The world needs people who can make an impact with images. Our course helps you discover your passions, strengths and your own visual language as you work alongside industry experts. You’ll develop skills that make you valuable everywhere from the arts and advertising to medical photography and forensics.

How to apply Apply through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to Us

[Button: 2027]

## Key Course Details

### [Button: 3 Years Full-time ]

* #### UCAS Code

* #### Start Date

September

* #### Location

* #### Campus Code

#### Fees

* #### International students

### [Button: 4 Years Sandwich ]

In this section

* Overview

* Module Overview

* Course Highlights

* Entry Requirements

Make an Enquiry

Follow your interests to become the versatile and multi-skilled photographer you’re meant to be, capable of thriving in any work environment.

## DESIGNED FOR

Our course nurtures your unique vision, helping you grow as a photographer and individual. Discover your strengths, build confidence, and follow your inspiration. Embrace a transformative journey with 100% coursework and no exams. If you want to explore and challenge yourself this course is for you.

### Accredited by

* The Association of Photographers

### Skills taught

* Technical skills (camera and lighting craft, moving image and editing)

* Communication, presentation and networking

* Creative and critical thinking

* Problem-solving

* Independent working

### Career paths

* Photographer (Advertising, Art, Fashion, Architecture, Events etc.)

* Medical Photography and Forensic Imaging

* Advertising

* Publishing

* Curation

* Retouching

* Technician or Photography Assistant

* Photography or Studio Management

* Education

## Course Highlights

### Top accreditation

The only course in Wales to meet the strict quality criteria of the prestigious Association of Photographers.

### Skills focus

Learn more than photo skills - develop visual literacy, technical expertise, and personal skills.

### Cutting edge facilities

Explore our two studios and a variety of digital, analogue, lighting, fabrication, and print tools.

### Immersed in creativity

Endless options for collaboration and exploration with all our creative industries teaching focussed in one place.

Image: Staff stood in front of a red backdrop in a photography studio Play Video

## Module Overview

[Button: Overview][Button: Year One][Button: Year two][Button: Year three]

After gaining the key technical and conceptual groundwork in year one, you’ll apply your skills and knowledge in various industry-relevant projects alongside established pros, finding your own visual identity in the process and creating a body of work that supports your career aspirations.

Explore key technical skills and ideas relevant to the contemporary photography industry through engaging and challenging practical projects. Stimulating assignments and industry experiences will foster your creativity and help you understand and control the medium.

Is It Real?

Gain camera and exposure skills as you explore photography’s relationship to truth, reality and the physical world.

How We Tell Stories

Learn about photographic storytelling using key narrative tools such as image editing and sequencing.

Fake Views

Explore photography as make-believe, manipulating images through lighting and digital editing to create illusions.

What Do We Remember?

Understand how photos shape memories, connect us with the past and inform our view of the present and future.

Who We Are

Investigate how photography shapes individual and cultural identities, creating images based on your own cares and concerns.

Can We Create Change?*

Showcase your emerging visual identity with a collaborative project on positive environmental and societal impact.

*Part of this module can be studied through the medium of Welsh

Deepen your knowledge and learn how it applies to the contemporary photographic industry and various potential job roles that exist within it. Further develop your skills and gain the confidence to build your unique visual identity.

The Public

Advance your technical skills as you create a commercial campaign that informs and educates a defined public audience.

The Client

Work directly with a notable industry figure to produce and evaluate a commercial photographic advertising campaign.

The Idea

Use photography to explore the big questions of our time, initiating and researching ideas and developing subject matter.

The Commission

Work with an industry pro as you initiate, develop and realise a personal project in response to a given site.

Finding Your Place*

Dive into the industry as you explore career paths, engage with professionals, visit workplaces and get valuable feedback.

Make decisions about the kind of work you want to make, themes you wish to explore, and the position your work occupies within the broader photography industry. We will support you in building your confidence as an individual and preparing you for employment in the industry.

Independent Vision

Develop an ambitious, relevant and contemporary body of work demonstrating your capabilities and individuality.

Critical piece

Choose one of two critical modules where you’ll develop an academic piece relevant to your ambitions.

Critical Catalogue

Define and develop a visually creative catalogue pulling together contrasting imagery and ideas from existing artists.

Critical Paper*

Complete an essay exploring a subject relevant to your interests and supporting your practical photographic work.

Making Ready

Publish your work to the highest possible standard in a specific area of the industry, and present yourself professionally, ready for employment.

### How you’ll learn

Assessment is 100% coursework - no exams on this course! Learn through a combination of workshops, lectures, seminars and tutorials alongside screenings, gallery visits, field trips, industry briefs, and guest talks, all designed to further enhance and enrich your experience and knowledge. The emphasis is practical, but theoretical elements provide context and help you to place your work within the wider photographic world.

Throughout the course you’ll have dedicated guidance and support but will also be expected to work independently and manage your time – especially in your final year where you’ll create a significant body of work.

### Teaching staff

Your teaching team is made up of passionate and dedicated tutors who are committed to your progression as a photographer and a creative individual. They provide the support, encouragement and freedom to discuss and explore the things that matter to you. All staff are accomplished photographers, artists, filmmakers and writers on photography, who are committed to helping you develop your unique vision in ways that lead to the best outcomes for you.

We also invite industry specialists in to work with you, provide feedback and advice, talk about their photographic work and share insights into their areas of specialism.

### Placements and work experience

We pride ourselves on strong industry links and offer many opportunities to work with creative professionals through live projects and industry-facing modules. In year two, you work directly with leading figures and organisations, exploring areas of the industry that excite you. Placements at studios, events and workplaces give you unparalleled insights into how photography operates in the real world.

You also have the option of a sandwich year between years 2 and 3 during which you can undertake a longer placement or series of placements within relevant areas of the photographic industry.

### Facilities

Our industry-standard facilities let you push visual boundaries with two professional studios, an editing suite, high-end print room, and darkroom. You also have access to a fabrication workshop, laser cutting, and 3D printing. Enjoy free use of our camera store, featuring brands like Phase One, Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Hasselblad, and Sony, along with lighting gear from Profoto, Dracast, and Aputure.

Based in Cardiff, you'll be near stunning urban, rural, and coastal landscapes, and you'll collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds and creative fields.

### Equipment

At our Cardiff Campus we have a vast range of equipment that you will be trained to use as part of your course. To help support your studies we have a Media Loans facility that allows you to hire the equipment, at no cost, for you to then use for your assignments and practical work.

We have both basic and high-end film and photography cameras, portable lighting and sound equipment as well as a range of professional studio recording microphones, instruments and associated equipment to use in our music studios or on location. The team of technical officers and instructors are also available to help you with any queries and technical issues.

## Student Stories

Image: Photography student smiling for a photo, sitting on a sofa surrounded by a wall full of photographs

A journey from personal photography to professional creativity

Rebecca Miles

Photography student

Image: Ailish in casual clothes sitting on a chair, posing for the camera in a bright, photography studio.

Turning a creative outlet into a career in Photography

Ailish James

Image: Elis in casual clothes sitting on a chair, posing for the camera in a bright, photography studio.

Exploring photography with industry-standard facilities

Elis Jones

Image: Graduate Mareah Ali wearing a graduation robe and graduation cap stood in front of the red dragon outside Newport's ICC

"I want to show that Deafness is beautiful."

Mareah Ali

Photography graduate

Image: The Story so Far

Work by USW Photography celebrated in momentous new book

Student Work

Photography students

Image: Photography graduate Hattie Alwen

Exploring medical misogyny through photography

Hattie Alwen

## Accreditations and partnerships

Image Accredited by

Image Partnered with

## ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

## UCAS Points: 96 (or above)

### Typical qualification requirements:

* A Level: CCC to include a relevant art and design subject (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).

* Welsh BACC: Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C in the Skills Challenge Certificate and CC at A Level with a relevant art and design subject (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).

* BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit in a relevant subject (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).

* Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points.

* T Level: Pass (C and above)

### Additional requirements include:

* The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.

* Selection for this course is based on a suitable application. If you do not meet the entry criteria, you may also be required to provide a portfolio of your work to help us assess your suitability for the course.

### International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages .

### English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages .

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages .

### Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

### We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

## Fees and Funding

International Full-time Fee

per year*

### Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.

We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Bursaries Cost of Living Support

### Additional costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

*Optional

## [Button: Photographic Materials]

Printing Materials, Analogue Film, Processing, Props etc. dependent on nature of an individual student's photographic work.

Cost: £100-400 Per Annum

## [Button: Local Trips]

Course day trips to see photography and visit industry.

Cost: £20-40 Per Annum

## [Button: Final Production]

Year 3 cost of professionally publishing final year work - this cost is dependent on the nature of an individual's photographic work and their specific aims regarding career steps and future employment.

Cost: £50-500 Final Year Only

## [Button: International Trips]

* (Optional) Year 1, 2 & 3 Annual International Trip e.g. Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona (All trips are subject to change and viability in relation to student numbers)

Cost: £300-500 Per Trip

## [Button: Camera]

* (Optional) Digital SLR or Mirrorless Camera with interchangeable lens option – please note that we have a wide range of digital and analogue cameras available to Photography students to loan, following induction, from our excellent stores.

Cost: £250-£1000 One off purchase

## Media Loans

Access industry-standard cameras, lighting, sound and recording gear, supported by free Media Loans and experienced technicians. We have everything you need to help you experiment, refine and bring your work to life with confidence.

## University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

## Welcome to The Waiting Room

The Waiting Room is our website that showcases the work of our graduates – take a look at the diverse range of work they have produced.

Download The Waiting Room

Image: A student sat smiling and talking to friends off camera in Treforest Student's Union

Student Life

Image: A double room at our Pontypridd accommodation featuring a large window.

Accommodation

Image: Exterior view of the University's Cardiff Campus.

Cardiff Campus

## THE STAFF WERE AMAZING AND THERE TO HELP WHEN I NEEDED A PUSH IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION, AND THEY PROVIDED ME WITH AN EXPERIENCE THAT WILL BE WITH ME FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

Rebecca Tudball

USW Photography graduate

## I WAS SURPRISED HOW MUCH SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE I WAS GIVEN BY MY TUTORS. WHAT I WAS NOT EXPECTING THOUGH WAS THE NETWORK OF INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS I WAS INTRODUCED TO THROUGH THE COURSE.

Stefania Kossakowska

## Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.

## Careers and Employability

[Button: Graduate Careers ][Button: Careers Support ][Button: Industry partners][Button: Build your own career]

### Graduate Careers

The visual literacy, cultural understanding, creative confidence and transferable skills you gain on the course prime you for a host of career paths across artistic, commercial, and public sectors. You could become a highly skilled photographer or independent artist, but the skills you gain also prime you for art direction and production, studio management, medical and forensic photography, curation, writing and publishing, education, marketing and media. The possibilities are vast.

The Photography BA degree also prepares you for postgraduate study in creative fields at notable institutions.

### Careers Support

Our course staff, with experience across various creative disciplines, will support your career aspirations using their industry connections. The course has modules dedicated to giving you the tools and industry knowledge required to pursue your dreams. Placements, live briefs, and collaborations with industry professionals provide real-world experience and expand your network. You'll also get a four-year membership to The Association of Photographers (AOP) for guidance and career support.

Our dedicated careers team will help you find opportunities and market yourself effectively.

### Industry partners

We’re proud of our extensive network, from top figures like renowned agent John Wyatt Clark to trailblazing alumni such as Harry Rose, founder of Darwin Studios. Our connections with bodies like the AOP and Ffotogallery, and partnerships with G.F.Smith, Taylor Brothers, and Blurring the Lines, offer significant benefits.

Students regularly excel in competitions such as Portrait of Britain, National Eisteddfod, and AOP Student Awards, where one recently won 'Best in Show.' Our international links enable creative trips to Budapest, Berlin, and Amsterdam.

### Build your own career

Your career doesn’t have to mean working for someone else. If you want to freelance, start a business or develop an idea, USW Enterprise can help with one-to-one mentoring, practical workshops and funding opportunities through the USW Enterprise Startup Fund.

You’ll also have access to Startup Stiwdio spaces in our Cardiff, Newport and Treforest campuses. After graduating, you can get free membership for up to three years, giving you workspace and a network of other founders.

Whether you choose employment, freelancing or starting a business, we’ll help you build the skills, confidence and connections to move forward.

USW Enterprise

### How to apply

There are still places available for September 2026. Apply through Clearing and get support and benefits worth up to £3k. Call our admissions team to secure your place: 03455 76 06 06 or apply online now.

You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time).

* September 2027 Sandwich

* September 2027 Full-time

### Advanced entry

If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.

Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.

### International admissions

International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.

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