Applying to Study for an MFA

How to apply

Please follow the detailed instructions in the Course Guide available here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/mfa-fine-art

Queries about the MFA programme can be directed to graduate@rsa.ox.ac.uk

Details of this procedure, selection criteria and exact submission dates can be found at http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate_courses/apply/application_guide/

All supporting documentation, including letters of reference, must be received by the deadline. Incomplete applications will not be assessed by the admissions panel.

For the most detailed information on the application process please refer to the University Admissions webpage: http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate_courses/index.html

Information on fees and living costs can be found at http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/fees

Apply online

You will be able to complete and submit your application online and upload electronic copies of supporting materials (including written materials, curriculum vitae etc). You can also register the email details of your referees online ahead of submitting your appliation form so they have plenty of time to send in their supporting statements. 

There is a non-refundable £75.00 application fee for each programme of study you apply to. This is normally payable by credit card on submission of each online application. Information about application fee waiver eligibility is here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/applying-to-oxford/application-guide/declaration-and-payment#content-tab--3.

Collegiate System

In order to study at the University of Oxford, you need to belong to both a college and a department.  Each college has its own distinctive character, so you may well have a preference.  You can find more about the collegiate system and individual colleges here: http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate_courses/college_guide/index.html

When applying, it is possible to choose a specific college or to make an open application, where you select the subject that you wish to study but do not select a college.   If you do not choose a college you will be assigned a college.  Please bear in mind that successful candidates can be offered a place at a different college to the one to which they originally applied.  

Portfolio Submission

Your digital portfolio should consist of recently completed studio work documented through up to 15 images and/or 12 minutes of moving image or sound work. This should be submitted via a URL within a PDF document, in the place of ‘written work’ in your application.

Portfolios should be accessible online via a working link, and it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the link is operative throughout the admissions and interviews period. Dedicated section(s) of a website or platforms such as Vimeo, Google etc would be suitable. Platforms such as Flickr which are ad-heavy, or similarly Dropbox that require lengthy registration processes, are to be avoided where possible, as are password-protected sites, as they make the selection process and the interviews harder.

Do not upload a PDF of your portfolio.

The department will not accept portfolios submitted via email. 

Portfolios will be assessed for evidence of creative thinking and artistic accomplishment, and clarity in the exposition of ideas.
 

Open Day

We do not hold physical Open Days for the MFA, but we are offering an online (Teams) information session on 8th December 2023, at 2pm (UK time). If you are interested in attending, please sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/rt36FNYUS2

• Privacy notice (Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, MFA online open session signup)
•  
• Data protection
• In the course of completing this registration form, you have provided information about yourself (‘personal data’). We (the University of Oxford) are the ‘data controller’ for this information, which means we decide how to use it and are responsible for looking after it in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and associated data protection legislation.
• How we use your data
• We will use your data to register you as an attendee of our 2023 MFA Admissions information session. We are processing your data for this purpose only because you have given us your consent to do so, by completing this form. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at graduate@rsa.ox.ac.uk. In this event, we will stop the processing as soon as we can.  However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before your withdrawal of consent
• We will only use your data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another related reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will seek your consent to use it for that new purpose.
• Who has access to your data?
• Access to your data within the University will be provided to those who need to view it as part of their work in carrying out the purposes described above.
• Your data sits on the Microsoft platform and they are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your data in line with our policies. We do not allow them to use your data for their own purposes. We permit them to process your data only for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
• Retaining your data
• We will only retain your data for as long as we need it to meet our purposes, including any relating to legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. 
• Security
• Your data will be held securely in accordance with the University’s policies and procedures. Further information is available on the University’s Information Security website https://compliance.admin.ox.ac.uk/how-we-use-your-data
• Where we store and use your data
• We store and use your data on University premises in electronic form. 
• Electronic data may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"), for example, when we communicate with you using a cloud based service provider that operates outside the EEA such as Microsoft.
• Such transfers will only take place if one of the following applies: The country receiving the data is considered by the EU to provide an adequate level of data protection; the organisation receiving the data is covered by an arrangement recognised by the EU as providing an adequate standard of data protection e.g. transfers to companies that are certified under the EU US Privacy Shield; the transfer is governed by approved contractual clauses; the transfer has your consent; the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps requested by you prior to entering into that contract; or the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract with another person, which is in your interests.
• Your rights: https://compliance.admin.ox.ac.uk/individual-rights
• Contact If you wish to raise any queries or concerns about our use of your data, please contact us at graduate@rsa.ox.ac.uk