A two-year, multidisciplinary programme: both of these fundamental facts are significant. A two-year programme of study offers students an opportunity to analyse their creative practice in depth, and to modify, develop and secure it accordingly. The multidisciplinary context also ensures that developments in creative practice are explored and consolidated through critical analysis in a more productive way.
MFA students learn from, and contribute to, the delivery of the programme curriculum, the experiences of their peers, and the wider art community based within the city of Glasgow. Within this situation a premium is placed upon independent learning, self-reliance, originality, initiative and enterprise.
Students develop their working practices in order to explore and advance their own specific interests and academic agendas. Such interests usually take the form of a combination of formal, technical, thematic and theoretical concerns. Through the development of individual research students are encouraged to explore their practices in relation to wider cultural, theoretical and historical contexts. Regular tutorial support from the MFA core teaching team and a wide range of visiting lecturers allows students the opportunity to discuss their work with experts. Critical feedback is also available by means of group critiques.
Students operating at postgraduate level are expected to demonstrate increasing levels of independence, self-reliance and 'ownership' in relation to their learning experience. All MFA students are allocated studio space, and this space serves as the focal point of their studies. It is not only the place where work is produced, but it is also the place where professional working practices and operational discipline are learned. In the environment of the studio, each MFA student learns how to organise and structure their own working patterns in order to prepare themselves - both intellectually and practically - for the life of a practising artist.
Many MFA students are also engaged in other initiatives throughout the city. Such extracurricular activity contributes significantly to the learning experiences of the students involved, and makes an invaluable contribution to the ongoing cultural life of the MFA programme and the city at large.
