. Some of the most important sources for your course are:
-Key Glass and Ceramics magazines and journals
-Art Full Text + Art Abstracts, which is a major resource for arts information
-Design and Applied Arts Index, which covers journals featuring both new designers and the development of design and the applied arts since the mid-19th century
-JSTOR (short for ‘Journal Storage’), which provides access to important journals across the humanities, social sciences and sciences

National Glass Centre
The Glass and Ceramics Department is based in National Glass Centre, a nationally recognised glass production and exhibition centre with a world-class programme of creative projects.

Studying here puts you at the heart of an international network of professionals in the ceramics sector. You will be exposed to the latest ways of working through visiting artists and designers, and you can become involved in exhibitions that help launch your career.

Employment & careers

Postgraduates are highly employable and, on average, earn more than individuals whose highest qualification is an undergraduate degree. On completing this course you will be equipped for roles throughout the creative industries.

Recent Sunderland graduates are now working as self-employed practitioners as well as being employed in arts administration and education.

During the course we encourage you to gain professional industry experience which will enhance your skills, build up a valuable network of contacts and boost your employability.

The University has close links with arts organisations including Arts Council England, the BALTIC, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Tyne and Wear Museums Service and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. We also have international links in USA, China and Czech Republic.

A Masters degree will also enhance career opportunities within Higher Education and prepare you for further postgraduate studies.

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Glass is a medium that crosses a range of disciplines and is used by artists, craftspeople and designers alike. This award-winning programme explores glass as a design tool that encourages process-led risk and play, in parallel with the prototyping and resolution of designed objects.

Courses cover contemporary design issues including material narratives, interdisciplinary crossover and post-digital practices, as well as studio and client-based projects.

You will focus on the materiality of glass, explore new boundaries through the integrated relationship between process and theory, and be encouraged to position yourself within and beyond the disciplines of glass.

This programme is unique in Scotland and ECA is one of the few centres of excellence in this discipline in the UK. Comprehensive glass and plaster workshops are complemented by state-of-the-art digital fabrication labs, woodwork, metalwork and bronze foundry, enabling you to experience the complete design journey from conception to the production of glass at the highest level.

You will benefit from visiting professional practitioners and lecturers and will have the opportunity to participate in live projects and competitions. The curriculum combines programme and student-led activity, delivered through workshops, group seminars and individual tutorials.

You will negotiate and develop a programme of study based on personal areas of practice-based research. We foster interdisciplinary collaboration with other departments creating a unique student experience and rich opportunities for learning.

Programme structure

This programme combines directed and self-directed practice-based studio projects with theoretical and written studies, including professional practice elements to prepare you for employment in the industry, and a lecture/seminar series to examine the wider context of your studies.

The programme focuses on providing the tools of craft and design through comprehensive professional practice workshops, focused on the specific requirements of the designer maker. You will produce a body of practical and written work on an agreed, self-initiated project. MFA students produce an additional extended body of work.

Career opportunities

As a graduate you will discover a diverse range of career opportunities. Alumni have worked within the production of individual designed objects, as lead designers within industry, as gallery representation, on commissioned major public artworks, and in teaching and leading positions within creative practices.

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This course is concerned with the development of advanced craft and design practice. In essence, the course combines the handmade and digital approaches, which highlights and encourages new methods of practice being used with glass.

We seek to maintain and develop time-honoured glass processes in kiln work and glassblowing - skills that take many years to accomplish. We equally encourage the pursuit of the creative opportunities that new digital technologies provide.

There is access to a range of glass facilities and to a broad range of other 3D design and craft cultures, including those related to the design and/or making of domestic products, furniture, ceramics and jewellery.

Design Network

Based in the heart of the School of Art, MA/MFA Design: Glass is part of an innovative design network — a community of staff and students exploring design ideas in a discursive, cross-disciplinary studio environment. Critically informed practical designers, the group works experimentally, inspired by new insights and possibilities.

While studying towards a particular qualification at MA/MFA level, students experience their subject in the broader context of contemporary design practice.

Specialist Environment

Dedicated spaces for the postgraduate community have been developed to enable the postgraduate community to flourish. These spaces, for thinking and practice, are located centrally within the School of Art, allowing easy access to an extensive range of workshops where the combination of traditional and state of the art equipment opens up a world of exciting possibilities.

Course Content

The MA Design: Glass is made up of four units totalling 180 credits.

The programme is designed to help you acclimatise to the challenges of MA level research and practice, enabling you to identify and describe a clear direction for your postgraduate design study.

You will be encouraged to develop design propositions that encompass key design issues and have complexity and ambition, taking full consideration of the relative contextual drivers.

You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry.

Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – what ever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.

If you choose to progress to MFA Design: Glass award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.

This route is focused on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.

Resources

We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the newly refurbished Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.

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The spirit of Ceramics & Glass at the RCA springs from the heart of those media, and a belief in the transformative power of material thinking, research and making to enrich our world in imaginative and meaningful ways. The programme is a site for contemporary discourse where personal concerns and global perspectives intersect. We seek those with passion to extend the possibilities and perspectives of ceramics and glass within and beyond traditional limitations, informed by their rich provenance of materials and practices.

The Ceramics & Glass MA at the RCA provides outstanding opportunities to develop a dynamic, informed and connected practice in a study environment that embraces diversity and depth. We believe in interrogating practices and challenging conventions. 

Our hyper-material age presents exciting and critical opportunities to explore cultures of production; to ask questions about what, why and how we make; to express ideas through the symbolic modes of things and transformative character of substances, and to consider how our work can influence physical, personal and psycho-social environments. We challenge and encourage you to stretch your imagination, expand your potential and find your voice.

The MA spectrum of enquiry includes art and design works, design for manufacture and the built environment, emerging experimental practices and applications. Curiosity is nurtured through the imaginative exploration of concepts, the investigation of material properties and technologies, the potential of interdisciplinary practice and collaboration. Making, thinking and writing skills are integrated to develop critical perspectives of practice and purpose, and to foster new understandings of our interaction with ‘things’.

The exceptional ceramic and glass facilities at the Royal College underpin a dynamic study environment led by outstanding teachers and technical experts, supported by contributions from peers, acclaimed visiting lecturers and graduates, who have shaped the programme’s leading research and international standing over many years.

The MA study experience integrates studio-based project learning with a formal dialogue in Critical & Historical Studies, scaffolded by the rigour of enquiry and reflective practice. Workshops, lectures, visiting experts and collaboration opportunities are supplemented by seminars and personal tutorials to provide guidance, foster critical reflection and encourage the development of individual trajectories and ambitions.

The programme offers:

• individual studio work spaces
• well-equipped workshops with facilities for undertaking an extensive range of ceramic and glass processes, both analogue and digital
• access to specialist facilities across the Royal College of Art, including foundry, rapid form fabrication
•  exceptional teaching by an international team of experienced, dedicated staff
• a regular visiting lecturer and guest lecturer programme of leading artists, designers and craftspeople
• outstanding technical support from a team of highly skilled specialist staff
• a strong research culture with support for project and doctoral funding
• alumni include Flavie Audi, Barnaby Barford, Neil Brownsword, Phoebe Cummings, Mike Eden, Malene Hartmann-Rasmussen, Hitomi Hosono, Shelley James, Studio Manifold, Nao Matsunaga, Katharine Morling, Zemer Peled, Rothschild/Bickers, James Rigler, Anders Ruhwald, Clare Twomey

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See the department website - http://cias.rit.edu/schools/american-crafts/graduate-glass

The MFA in glass is a two-year program of study that develops students personal creative voice through intensive research, discussion, critique, and experimentation. Students are provided full access to a complete glass facility and individual studio space to strengthen their technique and to practice designing pieces that flourish their personal expression of the medium. Graduate studio courses, seminar courses, and in-depth critiques are offered in conjunction with thesis planning and implementation to provide students with a deep understanding of this personal craft. Students are exposed to a broad range of critical issues related to the conception and production of art, to inspire and provoke critical reflection and facilitate the development of a thesis exhibition and supporting documentation.

Admission requirements

To be considered for admission to the MFA program in glass, candidates must fulfill the following requirements:

- Hold a baccalaureate degree in a field of arts, sciences, or education from a regionally accredited institution in the United States,

- Submit official transcripts (in English) of all previously completed undergraduate and graduate course work (the undergraduate degree should include 50 semester hours in studio courses),

- Demonstrate, through the quality of the undergraduate record and creative production, a genuine, professional potential, and

- Complete a graduate application.

- International students whose native language is not English must submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Minimum scores of 550 (paper-based) or 80 (Internet-based) are required. Scores from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) will be accepted in place of the TOEFL. A minimum score of 6.5 is required. Applicants coming from countries where the baccalaureate degree is not awarded for programs in the practice of art may be admitted to graduate study if the diploma or certificate received approximates the standards of the BFA, BA, or BS degrees, and if their academic records and portfolios indicate an ability to meet graduate standards.

Additional information

Studio Residency program

The School for American Crafts offers a Studio Residency program for students in ceramics, furniture design, glass, and metals and jewelry design. Residence positions are limited and are awarded after the review of all applicants’ portfolios, transcripts, and references. An interview is required. Accepted residents are required to register for one independent study credit during each semester of residence.

Accepted residents are expected to be present in their assigned studio during class hours and to contribute up to 10 hours of work per week in the main studio. These work hours are coordinated and overseen by the faculty in the resident's discipline. In exchange, the school will provide workspace, access to facilities, and supportive instruction. The resident is invited to participate in the full range of studio activities.

Participants may be those seeking additional studio experience prior to undergraduate or graduate study, early career professionals, or teachers on leave who wish to work again in an academic studio environment. The faculty in each discipline will make decisions concerning appropriate candidates.

Inquiries should be made to the Studio Residency Program, School for American Crafts, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology, 73 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5603.

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This innovative programme, the first of its kind in the English-speaking world, offers an integrated study of stained glass and its conservation, meeting a perceived need internationally for a qualification in this field. Our graduates are now leading figures in the discipline in the UK, Germany, Belgium and the USA.

The programme is taught in partnership with the Department of Archaeology.

Aims

Our aim is to offer training for a variety of employment in stained glass conservation, but also in cultural heritage management, arts administration, museums, and the administration of historic buildings.

The programme may also be preparation for higher research degrees.

Curriculum

This is a two-year programme, including four terms of taught courses, with two modules per term, a sixteen-week placement, and a five-month dissertation. Modules are devoted to basic and advanced techniques of glass conservation. Other fields of study include the history, ethics and the philosophy of conservation, international issues in conservation, art and architectural history, archaeology, conservation and the impact of climate change, and heritage and business administration. There will be a free choice of art-historical or archaeological modules in the spring term of the second year. In each taught term a masterclass addressing current issues and new research will be conducted by a visiting lecturer.

Placements

Leading conservation studios, museums and heritage institutions in Britain, Europe and the United States host placements, providing invaluable work experience, and networks for future careers.

Study tour

Every other year, usually in the Easter vacation, students will have the chance to join a European study tour, visiting major stained glass sites, and leading conservation practices.

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First Year

The first year consists of three main projects, one per term that will explore different intellectual themes and contexts in which you might work.

During the autumn term, students work from the collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum to explore the notion of the role that an object might fulfil. It lays the foundations of the research skills associated with developing material and process understanding and the cultural and social history imbedded in an object.

The spring term presents students with the opportunity to explore the theme of ‘Food’: its cultural significance, presentation and consumption.

The summer term is concerned wit the terrain of Wall, Floor, Window.

During the first two terms alongside the projects, a series of short course/workshops/masterclasses will be offered to widen students skill base and material/process understanding. These cover such topics as:

- Plaster making
- Print
- Glass – hot working
- Glass – cold working
- Glass – casting
- Jigger/jolley
- Decorative processes – ceramics
- Hand forming processes
- Basic glaze technology
- Rubber moulds
- Digital Design
- Digital Manufacture
- 3D Print
- Laser Cutting

Second Year

Through the second year, individual programmes of study will be negotiated with Personal Tutors exploring the context and working methods that will inform an individual’s future practice. There are opportunities to engage with a range of staff and visiting lecturers, and student led discussions and seminars are encouraged to promote independent thinking.

Critical & Historical Studies

The RCA provides a unique environment for postgraduate art and design students to reflect upon their own practice, and to engage with students from their own and other disciplines. The role of Critical & Historical Studies (CHS) is to support the studio programmes in enabling these critical engagements to take place. The courses offered by CHS to first year studio-based MA students propose an intellectual framework within which they can begin to establish a coherent relationship between theory and practice.

In the autumn and spring terms there are a series of College-wide seminars and lectures. The autumn term series will relate to your particular discipline (though it is possible to elect to join a series being offered to students on other programmes) whereas the spring term series will be more broad-based and cross-disciplinary in nature.

In the spring and summer terms, a CHS tutor will give you individual tutorials to support the development of a dissertation which is submitted at the start of the second year. The dissertation should be between 6,000–10,000 words in length – this is a major piece of work and you will be not be able to submit for the Final Examination until you have passed this assessment.

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The focus of postgraduate study in Design and Applied Arts is to consider your current and past practice and recognise the opportunities that exist for research, material investigation and professional development.

The aim is to provide a framework that will guide your enquiry within your subject specialism.

Subject specialisms:

Ceramics

Glass

Interior Design

Fashion

Textiles

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Scientific analysis is a key tool in the interpretation of archaeological artefact and assemblages. This MSc offers detailed training in the use of scientific techniques for the analysis of archaeological and heritage materials, and a solid background in the archaeology and anthropology of technology allowing students to design and implement archaeologically meaningful scientific projects.

Degree information

This degree aims to bridge the gap between archaeology and science by integrating both a detailed training in the use of scientific techniques for the analysis of inorganic archaeological materials and a solid background in the anthropology of technology. By the end of the degree, students should have a good understanding of the foundations of the most established analytical techniques, practical experience in their application and data processing, as well as the ability to design research projects that employ instrumental analyses to address archaeological questions.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of one core module (15 credits), four optional modules (75 credits) and a research dissertation (90 credits).

Core modules
-Laboratory and instrumental skills in archaeological science

Optional modules - you are then able to choose further optional modules to the value of 75 credits. At least 15 credits must be made up from the following:
-Technology within Society
-Archaeological Data Science

At least 30 credits must be made up from the following list below:
-Technology within Society
-Archaeological Data Science
-Archaeological Ceramic Analysis
-Archaeological Glass and Glazes
-Archaeometallurgy 1: Mining and Extractive Metallurgy
-Archaeometallurgy 2: Metallic Artefacts
-Geoarchaeology: Methods and Concepts
-Interpreting Pottery
-Working with Artefacts and Assemblages

In order to allow for a flexible curriculum, students are allowed to select up to 30 credits from any of the postgraduate courses offered at the UCL Institute of Archaeology under other Master's degrees.

Dissertation/report
All students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of 15,000 words.

Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, practical demonstrations and laboratory work. A popular aspect of this programme is its extensive use of analytical facilities. Assessment is through essays, practicals, projects, laboratory reports and oral presentations depending on the options chosen, and the dissertation.

Careers

Given our strong emphasis on research training, many of our MSc graduates take up further research positions after their degree, and over half of our MSc students progress to PhD research. Their projects are generally concerned with the technology and/or provenance of ceramics, metals or glass in different regions and periods, but most of them involve scientific approaches in combination with traditional fieldwork and/or experimental archaeology.

Some of our graduates are now teaching archaeometry or ancient technologies at different universities in the UK and abroad. Others work as conservation scientists in museums and heritage institutions, or as finds specialists, researchers and consultants employed by archaeological field units or academic research projects.

Employability
Due largely to an unparalleled breadth of academic expertise and laboratory facilities, our graduates develop an unusual combination of research and transferable skills, including critical abilities, team working, multimedia communication, numerical thinking and the use of advanced analytical instruments. On completion of the degree, graduates should be as comfortable in a laboratory as in a museum and or an archaeological site. They become acquainted with research design and implementation, ethical issues and comparative approaches to world archaeology through direct exposure to an enormous variety of projects. The range of options available allows students to tailor their pathways towards different career prospects in archaeology and beyond.

Why study this degree at UCL?

The UCL Institute of Archaeology is the largest and most diverse department of archaeology in the UK. Its specialist staff, outstanding library and fine teaching and reference collections provide a stimulating environment for postgraduate study.

The excellent in-house laboratory facilities will provide direct experience of a wide range of techniques, including electron microscopy and microphone analysis, fixed and portable X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, infra-red spectroscopy, petrography and metallography under the supervision of some of the world's leading specialists.

The institute houses fine teaching and reference collections that are extensively used by MSc students including ceramics, metals, stone artefacts and geological materials from around the world. In addition, the institute has a wide network of connections to museums and ongoing projects offering research opportunities for MSc students.

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We live in a material world, materials form the spaces in which we live and the objects that we use. Materials create and, unfortunately, may destroy the environments that we inhabit. Even in an increasing digital age in which the global economy and market continues to expand, the physical nature of materials is always present but it changes and is subject to contextual particularities, such as traditional practices, availability of resource and skills, emerging materials and technologies such as digital fabrication.

The programme focuses on process; the direct experience of using and making with materials; how materials are used in creative works, design and production; how new opportunities and ideas may evolve through reflective practice.

The programme employs a cross disciplinary approach and uses the workshops and expertise across Edinburgh College of Art. You will work with many materials including glass, textiles, metals, timber and concrete. You will also access and use various methods of digital fabrication such as additive manufacture and CNC routing and laser cutting.

The programme addresses directly important contemporary issues of economy, inclusion and sustainability, through the practical, collaborative and individual projects.

The programme is available to students from a variety of design and creative material practice, art, design, craft, and architecture backgrounds and from more traditional technologically based disciplines, such as engineering, looking to expand their skills and understanding in both material techniques and collaborative practice.

Programme structure

The programme is largely workshop- and studio-based. You will gain experience and expertise from a variety of tutors, support staff and technicians.

Periods will be spent in different workshops of the ECA, to explore materials and technique including: metals, glass, textiles and architecture.

As you progress through the programme you will acquire both skills and understanding of various materials, apply these in a series of projects that consider contemporary issues, culminating in a self-directed project, developed from your own experience.

Learning outcomes

The MSc in Material Practice seeks to provide core learning outcomes:

• To understand and develop further skills in materials technique and processes
• To explore and develop cross disciplinary design and creative practice
• To understand the evolving nature of material practice and digital fabrication
• To understand explore contemporary issues and themes through material investigations
• To formulate and undertake cross-disciplinary research in materials and material practice

Career opportunities

Opportunities exist with the many and various cross-disciplinary practices that operate in design professions such as product design, manufacturing, architecture and art practice.

Graduates can direct their career, having furthered their skills, explored and developed cross disciplinary design and creative practice and explored contemporary issues and themes. During the programme there will be opportunities to meet with other designers and industries.

The programme will also help those that wish to develop their own practice as fabricators, designers. artists or contractors.

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Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Communication Systems at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).

The MRes Communication Systems provides an excellent teaching and research environment with international recognition for the advancement and dissemination of knowledge communication and photonic systems. This provides lasting career skills for students.

Key Features of MRes in Communication Systems

Along with the taught component, this MRes Communication Systems contains a substantial research component that involves independent research.

As a student on the MRes Communication Systems programme, you will have the opportunity to progress a research project linked to an industrially relevant problem under joint supervision of an academic and a participating industrial researcher.

In addition, the MRes Communication Systems project includes a series of lectures that deal with research techniques including research methodologies, philosophy and principles, ethics, experimental design, managing research project progress, data analysis and presentation, and technical and scientific writing.

Combination of taught modules (60 credits) and a research thesis, which presents the outcome of a significant research project (120 credits) over 12 months full-time study. An MRes (Master of Research) provides relevant training to acquire the knowledge, techniques and skills required for a career in industry or for further research.

Modules

Modules on the MRes in Communication Systems typically include:

• Network Protocols and Architectures

• Signals and Systems

• Digital Communications

• Optical Communications

• Software for Smartphone

• Communication Skills for Research Engineers

• MRes Communication Systems Project

Facilities

Our new home at the innovative Bay Campus provides some of the best university facilities in the UK, in an outstanding location.

Engineering at Swansea University has extensive IT facilities and provides extensive software licenses and packages to support teaching. In addition the University provides open access IT resources.

Links with Industry

At Swansea University, Electronic and Electrical Engineering has an active interface with industry and many of our activities are sponsored by companies such as Agilent, Auto Glass, BT and Siemens.

This discipline has a good track record of working with industry both at research level and in linking industry-related work to our postgraduate courses. We also have an industrial advisory board that ensures our taught courses maintain relevance.

Our research groups work with many major UK, Japanese, European and American multinational companies and numerous small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to pioneer research. This activity filters down and influences the project work that is undertaken by all our postgraduate students.

Careers

Employment in wireless communication systems and network administration, and mobile applications development.

Student Quotes

“I have enjoyed my research with my supervisor and have one patent sorted, published two IEEE letters (a well-cited journal in the area of communications) and one IEE letter (an internally renowned peer-reviewed journal) – my dream has come true!”

Arun Raaza, MRes Communication Systems

Research

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 ranks Engineering at Swansea as 10th in the UK for the combined score in research quality across the Engineering disciplines.

World-leading research

The REF shows that 94% of research produced by our academic staff is of World-Leading (4*) or Internationally Excellent (3*) quality. This has increased from 73% in the 2008 RAE.

Research pioneered at the College of Engineering harnesses the expertise of academic staff within the department. This ground-breaking multidisciplinary research informs our world-class teaching with several of our staff leaders in their fields.

Highlights of the Engineering results according to the General Engineering Unit of Assessment:

Research Environment at Swansea ranked 2nd in the UK

Research Impact ranked 10th in the UK

Research Power (3*/4* Equivalent staff) ranked 10th in the UK

With recent academic appointments strengthening electronics research at the College, the Electronic Systems Design Centre (ESDC) has been re-launched to support these activities.

The Centre aims to represent all major electronics research within the College and to promote the Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree.

Best known for its research in ground-breaking Power IC technology, the key technology for more energy efficient electronics, the Centre is also a world leader in semiconductor device modelling, FEM and compact modelling.

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This course is designed for those with a first degree in either forensic science or another science subject (ideally chemistry or biology but other degrees are also acceptable) who want to further their knowledge and experience of forensic science.

The full-time distance learning MSc should be completed in 18 months including your dissertation. There is a two-week long residential practical programme, held at our Stoke-on-Trent campus at the end of Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma stages of study. These workshops enable you to put your learning into practice and gain valuable experience in our state-of-the-art laboratories, crime scene house and mock courtroom facilities.

The MSc dissertation completes your study. This is a independent research project which will usually be undertaken, at least in part, in our state of the art specialist facilities.

Course content

This course builds upon your previous experience in the biological, chemical or forensic or other appropriate sciences to develop your ability to analyse evidence in a myriad of forms. The emphasis is on accuracy, accountability and thoroughness, with the ultimate aim of providing results and interpretation for use by a court of law. The theory is delivered using Blackboard, an online virtual learning environment. This provides the flexibility of studying at your own pace and from any location in the world. Whilst using Blackboard, you will interact with other students on the course through online discussion groups and receive excellent support from tutors via e-mail or phone.

The Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma courses are, respectively, the first third and first two thirds of the MSc course. At Postgraduate Certificate level, the emphasis is on the crime scene, specifically the collection, packaging and analysis of evidence such as fingermarks, footwear marks, documents, hairs, fibres and glass. Those continuing on to the Postgraduate Diploma will then change the emphasis of their studies to the chemical and biological analysis of evidence in forensic laboratories. During the Diploma, you will learn about a host of techniques, from the interpretation of blood spatter evidence to the analysis of illicit drugs, and from DNA profiling to the analysis of fire accelerants and drugs. The Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma stages of study each end in a two-week long residential practical programme, held at our Stoke-on-Trent campus. These summer workshops enable you to put your learning into practice and gain valuable experience in our state-of-the-art laboratories, crime scene house and mock courtroom facilities.

MSc students continue their studies beyond the Postgraduate Diploma stage, allowing specialisation in an aspect of forensic science. To complete the MSc, you will undertake a independent research project in an area either suggested by yourself or by choosing a title from a list of topics. In this work, the emphasis is on initiative and originality in the analysis and interpretation of results. The experimental part will usually be undertaken at our Stoke-on-Trent campus but, by agreement, could be based at the learner’s place of work or at a local institute.

Accreditation

This award is accredited by the Forensic Science Society.

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The course philosophy for MA Fine Art - Contemporary Dialogues is that of experimentation, offering a challenge to conventional notions of medium-specificity in order to properly facilitate your ‘style' of expression and your inherent interests.

Course Overview

MA Fine Art within the Contemporary Dialogues portfolio offers an exciting and innovative re-thinking of Postgraduate provision that reflects the strategic thinking of Swansea College of Art. The portfolio facilitates migration between diverse thematic disciplines, exploring new ideas and conceptual approaches to allow young artists and designers to confront the issues that face society today and into the future.

The portfolio’s ethos of collaborative dialogues through material practices provides an innovative model of design, fine and applied arts education. This development allows students from all pathways to experience and share creative practices and innovative mind-sets through inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary dialogues. This ethos is enhanced within each programme to stimulate ‘collaborative’ practices and experimentation across a broader spectrum of specialist fields, developing graduates with the contextual awareness, creative thinking and technical skills to operate at the forefront of their discipline.

During the course of your studies you will be supported by specialist staff, leading professionals and practicing artists through lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. We have exceptional traditional and digital facilities, housed in spacious purpose-build workshops. Through these, we encourage creative freedom within all of our students and support you in challenging conventional thinking and established practices and facilitate new technological advances across a broad range of disciplines. We have found that through collaborative experimentation and innovative design thinking our students are able to produce work that meets the challenges and respond to the demands of the 21st century.

Facilities include:
-Firing kilns for glass and ceramics
-Printmaking, Screen Printing and Digital Textile Technologies
-Traditional and Digital Stitch
-Wood, Metal, Clay
-Cutting Etching and Engraving Technologies - Waterjet, Laser, Plotter
-3D Printing and CNC
-Chemical and Digital Darkrooms
-Specialist computer facilities with commercial standard software

Modules

Core Modules
-Collaborative Dialogues (20 credits)
-Co-Existent Perspectives (20 credits)
-The Thought Experiment (20 credits)
-Explorative Research Praxis (60 credits)
-Confirmative Praxis (60 credits)

Key Features

Students use the Master's Programme for all kinds of reasons; to gain an extra qualification, to achieve a higher and more sophisticated level of practice, as well as to have supported research and development time in order to elevate themselves to a more professional plateau with their artwork. Students from the Master's Programme have gone on to many varied careers in teaching and lecturing positions, in community arts and the cultural industries in general. Lots have continued to practice as artists and some have progressed to PhD study.

The programme has access to well equipped workshops including a resin, plaster, wood, metal and ceramic.
 Beyond this specialist equipment, you will also have access to an extensive range of facilities including an excellent library, open-access computer suites and workshops in other areas within the art school. 
We currently have two research centres within the faculty. These research centres provide staff with research opportunities and access to high technology resources, they provide students with placement opportunities while also developing the creative industries infrastructure in the region, which will benefit graduating students.

The Creative Industries Research and Innovation Centre was established in 2005 and is a knowledge transfer centre for projects that support the creative industries in Wales.

Current projects include Moving Image Wales, which supports the digital media industry, the Textiles Technologies Project, which supports the textiles and apparel industries, CIME, which supports business through creative intervention and SATnet, which provides a link between artists and businesses in the science and technology sectors. In addition, IPCRES is also based in CIRIC and is developing and disseminating research about durational and event-based practices.

Alongside the numerous projects operating within CIRIC, there is also a Design Bureau, with water jet cutting, laser cutting and fabric printing services. The Centre for Lens Arts and Science Interaction is a research centre based within The Dynevor Centre for Art, Design, and Media at University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea (formerly Swansea Metropolitan University). CLASI aims to encourage and promote interdisciplinary research projects, which stimulate research, innovation, and experimentation across photographic, digital and electronic arts. A strong emphasis is placed on research strands where the histories, philosophies and practices of art and science intersect. The definition of art and science is intentionally broad and the centre is aligned with SATnet and CIRIC.

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The course philosophy is that of experimentation, offering a challenge to conventional notions of medium - specificity in order to properly facilitate your ‘style' of expression and your inherent interests.

Course Overview

The Contemporary Dialogues portfolio offers an exciting and innovative re-thinking of Postgraduate provision that reflects the strategic thinking of Swansea College of Art. The portfolio facilitates migration between diverse thematic disciplines, exploring new ideas and conceptual approaches to allow young artists and designers to confront the issues that face society today and into the future.

The portfolio’s ethos of collaborative dialogues through material practices provides an innovative model of design, fine and applied arts education. This development allows students from all pathways to experience and share creative practices and innovative mind-sets through inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary dialogues. This ethos is enhanced within each programme to stimulate ‘collaborative’ practices and experimentation across a broader spectrum of specialist fields, developing graduates with the contextual awareness, creative thinking and technical skills to operate at the forefront of their discipline.

During the course of your studies you will be supported by specialist staff, leading professionals and practicing artists through lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. We have exceptional traditional and digital facilities, housed in spacious purpose-build workshops. Through these, we encourage creative freedom within all of our students and support you in challenging conventional thinking and established practices and facilitate new technological advances across a broad range of disciplines. We have found that through collaborative experimentation and innovative design thinking our students are able to produce work that meets the challenges and respond to the demands of the 21st century.

Facilities include:
-Firing kilns for glass and ceramics
-Printmaking, Screen Printing and Digital Textile Technologies
-Traditional and Digital Stitch
-Wood, Metal, Clay
-Cutting Etching and Engraving Technologies - Waterjet, Laser, Plotter
-3D Printing and CNC
-Chemical and Digital Darkrooms
-Specialist computer facilities with commercial standard software

Modules

-Collaborative Dialogues (20 credits)
-Co-Existent Perspectives (20 credits)
-The Thought Experiment (20 credits)
-Explorative Research Praxis (60 credits)
-Confirmative Praxis (60 credits)

Key Features

Students use the Masters Programme for all kinds of reasons; to gain an extra qualification, to achieve a higher and more sophisticated level of practice, as well as to have supported research and development time in order to elevate themselves to a more professional plateau with their artwork. Students from the Masters Programme have gone on to many varied careers in teaching and lecturing positions, in community arts and the cultural industries in general. Lots have continued to practice as artists and some have progressed to PhD study.

The programme has access to well equipped workshops including a resin, plaster, wood, metal and ceramic.
Beyond this specialist equipment, you will also have access to an extensive range of facilities including an excellent library, open-access computer suits and workshops in other areas within the art school. 
We currently have two research centres within the faculty.These research centres provide staff with research opportunities and access to high technology resources, they provide students with placement opportunity whilst also developing the creative industries infrastructure in the region, which will benefit graduating students.

The Creative Industries Research and Innovation Centre was established in 2005 and is a knowledge transfer centre for projects that support the creative industries in Wales.

Current projects include Moving Image Wales, which supports the digital media industry, the Textiles Technologies Project, which supports the textiles and apparel industries, CIME, which supports business through creative intervention and SATnet, which provides a link between artists and businesses in the science and technology sectors. In addition, IPCRES is also based in CIRIC and is developing and disseminating research about durational and event based practices.

Alongside the numerous projects operating within CIRIC, there is also a Design Bureau, with water jet cutting, laser cutting and fabric printing services.

 The Centre for Lens Arts and Science Interaction is a research centre based within The Dynevor Centre for Art, Design, and Media at Swansea Metropolitan University. CLASI aims to encourage and promote interdisciplinary research projects, which stimulate research, innovation, and experimentation across photographic, digital and electronic arts. A strong emphasis is placed on research strands where the histories, philosophies and practices of art and science intersect. The definition of art and science is intentionally broad and the centre is aligned with SATnet and CIRIC.

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