Pre-enrolment course information

Welcome to Falmouth!

Below you will find some important information about your course that will help you as you prepare to join us. You will find information such as equipment that you should bring with you, as well as any other costs that you might incur throughout your academic studies that are not covered by your student loan.

You may also find included any key activities that we suggest you undertake, to help you prepare for your studies.

Locate your subject area below and find your course dropdown for more information about what you need for your course.

We’re so glad you’re joining Falmouth and can’t wait to welcome you to our creative community. While there’s a lot to look forward to, we also know it probably feels like there’s plenty to tick off your to-do list before you arrive. Don't worry, we’re here to help.

If you have questions about starting at Falmouth, get in touch with our friendly Applicant Services team on +44(0)1326 213730, contact us via LiveChat or email applicantservices@falmouth.ac.uk.

If you are eligible for a loan from Student Finance and have not yet applied, please do so immediately to ensure the loan is approved before you enrol. Once you enrol you are liable for the tuition fees. You can find more information from the Student Loans Company. If you are paying for your tuition yourself please check out falmouth.ac.uk/study/tuition-fees.

Advice on managing your finances whilst studying can be found here.

We know the prospect of coming to university can feel overwhelming but we're here to support you every step of the way. Find out more about the support available to you once you get here.

To help us provide you with the right support during your time at Falmouth, if you have a disability, health condition or Specific Learning Difference (SPLD), you should apply for an Individual Learning Plan (ILP). This document suggests simple adjustments to your academic experience, tailored to your needs. By disclosing early, we can ensure that the necessary support is in place before you begin your journey with us. Find out how to apply here.

If you don't have a formal diagnosis of an SPLD such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, or ADHD but think you might, our free online screening tool, the Do-It Profiler can help. It's like a quiz that helps pinpoint any areas where you might need extra support. More information and a link to the Profiler can be found here .

Student Mentors

Before September, if you have any questions, you can join the Student Mentor team on Discord to talk about the course, living in Cornwall and what to expect at Falmouth. Our mentors are already studying on your course, so ask them anything you like, you can find them here.

Alternatively, email your name and your course to: studentmentors@falmouth.ac.uk and they will be in touch.

In the coming weeks, you can join our Preparing for Falmouth programme, designed to provide advice and guidance to help you to settle into university life. This programme includes a range of informative and supportive videos you can view at a time that suits you, followed by live online events in August where you can meet our staff, current and new students.

More information can be found here.

A professional placement year is an option usually taken after your second year on a three-year programme, or after your third year if you’re studying for a degree with an Integrated Foundation Year. It can give you the opportunity to build on what you've already learned on your course by applying it in the real world.

You’ll spend time working in a professional context, as part of a businesses or organisation and you’ll be responsible for finding your own professional placement, with support from the Employability Team. The Employability Team can help you with things like researching and identifying opportunities, building your CV, practice interviews and will also post available placements on our student jobs portal Handshake.

Find out more

Here are the key dates you will need, if you are starting your studies in September 2025.

Welcome Week starts on Monday 15 September for both on campus and online first year students.
Study Block one begins on Monday 22 September for all students.

Term dates for 2025-26

Animation, Film & Television

Welcome to Animation BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Pre-arrival activity: "Designing for Animation"

Objective:

Develop strong foundational skills in drawing and design by creating original characters, supported by daily sketching and observational studies.

Project Breakdown

Drawing & Observation

Daily Sketchbook Practice: one drawing a day (people, animals, or objects in motion).
Focus: Proportion, anatomy, movement, and form.

Character Design - Create 2 original characters:

Finding a vegetable
Create a character that utilises the structure, form, colour and texture.

Final Submission Includes:

Selected sketchbook pages (10–15 pages).
Character design sheets

For a more visual example, download the veggie animals summer challenge

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

A laptop will be a good investment so you can control your work pattern when away from campus. The laptop or desktop computer needs to be capable of running 3D/2D animation software – typical cost approx. £1,500

Please note, you will also have access to specialist computers in our Animation and Production Studios throughout the course – see more info under the Facilities section, above

A drawing tablet is also a good investment. We support Wacom tablets (as our computers have the drivers for the Wacom range) You can expect to spend between £55 - £300 depending on your budget, buy the best you can afford.

Suitable models include:

Wacom Intuos
Wacom One

It’s always good to back up your work, the following is a good option:

External hard drive 1TB

It would also be productive to get:

Pen
Craft knife
Permanent marker
Good quality headphones – you will need these for working in the studios

You should also look to invest in a range of materials for life and observational drawing:

A4 sketchbook
A2 sketchbook
Pocket-sized sketchbook
A good range of drawing pencils from H to 6B
Sharpener and eraser

Study trips

We endeavour to organise optional visits for location drawing and study which are subsidised and will cost approximately £15, which includes entry and transport to and from the campus.

We also endeavour to organise larger trips where possible, with a view to exploring culture and animation festivals. The cost of these trips is likely to be substantial, approximately £400 - £800. If a trip is organised attendance is optional and it’s not necessary to attend to progress through your studies.

Additional costs

Important Note: If you wish to pursue stop-motion animation as part of your course from 2nd year, please be aware that this area of study can involve additional costs. Stop-motion requires specialist materials which are not covered by the standard course fees. Some specific materials may be needed for your projects and students choosing this pathway should plan accordingly for the extra expenses involved.

All curriculum-specific software is available in the studios, but you may decide to purchase your own licences for specific programs like TV Paint, Toon Boom Harmony, Dragon Frame, Maya or the Adobe Suite for working off campus.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

AMATA is Falmouth University’s arts centre, offering a diverse year-round programme of exciting performances and productions, from monthly comedy nights to fantastic live music, trailblazing new theatre and dance.

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Animation with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

When you start with us in September, we will all be visiting the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and their new exhibition on surfing culture - to inform the first IFY project 'Explore'.

So, over the summer we would encourage you to consider a creative response to the theme of ‘SURF’.

This might include drawing, painting, film, photography and sketchbook work. Alternatively you could undertake investigations using digital /analogue methods - into ideas that relate to the sea, maritime and marine.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips: There are several IFY field trips and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost approximately £60.

If you want to attend the planned IFY week-long residential trip to London in the Spring of 2026 then you will need to plan for a £100 deposit payment shortly after arriving on the course, to secure a place, and to budget for a total trip cost of approx. £400 - to be paid in instalments.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Feature Filmmaking MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Watching and reading

In the run up to starting your course, it would be helpful to get acquainted with as many low and micro-budget films as you can. Challenge yourself by watching different genres and types of film and TV work outside your usual viewing but make sure you take a deep dive into action cinema.

Below, we’ve included a few suggestions to get you started inside and outside the genre, together with some debut features from names you may recognize, films from our colleagues at Falmouth, and some from visitors to Falmouth.

Whatever you are watching, consider how these films are working. How is the film world built and how do they use their locations? What is the nature of the action in the films and how is that action staged? How does the action work with the drama? In terms of craft, consider the framing and movement, the edit and colour space, sound design and use of music – what is actually shown of the action, and how is represented sonically? With these filmmakers, seek out their short film work as well.

El Mariachi (1992) – Robert Rodriguez
The Raid (2011) – Gareth Evans
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - Ana Lily Amirpour
Redcon-1 (2018) – Chee Keong Cheung
Bait (2019) and Enys Men (2022) – Mark Jenkin
Colin (2008) – Marc Price
Versus (2000) - Ryuhei Kitamura
Small Time (1996) – Shane Meadows
Fighting Beat (2007) - Piti Jaturaphat
Girlfight (2000) and The Invitation (2015) - Karyn Kusama
Down Terrace (2009) – Ben Wheatley
In Camera (2023) - Naqqash Khalid
Weekend Retreat (2011) and Long Way Back (2022) – Brett Harvey
Berlin Syndrome (2017) - Cate Shortland
Blue Story (2019) – Andrew Onwuolu
Thunder Road (2018) - Jim Cummings
Tumbbad (2018) - Rahi Anil Barve
Make Up (2019) – Claire Oakley
Krisa (2015) – Trey Edward Shults
Primer (2004) – Shane Carruth

When you’re watching films, consider the story and how it is realized on screen. What is the timeframe, where is the setting, how are characters introduced? What do you see of who they are, and what is said? Seek out feature film scripts from screenwriters whose work excites you and where you can connect what’s written.

For examples, take a look at Simply Scripts (www.simplyscripts.com), Movie Script Database (https://imsdb.com/scripts/Visitor), the BBC Script Library https://www.bbc.co.uk/writers/scripts/films), Deadline’s Read The Screenplay series (https://deadline.com/story-arc/read-the-screenplay-series), and Shore Scripts (https://www.shorescripts.com/genre-screenplay-collection-to-download/)

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Film BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Brief - Where You're Coming From

Make a one-minute moving image piece (using a camera phone or any other technology available to you) that gives us a sense of who you are, where you're coming from, or what you love, in an artistic and personal sense.

It can take any form you like - documentary, experimental, narrative, poetic etc. - and can incorporate any storytelling devices you're interested in, whether that's voiceover, music, drawing, sculpture, animation etc.

Have fun with it!

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Technology

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this). You can expect to pay £200-£300 to purchase a basic one for email and word processing. You will also need access to a camera phone. You may wish to consider buying a laptop which can connect to an add-on DVD player (see our ‘Platforms and screenings’ section below) – these can be found for anywhere between £20 and £100.

Please bear in mind that film editing requires high powered computing which will be best achieved using our industry standard editing computers so you definitely don’t need to splash out on anything high spec. Similarly, hard drives can be borrowed from our Stores, but if you do prefer to have access to your own (to store and backup your film work) reliability is critical – we recommend brands such as G-Tech or Lacie with USB 3 connectivity and ideally a minimum disk speed of 7200rpm (approx. £100). 

We are an AVID-accredited course, which means that you may (particularly if you are interested in working in post-production) wish to sign up for our Pro Tools or Media Composer Certification courses. Tuition for these is free, but you will pay a fee to AVID for the exam, which also covers the ebooks they provide for your training. This fee is set by AVID directly and should be estimated at around £80 per module.

Platforms and screenings

As a member of the BA Film course you’re going to spend a lot of time in our Cinema (129-seat, 7.2 surround sound with Christie M Series HD projection, just like in Vue cinemas – but we don’t like to boast) and we have over 8,600 DVDs and Blu-rays in our library as well as a range of streamed options. Remember some gaming consoles can also play DVDs/BluRays, if you’re thinking of bringing yours along. You should consider budgeting for regular cinema trips and if you’re looking at subscribing to a streamer, the best one is MUBI – they do a free 30-day trial and a student rate.

Study trips

Trips aren’t mandatory but over the past few years, in most years we’ve been able to offer students the opportunity to travel to a major international film festival (usually the Berlin Film Festival) as part of a group of students. Places are not funded and the cost as last estimated for travel in 23-24 was between £710 and £775 (depends on the number of students travelling, and the rate of exchange at the time).

Students may travel to one or more of the Royal Television Society Breaking Into Media events over the course of their degree, which are often held in Bristol or Plymouth – these are free but you may wish to consider the cost of bus or train transport to them, and potentially overnight accommodation.

You must make sure that you have sturdy (essential for on-set safety) waterproof shoes or boots, and a selection of warm and waterproof clothing appropriate for wet weather – shooting on location in Cornwall can be a damp affair!

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Film with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

When you start with us in September, we will all be visiting the National Maritime Museum Cornwall to inform the first IFY project.

So, over the summer we would encourage you to consider a creative response to the theme of ‘SURF’.

This response might include drawing, painting, film, photography and/or sketchbook work and investigations - digital/analogue – into the work of other artists and creatives and an exploration of initial ideas that relate to the sea, maritime and marine.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Laptop (essential)

There is excellent access to computers at Falmouth, both PC and Mac, but you will also need your own laptop and a reliable internet connection to access the digital platforms we will be using for online activities as well as your independent and group-based work.

You can expect to pay £200-£300 to purchase a basic one for email and word processing. Video editing requires high powered computing which for most will be best achieved using our industry standard editing computers.

Smartphone

Even the most basic smartphone with a working camera will be sufficient for you to experiment with expressing yourself and developing your narrative storytelling to supplement the use of the bookable resources.

Hard Drive

Hard drives can be borrowed from our Stores however it’s often handy to have access to your own to store and backup your work. Reliability is critical so we would recommend brands such as G-Tech or Lacie with USB 3 connectivity and ideally a minimum disk speed of 7200rpm (approx. £100).

Clothing

You will be expected to work in all sorts of locations and weather conditions. It is therefore highly recommended that you come fully prepared with the right sort of personal clothing to protect yourself from the elements and to meet risk assessment requirements. This will set you up well for industry work beyond graduation too.

This list is not exclusive, so please use it as a guide; you should be able to equip yourself for the outdoors for approximately £150 (some companies offer student discounts so be sure to check):

Waterproof jacket
Warm headgear
Strong waterproof boots/shoes
Gloves
Waterproof trousers (working all day in wet jeans is particularly unpleasant!)
Warm/thermal top (and bottoms for good measure!)
Mobile phone for emergencies

Typical Costs

Typical course material costs:

£150 - Recurring annual costs may include printing and stationary.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Post Production & Visual Effects with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

When you start with us in September, we will all be visiting the National Maritime Museum Cornwall to inform the first IFY project.

So, over the summer we would encourage you to consider a creative response to the theme of ‘SURF’.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Technology  

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this).   

 Note: The following technical advice relates specifically to the three-year degree that you are progressing into on successful completion of your Integrated Foundation Year (IFY), so this is a chance to get ahead of the expectations and to begin to consider purchasing an appropriate tablet and related equipment also.

Advice in terms of spec is to get a machine with a good graphics card (for video editing/rendering), good processing speed, a minimum RAM of 16gb and SSD of 250gb at an absolute minimum.    

You can use this website to research what you might need: www.pcspecialist.co.uk/custom-laptops/. If you are a Mac person then the recommendation is for a Mac book Pro with a minimum of 256gb hard-disk space, 16gb of RAM with either the Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support or the M1 Apple Silicon processor running on macOS Sierra (v 10.12) and later or Big Sur (Apple M1 silicon).   

You will be taught on/with the platform (Windows PC or Mac) most appropriate to industry standard. Some of the software delivered on the course may not run on a Mac platform, but you will be able to access this software on campus or via remote log in to the PC studios.  

We support Wacom tablets (as our computers have the drivers for the Wacom range) and you will need to have your own when you arrive. You can expect to spend between £60-£300 depending on your budget, buy the best you can afford.  

Suitable models:  

Wacom Intuos, Cintiq, PL Tablet Drivers/Software - 6.3.33-3  
Wacom Bamboo tablet drivers/software - 5.3.5  
Wacom Bamboo tablet drivers/software - 5.3.5  
Bamboo Create, Capture, Connect, Splash, Bamboo CTL, Bamboo CTH, and One by Wacom

What you’ll need to get:  

External hard drive (minimum 1TB) for backing up your own work.  
USB memory sticks (minimum 32 GB) as a temporary storage solution.

*These can also be hired form our Stores at SOFT

Would be nice to get:  

Good quality headphones – you will need these for working in the studio and for your sound-based projects. Ideally closed back headphones with a good frequency range, for example AKG, K72, K92, Sennheiser HD280 Pro or Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro.

The price of equipment may vary, but you can expect to spend approximately £130 on these.  

Smartphone

Clothing

This list is not exclusive, so please use it as a guide; you should be able to equip yourself for the outdoors for approximately £150 (some companies offer student discounts so be sure to check):

Waterproof jacket
Warm headgear
Strong waterproof boots/shoes
Gloves
Waterproof trousers (working all day in wet jeans is particularly unpleasant!)
Warm/thermal top (and bottoms for good measure!)
Mobile phone for emergencies

Typical Costs

Typical course material costs:

£150 - Recurring annual costs may include printing and stationary.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Television & Film Production BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Go to this link to find our online freshers space
Capture ONE screenshot from a television or film source of your choice (e.g. anything including, but not limited to, the ‘watch’ list in this letter) that epitomises something that inspires you – go beyond the everyday and find something you consider exceptional.
Post your chosen image along with a sentence or two that explains your choice.
Comment on at least two other posts (look for ones without any / many comments) to start the conversation with your new cohort.
Complete this task straight away to get started on your new adventure. Make sure it's as far before 1st September 2025 as you can manage (we'll be impressed by early engagement!)

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Technology

Laptop (essential)

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this). There is excellent access to computers at Falmouth, both PC and Mac, but having your own laptop to access the digital platforms for your independent and group-based work will be really helpful.

Smartphone (optional)

Even a basic smartphone with a working camera will help you experiment with visual storytelling to supplement the use of the extensive bookable resources.

Hard Drive (optional)

Hard drives can be borrowed from our Stores, however it’s often handy to have access to your own to store and backup your work for the longer term. Reliability is critical so we would recommend brands such as G-Tech or Lacie with USB 3 connectivity and ideally a minimum disk speed of 7200rpm (approx. £100).

Training (optional)

Outdoor Clothing (optional)

You will be expected to work in all sorts of locations and weather conditions. It is therefore highly recommended that you come fully prepared with the right personal clothing and footwear to protect yourself from the elements and to meet risk assessment requirements. This will set you up well for industry work beyond graduation too.

This list is not exclusive, so please use it as a guide; you should be able to equip yourself for the outdoors for approximately £150 (some companies offer student discounts too so be sure to check):

Sturdy waterproof boots/shoes (essential)
Waterproof jacket (essential)
Warm headgear
Gloves
Waterproof trousers (working all day in wet jeans is particularly unpleasant!)
Warm/thermal top (and bottoms for good measure!)

Study Trips

Trips aren’t mandatory but over the past few years, in most years we’ve been able to offer students the opportunity to travel to a major international film festival (usually the Berlin Film Festival) as part of a group of students. Places are not funded and the cost as last estimated for travel in 23-24 was between £710 and £775 (varies dependent on the number of students travelling, and the rate of exchange at the time).

Students may travel to one or more of the Royal Television Society Breaking Into Media events over the course of their degree, which are often held in Bristol or Plymouth as well as London – these are free but you may wish to consider the cost of bus or train transport to them, and potentially overnight accommodation.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Television & Film Production with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

When you start with us in September, we will all be visiting the National Maritime Museum Cornwall to inform the first IFY project. So, over the summer we would encourage you to consider a creative response to the theme of ‘SURF’.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Laptop (essential)

Smartphone

Hard Drive

This list is not exclusive, so please use it as a guide; you should be able to equip yourself for the outdoors for approximately £150 (some companies offer student discounts so be sure to check):

Waterproof jacket
Warm headgear
Strong waterproof boots/shoes
Gloves
Waterproof trousers (working all day in wet jeans is particularly unpleasant!)
Warm/thermal top (and bottoms for good measure!)
Mobile phone for emergencies

Typical Costs

Typical course material costs:

£150 - Recurring annual costs may include printing and stationary.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Art

Welcome to Drawing BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Brief: A Portrait in Objects and Things

Throughout the summer you might like to try a series of observational drawings of objects using 2B and 6B pencil in an A4 sketchbook, thinking carefully about how you use tone and line. Practicing over the summer will be great way to begin your drawing journey. You could choose a range of objects from your room or home (including outside) to draw, and that act as a sort of portrait of you and/ or your family. During Welcome Week (15th – 19th September) we will be doing a big collaborative drawing, and any studies you have made will be really useful to have to hand!

Also, if you like, take a look at the following web-based Artist Directory resource from ‘Drawing Room’ (https://drawingroom.org.uk/library-research/), we think it’s great, and you could choose an artist from the Drawing Room resources that you find interesting. Feel free to make a short note of who they are and why you like them, and we can share this during our welcome week.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will find that having a laptop is a great resource, as there will be elements of teaching and learning where you will be working individually and using the digital learning facilities. You will also find that a smart phone is a great piece of equipment for documenting work and collecting visual resources. The following list of materials and equipment will be needed for various workshops during the first and second semester. For reference, some of this equipment is available from the Falmouth Campus shop: 

3 x A4 Hardback Sketchbooks for information, thoughts, reflections, notes, drawings, and ideas. £5-£8.
Drawing sketchbooks with good quality cartridge paper – A4 and A3 @ £5-10.
Basic drawing kit in a bag or container – a range of pens and pencils, erasers, craft-knife, brushes, inks and watercolours, short rulers, masking tape, glue stick and so on. You will probably have most of these items already. Expect to pay £2-£5 each for them.
Outdoor clothing, waterproofs and footwear for field trips and visits.
A decent bag for carrying this kit around.
60cm ruler approximately £10.
Charcoal (both willow and compressed) approximately £3-£5.
Good quality wooden pencils – 2H, HB, B, 2B, 4B, 6B, 9B RRP £2-£3 each. There will be a requirement to replenish your stocks throughout the course, and to occasionally purchase particular materials for specific projects, and for which you will receive plenty of advance information. Usually the costs for these will be approximately £5-£10.

Typical Course Costs

£250 - Recurring annual costs (materials and local study visits etc)
£800 - Optional study visits and placements for the course duration

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Drawing with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Fine Art BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-arrival project  

Brief: The endless expanse of found material.

To prepare for the course, it is important that you keep developing your ideas before you start. Please read the following brief carefully. We are not expecting this project to be a finished piece of work. It is up to you how you might choose to interpret this brief.

The emphasis is on generating material and ideas that you will be able to work with and develop as strategies for practice. Make time for experimentation and allow chance to occur. This project will form the starting point for discussion and generating work in the first weeks of the study block.    

During the summer, we would like you to generate a multi-media response relating to ideas of the endless expanse of found material.  We want you to consider all aspects of found material and question its parameters and meanings. Some examples might include YouTube film stills, fluff, air, recorded noise, charity shop finds, abandoned objects, overheard conversations, found receipts or walks and stories.

Responding to your findings we would like you to make a series of:  

For example:

Drawings  
Photographs
Sounds
Painting studies  
Objects/Assemblages/Sculptures  
Collage
Frottage/ prints  
Videos or films
Plans, maps, charts, notes, lists, or diagrams  
Written accounts of found material
Stories

Research:  

Your research and explorations might explore the use of found material in art, or other disciplines, for example material might be sourced from anthropology, literature, cinema, music samples, critical theory, site, and history.

The following artists might be of interest for this brief:  

Sarah Lucas
Camille Henrot
Elizabeth Price
Pope. L  
Jack Strange
Jordan Wolfson
Susan Hiller  
Louise Nevelson  
Christian Boltanski  
Hanna Darboven  
Lubaina Himid  
Walid Raad  
Tacita Dean  
Matthew Krishanu  
Jyoti Mistry  
Mark Dion  
Zoe Leonard

This project should cost you no more than £10 to complete – possibly much less or free, depending on the materials you choose.  

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Costs for materials are very difficult to estimate on a Fine Art course, due to the wide range of processes and materials associated with contemporary art practices. As a very rough guide, we estimate the following:  

£380-£480 - Recurring annual costs 
£100-£400 - One off costs for the course duration
£800 - Optional study visits and placements for the course duration

To successfully engage with the Fine Art programme there is some equipment that you will need to bring with you. Please see the list below: 

Your academic experience will be predominantly in person with some courses using a small amount of digital resources to support your learning. To engage in the digital learning activity, although you will be able to access IT suites on campus, you will benefit from a laptop to access the platforms and tools we use. You will be provided with free access to the Microsoft Office suite, (including Word, Excel and PowerPoint) while you study at Falmouth.

You will find a camera useful for documenting your practice over the three years. You can either buy your own or Falmouth has photographic equipment available to loan. A suitable alternative is a smartphone with a good quality camera facility.  

Drawing materials - You will need to ensure you bring drawing materials with you in Welcome Week (total cost approximately £30): e.g.,  

drawing pencils
charcoal
ink
masking tape
sketchpads/notebooks
soft pastels/ conte crayons
good pencil sharpener
putty
range of sheet drawing papers

You will need access to drawing materials throughout the term. 

Toolkit - It is important that you have your own toolkit for use in the studios and workshops. Below is a list of tools you will need throughout your time on the course; some you will need from the start of the course, and you can buy the rest as and when they are needed. 

We will provide you with a storage locker, so it is important you invest in a padlock and keys to make it secure. 

Tools/Kit needed for the start of the course: 

Scissors (100mm) 
Stanley knife 99E plus blades 
Tape measure (5m) 
A pair of combination pliers 
Personal protective equipment 
Ear defenders (30 Db attenuation) RRP £17 
Safety specs RRP £3 
Respirator (3M 4279 FP3) RRP £20

Tools/Kit to buy as necessary during term: 

Toolbox (building up your own toolkit is critical to be able to make and install work) 
Claw hammer (16oz)  
Tack/Pin Hammer 
Screwdrivers (All types) 
Tenon saw (hard point)  
Glue gun 
Staple gun 
Combination set square 
Cutting mat 
Metal ruler (1m) 
Spirit level  
Carpenter’s pencil  
Hanging mechanisms e.g., mirror plates, fishing wire, metal wire, magnets, carpet tacks, dressmaker's pins
Paint roller and tray (for exhibitions) 
Poly filler  
Sandpaper and sanding block  
Decorator's paintbrushes e.g., 2 inch/ Cutting in brush 
Other specialist tools as advised by technicians.

Optional study visits and costs: 

We regularly run optional study trips to galleries and other cultural events or institutions. In previous years, this has included a trip to London or another UK destination. We will discuss this once you have arrived. If we arrange group travel or accommodation for a trip of this kind, we may require you to pay a deposit early in Study Block 1.

In many years we have run a European Study Visit for second and third years, including visits to Venice, Berlin, and Amsterdam. The exact timing of the visit will depend on the destination.  If such a trip runs, you will be asked to pay a non-refundable deposit to reserve a place, followed by the payment of the balance.  

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Welcome to Fine Art with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

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Welcome to Fine Art MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

In preparation for the start of the studio-based practice module -- titled 'Review, Make, Reflect' -- we ask you to write a short 150-300 word statement describing your creative and professional career so far, and consider your ambitions for the MA. We invite you to say a little here about the subject matters and mediums you are intending to explore as you begin your journey with us.

In addition, for the first week, please bring along, or have available, an image of an artwork that you find inspiring, and be prepared to say a little about the artwork and the artist that made it.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

£400-£500 - annual cost for equipment and materials for your practice. May vary depending on your practice.

To access learning materials and complete your coursework, a laptop will be an essential piece of equipment.

Additional costs

£800 - for optional international and national study visit. This could include trips to: Tate St Ives, London based galleries, Spike Island in Bristol, Arnolfini in Bristol.

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Welcome to Illustration BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

It makes good sense to use the summer months leading up to the start of Study Block 1 to prepare yourself creatively for the start of your studies.

With that in mind we would like to challenge all new students to maintain a personal sketchbook / journal leading up to your new adventure in Falmouth. This might focus on observational drawing or incorporate a more personal and imaginative approach to image making. This will help you get up to ‘speed’ and ready for the start of the year. Alongside this we would also like you think about what the term ‘illustration’ means for you personally.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

As a new student to BA(Hons) Illustration it is expected that you start to build your own personal stockpile of materials and media to expand and evolve your visual language. In the early phases of the curriculum, you will explore many different approaches to image-making. Therefore, it would be wise to have access to as broad a range of media as possible.

Below is a list of essential materials that you will need at the start of your course (you will require further sketchbooks and materials as you progress through your degree). There is a well-stocked art materials shop on campus, so don’t feel that you need to acquire everything prior to induction week:

At least two A4 or A3 sketchbooks, or equivalent loose sheets of paper for Visual Problem-solving. (£2.20 x2)
Two A4 notebooks for Digital Skills and Critical Studies. (£1.70 x2)
Gouache paint (Windsor and Newton Designers Gouache is the best to use) Suggested Colours (£5 each):

Large White 37ml (essential), Black 14ml (essential), Ultramarine Blue 14ml (essential), Burnt Umber 14ml (essential), Windsor and Newton Set of basic colours (Red, blue, Green, yellow, violet): £25

A variety of materials and mediums that will facilitate a broad range of experiments and approaches to media, process, and aesthetics (here are some suggestions…): acrylic paint (particularly black and white), a paint palette with wells (preferably either ceramic / China), oil pastels, chalk pastels, conte crayons, graphite pencils (varying weights), pencil sharpener, eraser, compressed charcoal, black Indian ink and coloured inks, masking tape, PVA glue and glue stick, A2 sheets of paper for life drawing, 2 X A4 sheets of acetate for printmaking, small tube of black printmaking ink, scissors, scalpel and blades or craft knife, steel ruler, cutting mat (A4 minimum size).

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Welcome to Illustration with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism. It is strongly advised that you have a personal laptop, and preferable for you to have access to the Adobe Creative Suite which includes Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign software (the monthly student subscription price is heavily discounted).

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

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Welcome to Illustration BA(Hons) (Online). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

We want you to have a lovely summer before you enrol because the course is going to be fun, intense at times and full of very rich content. There will be so much to learn from week one that you do not need to make any serious work for us yet, but we would suggest that stretching your drawing muscles is a brilliant thing to do.

A summer sketchbook is a perfect companion to pre-enrolment. Try to make one small drawing a day in it and see what you have by September. This could be something small from observation or from your imagination.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Illustration students can pick and choose their materials to tailor them as much as possible to a budget. However, there are some basics that you would get use from in the first two modules. These include a selection of different papers and pencils (include smooth cartridge paper that could be in a sketchbook or as sheets and a selection of pencil or graphite).

You might also like to use charcoal or ink, paint of choice and cutting tools such as scissors or a scalpel and a cutting mat. In the second module, a small amount of printing ink and a roller is required. You can buy safe-wash and water soluble printing inks to use at home from most art shops as well as a simple roller.

While materials vary hugely in price, quality and use, we would estimate that in your first year you should need to spend at least around £100 on these essentials. This can then be tailored to your needs and budget, and do not forget there are many ways to obtain really affordable materials such as scrap schemes for artists and designers and using recycled materials. We will also provide more detailed equipment lists before the start of the early modules.

Virtual Learning Environment

During your time studying with us you’ll have access to our dedicated Virtual Learning Environment. This provides a space to engage with course materials and connect with your lecturers and fellow students. Each degree has a ‘Course Hub’ which you will be able to access via the Virtual Learning Environment.

From there, you will be able to use our online forums to discuss your work with other students. Your Course Hub also contains useful information regarding resource lists, course toolkits and assessment guidance to help keep you on track. You will also have access to a ‘Student Hub’ which covers support, regulations and study skills for your time at Falmouth.

Welcome to Illustration: Authorial Practice MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Our new MA community will be joining us from different places near and far. Ahead of the start of the term, please produce a piece of mail art and send it to us at the address below. These will be exhibited in the studio ahead of your arrival. This might be a single illustration, a short comic or a mini sculpture - whatever you can legally get into the post. No envelopes or packaging allowed (unless it's part of the work) to give the postal sorting teams (and bots) a visual treat en route. Any theme / concept welcome, but feel free to align it with your initial project proposal if you like.

For more on the history of mail art see the links below and just have fun with it.

Send to:

Hugh Frost

MA Illustration

Falmouth University

Woodlane

Falmouth

TR11 4RH

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

The campus art shop has a good stock of a wide range of materials and papers, so buying things before you start won’t be necessary in most cases and in print making inductions materials are provided. There are also few workshops which require you to buy specific materials, but where this is the case these can be purchased from the campus shop (eg. 2 x tubes of gouache for a colour workshop in the first term).

The various personal creative practices of MA students also tend to be varied, so all will have different requirements. Work is submitted digitally so you’re also free to work on either loose sheets or in a bound sketch book, as either will be scanned when it’s time to hand in.

A basic materials list might include a few of the following (starred items are not available in the campus shop:

Pencils (I like Blackwing HB for precise drawing and a couple of softer 2B / 6B for darker areas)
Coloured pencils, just a few Caran D’Ache single colours to start, I like the Supracolor range
*Pentel refillable black brush pen for loose drawing
*Pentel ‘sign pen’ (soft tipped but sharp marker, can make a variety of marks with these)
*Sakura Pigma Brush pens (these are waterproof so can be overpainted)
Charcoal pencil (a little less messy to handle when starting out)
Windsor & Newton Gouache tubes (just 2-3 colours to start and see if you like them)
Basic brush starter set or intermediate set 4-5 brushes various widths
Basic pencil sharpener / ruler / soft koh-i-noor eraser (comes in a little box)
Leuchturm 1917 softback plain A6 sketchbook for daily drawing out and about
A pack of basic cartridge paper, eg 500 sheets A4 seawhites 140gsm

This would come in at around £100 but again isn't all essential.

Then larger loose sheets of paper and other printmaking materials etc can be bought as needed from the shop. All of the above are optional and the list doesn’t include things like watercolour options, graphite powder etc, all things that you might like to move towards with particular projects in mind. Initially it’s really helpful to keep it simple, focussing on your approach to drawing, making, layering limited colour palettes etc. So definitely no need to buy extensive paint / pencil / pen sets from the outset.

Other costs will be highly variable depending on the types of projects undertaken and particularly in the final major project – a simple beautifully illustrated and designed digitally printed book might be produced for £15 while a more elaborate installation involving digital C-type prints, 3D printed forms and a mural would be far more costly, though staff will always be able to advise on cost effective ways of approaching your work.

Ideally students will have their own laptop or access to a desktop at home, but if not macs & PC's with the full Adobe suite are available on campus and there are reduced student rates for the Adobe CC suite on your personal device, valid from September to August.

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Business, Marketing & Events

Welcome to Business & Digital Marketing BSc(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Rather than ask you to study any specific textbooks before you arrive, we suggest that you read business related press articles and get a flavour of what is going on in the commercial world. You will not be tested on this although one of your first modules will include you having to identify a current issue related to a real business.

Take this opportunity to peruse business related media and (reliable) news sources, so that you:

Get a general feel for current issues in the business and commercial environment
Identify one or two businesses that ‘catch your eye’. This could be for any number of reasons, such as:
Appeared in the news (for any reason that attracts your attention)
You notice their product, service, marketing or otherwise someone tells you about them
General interest

There is no need to undertake any deep research of a business at this point, so just be prepared to talk generally about what you’ve seen.

Your academic experience will be predominantly in person using a number of digital resources to support your learning. To engage in the digital learning activity, although able to access IT suites on campus, you will benefit from a laptop to access the platforms and tools we use. You will be provided with free access to the Microsoft Office suite, (including Word, Excel and PowerPoint) while you study at Falmouth.

See this link for introductory training and to familiarise yourself:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/training

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will require a laptop or similar device with Wifi ability. Free access to Microsoft Office will be provided.

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Welcome to Business Entrepreneurship & Innovation BSc(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Take this opportunity to peruse business related media and (reliable) news sources, so that you:

Get a general feel for current issues in the business and commercial environment
Identify one or two businesses that ‘catch your eye’. This could be for any number of reasons, such as:
Appeared in the news (for any reason that attracts your attention)
You notice their product, service, marketing or otherwise someone tells you about them
General interest

There is no need to undertake any deep research of a business at this point, so just be prepared to talk generally about what you’ve seen.

See this link for introductory training and to familiarise yourself:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/training

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will require a laptop or similar device with Wifi ability. Free access to Microsoft Office will be provided.

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Welcome to Business & Marketing BSc(Hons) (Online). Here you will find confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

As the (BSc)Hons Business & Marketing course is studied wholly online, as well as a computer or laptop, you will need a reliable broadband connection. You may wish to investigate the cost of a broadband plug-in dongle if you travel a lot or are worried about your internet usage or connection.  

Additional costs

As an online student you may be given the opportunity to attend events to meet your classmates and tutors in person. Dates and location of the events will vary.   These trips are not mandatory, although they are a great opportunity to meet your peers and staff in person and build connections. 

For those attending, you will need to cover your own costs for travel, accommodation, food and drink. More information about these events will be given to you when you start your course.

Virtual Learning Environment

Welcome to Business Management BSc(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Take this opportunity to peruse business related media and (reliable) news sources, so that you:

Get a general feel for current issues in the business and commercial environment
Identify one or two businesses that ‘catch your eye’. This could be for any number of reasons, such as:
Appeared in the news (for any reason that attracts your attention)
You notice their product, service, marketing or otherwise someone tells you about them
General interest

There is no need to undertake any deep research of a business at this point, so just be prepared to talk generally about what you’ve seen.

See this link for introductory training and to familiarise yourself:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/training

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will require a laptop or similar device with Wifi ability. Free access to Microsoft Office will be provided.

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Welcome to Creative Events Management BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

There is a huge variety of events taking place this year, why not think about the planning and management that each of these require:

The Women’s Euro Finals 2025 - https://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/

The UK 2025 music festival season - https://festivalcalendar.uk

Royal Ascot 2025 - https://www.ascot.com/royal-ascot

BBC Proms 2025 - https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-2025

Bradford City of Culture 2025 - https://bradford2025.co.uk/

Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2025 - https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/summer-exhibition-2025

A host of UK trade and industry exhibitions 2025 - https://www.xldisplays.co.uk/exhibition-events-calendar/

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

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Welcome to Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management MSc. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Your best preparation for the course is to read 'The Lean Start-up' by Eric Ries. This book is very accessible and describes the key principle underlying the course, which is to find out what you customers want by asking them what they want, and then testing your understanding with prototypes.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

A laptop (Mac or PC) will be an essential piece of equipment together with a reliable broadband connection in your accommodation.

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Communication, Media & Writing

Welcome to Communication Design MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Project: essential

Before starting your course, we would like you to prepare a ten-minute presentation of your creative story to date, how you work and your creative process. This can be digital, or you could use objects or printouts; it’s really up to you. This will be shared with other students in the first couple of days of the course.

We would also like you reflect on the reasons you have for joining the MA, possible directions you would like the year to take and themes you might like to explore. This presentation will act as a catalyst for your next steps and will also help inform initial tutorials.

Reading: preferable

Before the start of the course you should begin to consider the postgraduate journey ahead of you. This can centre on the specific detail of your own interests and initial focus point for the MA, but also look more broadly at the cultural, political, and societal changes that are affecting the subject.

Keep up to date with national and international news and look to build knowledge in your particular area of interest. Equally, you should keep abreast of more general developments in the creative industries and the arts through the reading of publications and blogs.

We have a good collection of journals at Falmouth for when you arrive. Examples of these include Creative Review, AdBusters, Idea, Communication Arts and Eye.

Online you will also find It’s Nice That, Design Week, Eye on Design, Dezeen, D & AD, Design Council, Arts Council, Collossal, Hyperallergic, and We Made This.

Ahead of your arrival on the programme, we encourage you to become immersed in the subject of communication design by acquainting yourself with the following sites:

www.itsnicethat.com
www.futuress.org
www.lsnglobal.com (without membership you will only be able to access 3 articles, but once enrolled you will have institutional membership)
www.designobserver.com
www.creativeboom.com

Find the articles that appeal to you. Log them and talk to us about them when you arrive in Falmouth.

More specifically, take time to read / listen to / watch some of the following suggestions, which serve to illustrate the diversity of our field of communication design:

Why might one undertake an MA? Written by the previous MACD course leader, Robyn Cook: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/whats-the-point-of-an-ma-in-design-anyway-falmouth-university-miscellaneous-opinion-180418
Creativity and obsession: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/im-obsessed-why-following-fixations-makes-our-creative-work-better-creative-industry-240325
Designing museums and ableism: https://futuress.org/stories/feeling-the-museum/
Typography and non-binary language: https://futuress.org/stories/beautiful-mess/
Are you writing an essay or a thesis? Written by Chapell Ellison: https://medium.com/@chappelltracker/if-you-are-writing-an-essay-or-a-thesis-7e6e0eaeedef
Pick one that interests you and listen: https://designobserver.com/channels/the-futures-archive/
Visuals and sound communicating ‘derealisation’: https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/derelisation/

Exhibitions & events: optional

Leading up to the start of the course, we would also recommend you visit any exhibitions, conferences or creative events that may be near you.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this).

Although there are Macs in the studio and IT suites, it is strongly recommended that you have a laptop (Windows or Mac) capable of running the Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects). This is likely to be one of the bigger investments you will make whilst studying communication design and could cost between £300 and £2500 for the computer and around £17 a month for software (with student discount). The system requirements to run the software can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html

We would expect you to arrive with all the usual studio kit. You should allow at least £200 for the studio kit outlined below (much of which you can buy in the art shop on our Woodlane campus): 

Academic year diary.
A3 layout pads or sketchbooks.
Scalpel and blades such as Swan Morten (10a blades most useful).
12-inch plastic ruler. 
12-inch metal ruler. 
Selection of graphite pencils (3B to HB).
Retractable pencil (basic).
Pritt Stick.
Masking tape.
Plastic eraser.
Fine line pens (black, red, blue).
Memory stick (USB).

You may also need to allow for other ‘making’ costs, which would be dependent on the development of your particular MA project interests. Therefore, whether making films, printing books, objects, digital interfaces or prints, you might need further finance of between £100 - £500. The key essential cost associated with the course is in the production of work for an exhibition towards the end of your programme of study. There will be costs associated with the making of your exhibit, so allow between £50 and £200 for this.

Optional

If you own a 35mm SLR or digital camera, this could be useful; a good camera on a mobile phone will suffice. Falmouth also has photographic equipment which can be booked for free. If you wished to purchase your own camera, the approximate costs can be between £300 and £1000 plus, depending on your preference for camera choice.

Study trips

We hope to run a three to four-day study visit to London or another European city which will be in the first or second study blocks. If this takes place, costs we anticipate costs to be between £200 and £400 approximately for transport and accommodation.

During the course of your study, you may also wish to make independent visits in your spare time to key exhibitions in the UK. There are some that occur in Cornwall, in which case costs will be minor (up to £20 for local transport and admission), but if you wish to travel to London or further afield, you may need to allow up to £400 for accommodation and travel expenses. You could spend up to £600 on more regular visits to national or European events however this is not a core requirement of the course and is at an individual student’s discretion. 

Reading lists

All of the books for the course are available in the University library or can be found new/used online. You may wish to buy certain books and should allow up to £300 for this.

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Welcome to Creative Advertising BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Have a wander around your neighbourhood and judge ads in the wild. These could be bus stop posters, billboards, liveries, flyers or even packaging.

Comment on everything you see: the good, the bad, the fugly. Don't overthink it. Write your thoughts or reaction in 1-2 lines and post them, with a pic of the ad, to the Padlet link below. Aim for 5 ads in your safari.

https://falmouthuniversity.padlet.org/cuisu/ad_safari

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Equipment and costs

You will require a laptop for the course. Macs are preferred but a PC is fine. Costs range from about £400 to £1500. You will be using the Adobe Creative suite which as a Falmouth student, you will be able to access at a heavily discounted rate of £16.24 per month. You will also need a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in university accommodation you will have this). Some printing costs will be needed when setting up your degree exhibitions in the final year. This is likely to be £50-£100 depending on the nature of your work.

Study trips

All first-year students have a scheduled three-day study trip to London during which you will visit relevant companies. Costs will vary depending on your accommodation and travel preferences. As a guide, expect to pay about £600 for the whole trip, including food and socialising. In your final year, students may wish to participate in the three-day exhibition and festival event in London in July. Costs will vary depending on your accommodation and travel preferences. As a guide, expect to pay about £600 for the whole trip, including food and socialising.

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Welcome to Creative Advertising with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Laptop (essential)

You will require a laptop for the course. Macs are preferred but a PC is fine. Costs range from about £400 to £1500. You will be using the Adobe Creative suite which as a student, you will be able to access at a discounted rate. You will also need a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in university accommodation you will have this).

Smartphone

Hard Drive

This list is not exclusive, so please use it as a guide; you should be able to equip yourself for the outdoors for approximately £150 (some companies offer student discounts so be sure to check):

Waterproof jacket
Warm headgear
Strong waterproof boots/shoes
Gloves
Waterproof trousers (working all day in wet jeans is particularly unpleasant!)
Warm/thermal top (and bottoms for good measure!)
Mobile phone for emergencies

Typical Costs

Typical course material costs:

£150 - Recurring annual costs may include printing and stationary.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

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Welcome to Creative Advertising MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Our course is about creating advertising campaigns. Over the year you will generate between fifteen and twenty. So let's get you started before you arrive.

What's a brand you've always loved?

The one that made you interested in advertising in the first place. Got one? Good.

Now make an ad for it. Draw it. No polish or software required. Just draw it.

An ad that could be the start of a campaign that endures. Don't worry at this point about analysing, researching, strategising. Go with your gut. Make something funny, strange or emotionally potent. Be unrestrained.

Let's get your creative juices flowing.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Materials, equipment and course costs

Essential

Pencils, marker pens and an A3 layout pad are all you need to succeed in advertising (apart from good ideas). More specifically, we suggest you use a black Pentel N60 permanent marker pen or a Pentel sign pen in black, RRP pack of 12 pens from approx. £10.00. This will start you off on the right track and prevent you from getting too detailed and fussy in your drawings.

Please note, we advise you to make provision for spending up to £50 on layout pads over the duration of the course. Rough layout paper is also freely available in the studios.

Nice to have

Although this is primarily a course about ideas, rather than technology, we aim to help you become as competent as possible in Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects and other relevant software applications. These skills are especially useful if you lean more towards Art Direction.

A camera would be a good idea. You will have a camera in your phone, of course, but a dedicated, 'real' camera is better. Taking pictures trains the eye, whether you’re a Writer or Art Director. Even if you’re an average photographer you might well find that taking your own shots will help you communicate visually. Moreover, Cornwall is very photogenic!

The majority of students choose to enter some work in the D&AD New Blood awards, quite possibly Cannes Future Lions and YCN too. D&AD make a charge for this, currently (with our D&AD membership discount) around £15 per entry. YCN entry is usually free. Cannes Future Lions awards may cost up to £100.

Study trips and costs

Essential

London Study Week is scheduled for an entire week, usually in November we’re hoping to visit several leading agencies again this year. It’s a required part of our course, so you will need to keep it clear in your diary. Please note you will need to fund your own travel and accommodation for this week. Approximate costs: Coach £50 and accommodation from about £40 per night. We stay for three nights. You will also need to consider the cost of food and so on.

Optional

There are often other events for Advertising students (especially those organised by D&AD) throughout Spring and early Summer during study block two. These usually take place in London. Your attendance at any of these is not compulsory and is not always possible due to the intensive nature of the course. If you do attend, it must be by negotiation with the course team and will be at your own expense.

Exhibitions

Essential

The D&AD New Blood exhibition is an important fixture for the course. We have taken a stand there each year for more than 20 years. The show is usually held during three days in the first week of July. The University pays for the cost of the stand(s), but please be prepared to organise and pay for your travel and accommodation. Approximate costs: Coach £50, accommodation from about £40 per night. You will also need to consider the cost of food and so on.

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Creative Writing BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

During Welcome Week (September 15th-19th), we will be welcoming author Tim Hannigan. We will be running a workshop based around his book The Granite Kingdom (Apollo 2024), which we would like you to read before that week if possible. You can purchase a copy from all major bookshops or online.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

The majority of the texts and other resources you need for your studies will be freely available to you via the library and the virtual learning environment, Learning Space, once you have enrolled.

The number of books you might need to purchase will vary from module to module, depending partly in years 2 and 3 on the options you select. But we recommend you allow for an annual books budget of £150-£200.

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Welcome to Creative Writing BA(Hons) (Online). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Incoming students: Terms to know

The following terms will be helpful to know if you’re not already familiar with them. Some of them are technical terms for writing, and others pertain to the publishing side of things. Before you join us in September, have a look online and make sure you know what all these mean:

Point of view: What are the different ones? What are the benefits and limitations of each?
Setting: Is it just about the time and place where the story happens?
Figurative language: What are the different kinds, and what purposes do they serve?
Purple prose: What does this term mean? What is overwriting?
Sentence structure: What are comma splices, run-ons, and fragments? What are balanced sentences?
Style and voice: What’s the difference?
Narrative tension
Exposition
Narrative arc
Plot
- Inciting incident
- Rising action
- Climax
- Falling action
- Resolution
Dialogue (and dialogue tag)
Elegant variation
Pacing
Manuscript
Draft
Margins
Indents

Also, as a writer you need to be familiar with the Shunn guide to manuscript formatting, which can be found here: https://www.shunn.net/format/story/. Although we do not require stories to be submitted in strict Shunn formatting (you don’t need to include your address, for example), this is what the work you submit ought to look like. Come with questions!

Finally, we strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of Stephen King’s writing guide On Writing. There will be multiple references to it over the course of the degree. It’s also a very good read.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Up to £60/year if you choose to opt to print readings; otherwise most readings will be made available online.

Virtual Learning Environment

Welcome to English & Creative Writing BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

The majority of the texts and other resources you need for your studies will be freely available to you via the library and the virtual learning environment, Learning Space, once you have enrolled.

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Welcome to Journalism and Creative Writing BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

During Welcome Week (September 15th-19th), we will be joined by author Tim Hannigan. We will be running a workshop based around his book The Granite Kingdom (Apollo 2024), which we would like you to read before that week if possible.

The RRP for this paperback is £10.99. You can purchase a copy from all major bookshops or online.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Books:

The majority of the texts and other resources you need for your studies will be freely available to you via the library and the virtual learning environment, Learning Space, once you have enrolled. The number of books you might need to purchase will vary from module to module, depending partly in years 2 and 3 on the options you select. But we recommend you allow for an annual books budget of £150-£200.

Equipment and software:

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this). We do not recommend any particular operating system, but on-campus computers are equipped with Microsoft and Apple functionality. Although we have our own stock of iPhones to support lessons in mobile journalism, you are strongly advised to have a smartphone of your own. These range in price from £30 to £600 depending on the brand and specification but a mid-range phone will be fine for our purposes.

You will be using Adobe applications from its Creative Suite on some modules. Computers on campus have this software loaded and free to use but we recommend that you consider purchasing your own copy of the suite. It is available for £16.24 per month via https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/buy/students.html . It is fine to leave this decision until you arrive and discuss the pros and cons with your lecturers.

Study trips:

We intend to provide optional study trips each year in which you can participate. In previous years we have taken trips to such places as New York, London, Stratford, and Bristol. Costs have ranged from approximately £1,000 for trips abroad to a few hundred pounds for those in the UK. Traditionally, we also run a free study trip to Prussia Cove, Cornwall, for all third-year students near the start of the final term. Your performance on the degree will not be affected if you do not attend these.

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Welcome to Media Production BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Have a wander around your neighbourhood and judge ads in the wild. These could be bus stop posters, billboards, liveries, flyers or even packaging.

https://falmouthuniversity.padlet.org/cuisu/ad_safari

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Some printing costs will be needed when setting up your degree exhibitions in the final year. This is likely to be £50-£100 depending on the nature of your work.

Study trips

In your final year, students may wish to participate in the three-day exhibition and festival event in London in July. Costs will vary depending on your accommodation and travel preferences. As a guide, expect to pay about £600 for the whole trip, including food and socialising.

In addition, there is likely to be the opportunity to travel with sister degrees to New York for a trip taking in media outlets and photographic agencies. This takes place around Easer. This is usually open to all years and costs around £1,000.

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Welcome to Media Production with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Laptop (essential)

Smartphone

Hard Drive

This list is not exclusive, so please use it as a guide; you should be able to equip yourself for the outdoors for approximately £150 (some companies offer student discounts so be sure to check):

Waterproof jacket
Warm headgear
Strong waterproof boots/shoes
Gloves
Waterproof trousers (working all day in wet jeans is particularly unpleasant!)
Warm/thermal top (and bottoms for good measure!)
Mobile phone for emergencies

Typical Costs

Typical course material costs:

£150 - Recurring annual costs may include printing and stationary.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Professional Writing MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

You're going to be doing a lot of reading and writing over the coming year, so over the summer please start to think about what you would like to write. If you have a story, start developing it. If you have ideas for features, think about how you might research them. If you have an area of expertise, think about how you might incorporate it into your work. Our aim is to help you develop a practical writing life and a set of professional habits that will continue beyond the course. It’s best to begin that now! 

And if you'd like to get a head start preparing for modules, the following will help introduce you to some key concepts:

Making a Living 1: Professional Contexts

Brown, Brene, Daring Greatly Penguin Life, 2015 (£5.89) 
Shukla, Nikesh, Your Story Matters, Bluebird, 2023 (£7.99 )
Quinn, Catherine, No Contacts, No Problem , Bloomsbury, 2010 (£16.55)

Telling Good Stories

Prose, Francine, 2006. Reading Like a Writer (£11.09)
Wood, James., 2010. How Fiction Works (£7.99) 
Cobley, Paul, 2014 Narrative (free online via the library) 
Yorke, J., 2014. Into the woods: how stories work and why we tell them (£9.85).

Creative Writing Careers: Building a Portfolio

Gutkind, Lee, 2012. You Can’t Make This Stuff Up (£5.36-£9.09).
Rentzenbrink, Cathy, 2023. Write it All Down (£9.99)
Mullan, John. 2006. How Novels Work (£7.99)

Making a Living 2: Writing for Business 

Simmons, John, 2022. We, Me, Them & It: How to write powerfully for business (£9.99) 
Hicks. W.; Adams, S. Gilbert, H. and Holmes, T., 2008. Writing for journalists (£10.56) 
Shaw, Mark, 2012. Copywriting: successful writing for design, advertising and marketing (£15.57)

You will have access to loads of great resources while you're at Falmouth, and some general regular reading habits you might like to establish ahead of time could include a quality newspaper, the Media and Books sections of the Guardian and New York Times, the London Review of Books and Times Literary Supplement. You might like to start exploring the world of literary podcasts and industry publications like The Bookseller. The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook is an established space for up to date writing and publishing advice and they have both a physical book and this online platform: https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/ 

The National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) is a useful resource for funding opportunities, jobs and events (https://www.nawe.co.uk/) and for writing news and opportunities specific to the South West you might like to think about joining the newsletters of Creative Kernow, the Writers' Block and Literature Works.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

To engage in the digital learning activity, although you will be able to access IT suites on campus, you will benefit from a laptop to access the platforms and tools we use. You will be provided with free access to the Microsoft Office suite, (including Word, Excel and PowerPoint) while you study at Falmouth. 

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Computing

Welcome to Computing for Games BSc(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

The course will primarily focus on developing your practical problem solving and programming skills, alongside fundamental knowledge of agile project management, computer science, and mathematics.

There will be considerable emphasis on the challenges and opportunities presented by game development projects and studio-based teamwork. Initially, we will gently introduce the principles of computing to you using Python and C# on Windows. This will ensure that, regardless of your level of prior programming experience, you are afforded the opportunity to develop a firm understanding of computing as a discipline and develop core competencies which are expected of all computing professionals. This forms the foundation that will then enable you to explore the richer, more complex programming constructs available in other languages.

It is important that you join the course with some programming experience, otherwise you will struggle. To this end, if you have never created your own software on the Windows operating system using Python, you should do so in preparation for the course.

Firstly, you will need to setup a suitable development environment. Please download and install:

Python 3: link.falmouth.games/python3
PyGame 2: link.falmouth.games/pygame-instructions
PyCharm Community Edition: www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/

You may also need to install Java too as PyCharm is dependent on the Java Virtual Machine for portability. Any recent version will be fine: www.java.com/en/download

We have prepared some videos to show you what to do if you are uncertain how to do the setup: link.falmouth.games/pythonsetup

If you run into difficulties, please feel welcome to contact: games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

Programming Tasks

Once you are setup and ready to get programming, start to work through the activities in Invent Your Own Computer Games in Python: Inventwithpython.com/invent4thed/, games provide an interesting (and fun!) application of the principles of computer science you will encounter on the course. Having some understanding of the complexities of interacting systems will be a great advantage to you when you join us.

When you’re feeling more confident with programming fundamentals, your task is to:

Recreate a simple arcade game (eg, snake, platformer) using pygame and python

Use the following materials for support:

Python 3 Docs: docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html
PyCharm Docs: www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/meet-pycharm.html
PyGame Tutorials: www.pygame.org/wiki/tutorials

There will be a Programming Olympiad in the first week of formal teaching on the Digital Creativity module which will challenge your Python programming skills.

Understanding Game Engines: Unity

After you have successfully implemented your bot, you should familiarise yourself with the other programming languages and engines that you will be using on the Digital Creativity module:

C#: www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-c-sharp

Unity:

Brackeys: link.falmouth.games/ytbrackeys

Exploring C++, SDL, OpenGL, and Unreal Engine 5 will also be useful. We will cover these topics in more depth after the first stage of the course.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will need access to your own private personal computer to be able to put in the computer programming practice that is needed to become a computing professional. A suitable personal computer for this course will likely cost around £1,500. The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: link.falmouth.games/computer-advice

You will also have access to machines with a very high specification in our studios where you’ll be expected to do most of your work. It is important that you have a reliable internet connection, as some materials are made available to you through our virtual learning environment. We recommend a fibre broadband connection if available, but a minimum of at least 5Mbps will be suitable for livestreaming content.

Consumable electronics

You must reserve a budget of at least £40 to purchase additional materials and electronic components for your individual creative computing project.

Headset with Microphone

You will need a headset with a microphone for some classes. We recommend purchasing a high-quality headset for your comfort. Manufacturers such as Sennheiser, Razer, HyperX and Corsair are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £30 - £150.

Webcam

You will need a webcam in some teaching. Manufacturers such as Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £25 - £100. If you have further questions, need more detailed advice or would like us to check the suitability of a particular model, then please email games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

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Welcome to Computing for Games with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Reading:

- Bond, J.G., 2018. Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development from Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C#. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley.
- Keith, C., 2010. Agile Game Development with Scrum. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.

It would be beneficial to look into popular choose-your-own-adventure books, visual novels, and role-playing games. In particular, engaging with popular tabletop role-playing systems.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Computer - £1500
Headset - £30-£150
Webcam - £25-£100

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

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Welcome to Computer Science BSc(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

The course will primarily focus on developing your practical problem solving and programming skills, alongside fundamental knowledge of agile project management, computer science, and mathematics.

Firstly, you will need to setup a suitable development environment. Please download and install:

Python 3: link.falmouth.games/python3
PyGame 2: link.falmouth.games/pygame-instructions
PyCharm Community Edition: www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/

You may also need to install Java too as PyCharm is dependent on the Java Virtual Machine for portability. Any recent version will be fine: www.java.com/en/download

We have prepared some videos to show you what to do if you are uncertain how to do the setup: link.falmouth.games/pythonsetup

If you run into difficulties, please feel welcome to contact: games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

Programming Tasks

When you’re feeling more confident with programming fundamentals, your task is to:

Recreate a simple arcade game (eg, snake, platformer) using pygame and python

Use the following materials for support:

Python 3 Docs: docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html
PyCharm Docs: www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/meet-pycharm.html
PyGame Tutorials: www.pygame.org/wiki/tutorials

There will be a Programming Olympiad in the first week of formal teaching on the Digital Creativity module which will challenge your Python programming skills.

Understanding Game Engines: Unity

After you have successfully implemented your bot, you should familiarise yourself with the other programming languages and engines that you will be using on the Digital Creativity module:

C#: www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-c-sharp

Unity:

Brackeys: link.falmouth.games/ytbrackeys

Exploring C++, SDL, OpenGL, and Unreal Engine 5 will also be useful. We will cover these topics in more depth after the first stage of the course.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Consumable electronics

You must reserve a budget of at least £40 to purchase additional materials and electronic components for your individual creative computing project.

Headset with Microphone

Webcam

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Computer Science with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Reading:

- Bond, J.G., 2018. Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development from Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C#. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley.
- Keith, C., 2010. Agile Game Development with Scrum. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.

It would be beneficial to look into popular choose-your-own-adventure books, visual novels, and role-playing games. In particular, engaging with popular tabletop role-playing systems.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Computer - £1500
Headset - £30-£150
Webcam - £25-£100

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Robotics BSc(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

The course will focus on developing your practical problem-solving and programming skills, alongside fundamental knowledge of agile project management, computer science, and mathematics.

The program emphasises robotics projects and studio-based teamwork. We begin by introducing computing principles using Python, C#, and Arduino IDE on Windows. This gentle introduction ensures that all students—regardless of prior programming experience—can develop a solid understanding of computing fundamentals and the core competencies expected of computing professionals. This foundation will enable you to explore more complex programming concepts in other languages.

You should have some programming experience before starting the course to avoid difficulties. If you've never created software on Windows using Python, please do so in preparation.

To begin, set up your development environment by downloading and installing:

Python 3: link.falmouth.games/python3
PyCharm Community Edition: www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/

You may also need to install Java, as PyCharm requires the Java Virtual Machine for portability. Any recent version will work: www.java.com/en/download

We have prepared setup tutorial videos at: link.falmouth.games/pythonsetup

If you run into difficulties, please feel welcome to contact: games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

Programming Tasks

Once you're comfortable with programming fundamentals, you'll advance to Arduino. Test your skills with this challenge:

Create a device to help visually impaired people detect and avoid walls and objects. Using the kit described below, you can use the ultrasound sensor and buzzer to alert users to approaching objects.

This great article from Hackster has plenty of instructions and inspiration: http://link.falmouth.games/blindsight

Use these resources for support:

Arduino Programming documentation: https://docs.arduino.cc/learn/
Install the Arduino Software (IDE): https://www.arduino.cc/en/software/

To complete this project, you'll need to purchase an ELEGOO UNO R3 Project Super Starter Kit, which includes an Arduino UNO microcontroller and components essential for your first year at Falmouth (approximately £35): link.falmouth.games/robotkit25

Bring your robot and solution with you to university.

Understanding Game Engines: Unity

After completing your robot project, familiarise yourself with these programming languages and engines for the Digital Creativity module:

C#: www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-c-sharp

Unity:

Brackeys: link.falmouth.games/ytbrackeys

Ardiuno: www.arduino.cc

You'll also find it helpful to explore C++, SDL, OpenGL, and Arduino IDE. We'll cover these topics in more detail after the first stage of the course.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will need access to your own private personal computer to be able to put in the computer programming practice that is needed to become a computing professional.

A suitable personal computer for this course will likely cost around £1,500. The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: link.falmouth.games/computer-advice

You will also have access to machines with a very high specification in our studios where you’ll be expected to do most of your work.

It is important that you have a reliable internet connection, as some materials are made available to you through our virtual learning environment. We recommend a fibre broadband connection if available, but a minimum of at least 5Mbps will be suitable for livestreaming content.

Consumable electronics

You must reserve a budget of at least £40 to purchase additional materials and electronic components for your individual creative computing project. You should also anticipate a budget of at most £220 to purchase additional robotics kits and consumable materials for your multidisciplinary development projects.

Headset with Microphone

Webcam

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Software Engineering BSc(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

The course will primarily focus on developing your practical problem solving and programming skills, alongside fundamental knowledge of agile project management, computer science, and mathematics.

Firstly, you will need to setup a suitable development environment. Please download and install:

Python 3: link.falmouth.games/python3
PyGame 2: link.falmouth.games/pygame-instructions
PyCharm Community Edition: www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/

You may also need to install Java too as PyCharm is dependent on the Java Virtual Machine for portability. Any recent version will be fine: www.java.com/en/download

We have prepared some videos to show you what to do if you are uncertain how to do the setup: link.falmouth.games/pythonsetup

If you run into difficulties, please feel welcome to contact: games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

Programming Tasks

When you’re feeling more confident with programming fundamentals, your task is to:

Recreate a simple arcade game (eg, snake, platformer) using pygame and python

Use the following materials for support:

Python 3 Docs: docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html
PyCharm Docs: www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/meet-pycharm.html
PyGame Tutorials: www.pygame.org/wiki/tutorials

There will be a Programming Olympiad in the first week of formal teaching on the Digital Creativity module which will challenge your Python programming skills.

Understanding Game Engines: Unity

After you have successfully implemented your bot, you should familiarise yourself with the other programming languages and engines that you will be using on the Digital Creativity module:

C#: www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-c-sharp

Unity:

Brackeys: link.falmouth.games/ytbrackeys

Exploring C++, SDL, OpenGL, and Unreal Engine 5 will also be useful. We will cover these topics in more depth after the first stage of the course.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Consumable electronics

You must reserve a budget of at least £40 to purchase additional materials and electronic components for your individual creative computing project.

Headset with Microphone

Webcam

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Software Engineering with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Reading:

- Bond, J.G., 2018. Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development from Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C#. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley.
- Keith, C., 2010. Agile Game Development with Scrum. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.

It would be beneficial to look into popular choose-your-own-adventure books, visual novels, and role-playing games. In particular, engaging with popular tabletop role-playing systems.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Computer - £1500
Headset - £30-£150
Webcam - £25-£100

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Design, Architecture & Interiors

Welcome to Architecture BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

We recommend that you engage with the following material in preparation for joining the first year of your architecture course:

Instagram – follow us: @architecturefalmouth
Subscribe to some of useful websites:

Design Project 1

We ask for task to be completed before you arrive:

Capturing Your Place - This is a pre-course project to help us all to get to know each other.

We invite you to interpret a space or place you are very familiar with from your home, hometown, city, or area. It could be a private room or a public space – as long as it is somewhere that means something to you.

You may use a variety of media: drawings, collage, paint, whichever you’re comfortable with, to complete your interpretation. You might want to include a few key words or text (but no more than 20 words) as part of your visual interpretation.

Presentation format

One single A4 collage, drawing, or mixed-media piece.

Aims

To act as an introduction topic between you and your fellow students and tutors.
To start a conversation about representation techniques.

Please bring the above on your first day to the Architecture Studios during induction week during which you will have the opportunity to discuss this piece with tutors and peers as part of an informal introduction workshop....and your first studio discussion of your architecture studies!

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

The equipment and materials list below are what we recommend as a starting point. Over your three years of study you will develop specific interests and you may require additional tools and equipment.

Personal protective equipment (PPE): Essential at start of course

Safety glasses - Honeywell A800 Safety Glasses Anti-Mist, Clear or similar EN166-1F Polycarbonate Anti-Scratch safety glasses, approximately £4.50
Site safety footwear with steel toe and mid sole protection for site visits. Type SBP Approx £30

Studio equipment and materials

You will need the following items for the start of the course:

A4 sketchbook unlined. Approx £5.
2B – 4B pencils. Approx £5.
“Tervakoski” type sketching paper roll 30cm wide. Approx £28 (a year)
Architectural scale rule (30 cm with different scales) , flat. Approx. £7

We also suggest (but not essential in the first couple of weeks):

Pentel Sharplet Mechanical Pencils x 3 (.5mm/.7mm/.9mm) Approx £6
Pentel 12 x HB 0.5mm Leads, Pentel 12 x 2B 0.7mm Leads, Pentel 12 x B 0.9mm Leads £1.35 each
Set of 3 drafting pens size 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 Pentel Pointliner Technical Drawing Fineliner or similar. Approx £9.
General Purpose Masking tape 24mm wide. Approx £5.
Swann Morton retractable safety scalpel and 5 x 10a or 11a blades. Approx £8
300mm metal safety ruler (‘W’ section) Approx. £10.
300mm adjustable set square. Approx. £10.
Steel Safety Rule - 300mm. Approx £7
Flat Cutting Mat A3. Approx £8
Polymer Eraser and Eraser shield. Approx £2
Drawing Compass Approx. £3.25

The following items are desirable:

A selection of Colouring pencils Faber Castell Polychromous or Derwent Studio around £20 for a set of 12
Drafting brush Approx £10
Clear Tough bag to carry your drawing equipment £3.50
Foldover clear plastic and grey card interior type carry case A2 approx £10

Most of the above is available in the campus shop at Falmouth University, or easily found online.

A sensible budget for the above items is approximately £90 -£120

There will also be costs throughout the course in purchasing materials particularly drawing paper and materials for making models. It would be sensible to allow approximately £150 per academic year for these types of materials.

Computing equipment – Essential at start of course

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this).

The 3D CAD software and digital design tools we teach are fundamental design skills that require daily practice as part of your design process. We recommend budgeting around £1000 - £1500

The software we use for Architecture is industry standard; Autodesk AutoCad and Revit with rendering via Enscape, Twinmotion or similar. If you are buying new equipment, Windows-based is recommended.

Operating System: Windows recommended
Processor: Intel: Core i5, i7 or i9, or AMD: Ryzen 5,7 or 9 series
RAM: 16GB Minimum, 32GB or higher recommended
Graphics: Dedicated graphics cards with 2GB RAM. (either Nvidia RTX/Quadro or AMD Radeon)
Storage: 500GB to 1TB+ storage capacity

Please also note Chromebooks, iPads, MacBook Airs and tablets are not suitable hardware for CAD design software but can be used for note taking and sketching.

Software – Essential at start of course

Office 365, including Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. Free through the University.
Adobe Creative Cloud, including Acrobat, Photoshop and InDesign. Available at a discounted price through the University (For guidance, this was £67.47 in 2023/34 academic year).
Autodesk AutoCAD and Revit. Provided free through educational license agreement using your Falmouth email. Access will be setup during your first CAD session.
Rhino 3D – available on campus and for purchase at discounted cost
Cloud back-up is recommended

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Welcome to Graphic Design BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

One-week-summer-projects

Introduction;

As part of your preparation for the new academic year, we would like you to begin ‘exercising’ your creative muscle over the summer. The following are a series of simple activities that can take as much/little time as you have available.

We would like everyone to engage with ‘Option 1’ and to then individually choose at least one other option – but spend no more than a week on each (and no more than 10 days over the summer in total). You can do more of the options if you have the time/inclination. Simply allow curiosity to be your guide and don’t put any pressure on yourself (these are just creative exercises – like going for a walk or a swim – think play and fun). Work in and around any existing commitments you already have and enjoy slowing yourself down a little.

–

Option 1;

Choose a single type of object or artifact (spoons, pens, signage arrows, chairs, etc.) and spend the week capturing them in as many forms/ways as possible using a range of different mediums and materials (photographs, collage, drawings, prints, etc.). This is less about ‘perfect’ drawings or records of your objects, and more about the habit of ‘looking’ and the discipline of ‘recording’. The more you can document, the better (try to do several each day).

–

Option 2;

Spend the week exploring the following websites. Our subject is broad, and we are keen that you begin digging a little deeper before you arrive. Keep a record of articles, examples of work or designs you are drawn to (for whatever reason) and be curious to find other links and references.

https://www.eyemagazine.com/

https://www.creative-conscience.org.uk/

http://designobserver.com

http://www.dandad.org

http://www.ico-d.org

http://www.atypi.org

http://www.itsnicethat.com

http://designweek.co.uk

https://www.ideo.com

https://ourworldindata.org

https://www.creativeboom.com/

–

Option 3;

Get a blank sketchbook (A4 or ideally A3) and draw your non-dominant hand in pencil as follows. Repeat the activity five days in a row over one week. Use a timer and remember to look twice-as-much as you draw.;

5 drawings in 5 minutes – quick, loose sketches at 100% scale, all on the same page (so they overlap) as line art (no shading).
One drawing in 5 minutes – slower, with more care at 100% scale. New page. Line art.
One drawing in 20 minutes – very slow. 100% and include shading on a new page.
If you are building momentum by the end of the week, keep going or take longer.

–

Option 4;

Walk (ideally) to your local newsagents and buy a copy of The Guardian newspaper. If the weather is good, find somewhere quiet to stop and read on the way home. Explore some of the articles and ideas inside and make some notes regarding what inspires or challenges you. Repeat this each day for a week.

–

Option 5;

Go for a walk around your local area and photographically document any found typography in the environment (house names, street signage, shop fronts, weathered lettering, etc.) using a phone/camera/etc. Then, either;

- Repeat the exercise each day for the week, collating them in any way that makes sense.

Or…

- Choose key letters/elements you like after day 1 and then draw your own typeface.

–

Option 6;

If you have access to Netflix, watch as many of the 14 episodes of ‘Abstracts; The power of design’ as possible.

–

Option 7;

Read a fiction novel. Pick anything you like or choose one from this list; https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/dec/07/the-best-books-of-2024

–

Option 8;

Ask older family members or neighbours for their favourite film. Source and watch 5 of them.

–

Option 9;

Go to your local charity shop and buy the most interesting object you can find for less than £1.00. Bring it home and write a short (imagined) story about its life up to this point.

–

Option 10;

Think about the things you love, what is important to you, what you hope to see change in the world around you, how you spend your time, your money and so on. Write these things // as a list and pick one theme that is of most interest to you. Spend time searching for a podcast series that explores this theme in more detail.

Listen to several episodes over the week or explore further themes – one per day.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

As a discipline, graphic design is essentially about ideas, and our need for equipment is considerably less than many other creative practices. That said, there are sone ongoing costs each year and (if you so choose) some longer term investments as follows.

Studio kit (regular cost);

You should allow at least £100 for the basic studio kit needed across each year (outlined below). Everything is available from the University shop when you arrive, but there a few things (*) worth getting before-hand as you will need them in the first week;

Academic year diary (essential, although you may prefer a digital, online version) *.
A3 layout pads or sketchbooks (you will get through these!) *.
Selection of pencils (in several different weights) *.
Pritt Stick *.
Masking tape.
12-inch metal ruler.
A dozen-or-so packs of Sticky Notes (the cheapest you can find).
Scalpel and blades such as Swan Morten (10a blades most useful).
Retractable pencil (basic).
Plastic eraser.
Memory stick (USB).
A selection of coloured pencils or markers.

You will be taking part in a bookbinding workshop in your first year. We recommend that you purchase a good basic kit which can be picked up online for about £10–20, although this is optional as we will supply the basic materials you need.

–

Printing (regular cost);

You will also need to allow for ongoing weekly/monthly printing costs for projects and any experimentation undertaken, which can be anything between £120 and £350+ depending on your needs each year (especially in the final year). Printing is one of our most regular costs as designers, and basic A4/A3 black & white (5p/9p) or colour printing (18p/35p) is charged to your account as you use it. There are also modest ‘screen’ charges for screen-printing and ‘masters’ charges for riso-printing, but this should be included in the above (unless you focus heavily on the resources).

–

Reading material;

We know that reading is not everyone’s favourite past-time (especially in our tech-heavy, image-led world). However, reading (and thinking about a text) will be a central part of your journey with us. All of the materials you will need on the course are either in our Libraries or online, so any purchases are entirely optional.

That said, we would encourage you to buy the following book before you arrive, as it covers many of the themes we will be considering on the course. Try to dip in and out of it over the summer (and beyond), and we will focus on it more directly during the second year of the course.

Title; MC24 (24 Principles for Designing Massive Change in your Life and Work).

Author; Bruce Mau.

Publisher; Phaidon Press (2020).

Cost; Around £35.00 (although you may find it cheaper online or used).

–

Laptops & Computers (optional one-off cost);

A computer is an essential piece of equipment as a Graphic Designer (although, remember it is just a tool). That said, several of our students complete the degree each year just using our university machines – and many will wait until the second year before buying one. If you do choose to invest, you will need either an Apple Mac or Windows machine, capable of running the Adobe Creative Suite. Beyond the course itself, this is likely to be one of the biggest investments you make whilst studying design and could cost between £350 and £1800.

The Adobe Creative Suite is available for you as a student at Falmouth at a heavily discounted rate (around £68 per year) if you do have your own machine, although the software is on all the University machines – including the ones in our studios. The system requirements to run the software can be found here and you will be able to purchase it once you have enroled:

helpx.adobe.com/uk/creative-suite/kb/cs6-system-requirements.html

You will also need a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this already) for any remote work you may do.

–

Study trips (optional);

In the first study block of the first year, we run a short day-trip to St Ives. This is heavily subsidised by the course, but we ask that all students contribute a nominal £15 towards the travel costs. We will collect payment for this in the first week of term and please do let us know if this is likely to be a problem.

In the second Study Block of the second year (after Christmas) we normally run an cultural study trip to visit professional design studios and agencies (often in London), as well as key exhibitions. The trip lasts approximately four days although some students spend longer to visit further galleries and see exhibitions, etc. The trip is not mandatory, although it is a fantastic opportunity to visit some of the finest studios in the industry and put your own emerging design work into a professional context.

Travel and accommodation costs associated with this are arranged by the students going each year (so you can stay with family, friends, share/arrange your own room, etc.) and you should allow between £250 –£400 for this. We also include final year students on the trip (so you could go in either year, or twice if you were keen – although this is less common), which allows you to save for the trip if required.

–

Exhibitions & events (optional);

We regularly encourage students to attend events, exhibitions or conferences that take place both in and outside of Cornwall. These events do not form a core requirement of the course and whilst you can visit regional exhibitions for little expenditure, anything national or European can cost much more. This can include key industry events over the summer of the second year, and more specifically in the final year.

In the final year we sometimes run other network or portfolio events where we arrange the event itself, but students are required to arrange travel/accommodation as necessary. Costs here will vary, depending on need.

–

Cameras;

If you already own a 35mm SLR or digital camera, you may find it useful to bring it with you. However, Falmouth has a wide range of photographic equipment which can be booked free of charge from our stores, so there is no need to buy anything new. Most students use their phones for day-to-day recording of material, ideas & inspiration.

–

Queries;

If you have any concerns or questions regarding possible costs on the course, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the us (andy.neal@falmouth.ac.uk).

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Welcome to Graphic Design with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Typical course material costs:

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

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Welcome to Interior Architecture BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Box-chitecture!

Transform an ordinary shoebox into an extraordinary miniature room that tells a story! This fun project will get you thinking like a designer before starting your course.

What You'll Need:

A shoebox or similar-sized box
Craft materials (paper, cardboard, fabric scraps, paint)
Found objects and recycled materials
Basic tools (scissors, glue, tape)
Your imagination!

The Challenge - Create a miniature room that represents one of these themes:

"A Room from the Future"
"Nature Indoors"
"Movie Scene Setting"
"Dream Reading Nook"
"Sustainable Living Space"

Design Tips

Think about lighting - create windows or add LED lights if you'd like
Add people - use figures or 2D cutouts to show scale
Consider textures - maybe try to combine smooth, rough, and patterned surfaces
Add personal touches that tell your story
Experiment with different materials and how they interact.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

The materials and equipment list below is what we recommend as a starting point. Over your three years of study you will develop specific interests and you may require additional tools. We will provide you with the materials needed for workshop inductions. In some modules, you will need to purchase other materials for model making and sketching, but the technicians and tutors can advise on making this as cost effective as possible.

A yearly materials budget of £100 to £200 is recommended. We have divided material and equipment items into essential and optional to help you manage the costs.

Personal protective equipment (PPE): Essential at start of course

Your safety is paramount, and you will need to buy compulsory PPE to use in our workshops. Please ensure the items you purchase match the specifications listed below; all items can be purchased from RS Components Ltd website:

Safety glasses - Honeywell A800 Safety Glasses Anti-Mist, Clear or similar EN166-1F Polycarbonate Anti-Scratch safety glasses, approximately £4.50

Workshop equipment and drawing and model making kit: Essential at start of course

The following items can be purchased from the campus art shop:

Retractable craft/Stanley knife and blades - https://www.stanleytools.co.uk/product/2-10-099/stanley-99e-classic-retractable-blade-utility-knife?tid=569066, approximately £6.00.
A5 notebook and A3 sketchbook, approximately £14.49
A3 layout pad, approximately £5.70
12” Maun safety steel ruler, approximately £2.10
A3 cutting mat, approximately £9.00
Swann-Morton safety scalpel - https://www.craftknives.co.uk/product/retractawaypremium and 10A blades (4 packs), approximately £7.55
Graphite sketching and colour pencils, fineliner pens (0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7mm), Letraset Tria (or equivalent) marker pens (1x dark and 1x light cool grey), approximately £28.00
3M masking tape (25mm), approximately £1.55

Computing equipment – Essential at start of course

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this). The 3D CAD software and digital design tools we teach are fundamental design skills that require daily practice as part of your design process. We recommend budgeting around £800 - £2500 for a recommended laptop specification. Educational and refurbished discounts are available direct from companies like Dell, Asus, etc., and can save you up to 50% sometimes. We also recommend having a laptop case/bag to carry and protect your laptop (approximately £50).

The software we use requires a computer with more computing power, memory and graphics than a standard home/work machine. Typically, the best options are professional ‘workstation’ laptops aimed at businesses, or Gaming machines which offer comparable performance at a lower price point, (e.g. from Dell – Workstation/Professional laptops – XPS and precision, Gaming laptops – G series and Alienware). We use AutoDesk Revit and the recommended specification is here: Recommended specification

Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel: Core i5, i7 or i9, or AMD: Ryzen 5,7 or 9 series
RAM: 16GB Minimum, 32GB or higher recommended
Graphics: Dedicated graphics cards with 2GB RAM. (either Nvidia RTX/Quadro or AMD Radeon)
Storage: 500GB to 1TB+ storage capacity (Preferably an SSD)
Screen size: 13” or larger

Mostly, you will be required to use Windows-only software on the course, so an Apple computer (a Mac) might not be suitable. Chromebooks and iPads will not run the software you require for your studies, although they are very useful secondary machines for digital notetaking and sketching. 

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Welcome to Interior Design BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Box-chitecture!

Transform an ordinary shoebox into an extraordinary miniature room that tells a story! This fun project will get you thinking like a designer before starting your course.

What You'll Need:

A shoebox or similar-sized box
Craft materials (paper, cardboard, fabric scraps, paint)
Found objects and recycled materials
Basic tools (scissors, glue, tape)
Your imagination!

The Challenge - Create a miniature room that represents one of these themes:

"A Room from the Future"
"Nature Indoors"
"Movie Scene Setting"
"Dream Reading Nook"
"Sustainable Living Space"

Design Tips

Think about lighting - create windows or add LED lights if you'd like
Add people - use figures or 2D cutouts to show scale
Consider textures - maybe try to combine smooth, rough, and patterned surfaces
Add personal touches that tell your story
Experiment with different materials and how they interact.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

A yearly materials budget of £100 to £200 is recommended. We have divided material and equipment items into essential and optional to help you manage the costs.

Personal protective equipment (PPE): Essential at start of course

Safety glasses - Honeywell A800 Safety Glasses Anti-Mist, Clear or similar EN166-1F Polycarbonate Anti-Scratch safety glasses, approximately £4.50

Workshop equipment and drawing and model making kit: Essential at start of course

The following items can be purchased from the campus art shop:

Retractable craft/Stanley knife and blades - https://www.stanleytools.co.uk/product/2-10-099/stanley-99e-classic-retractable-blade-utility-knife?tid=569066, approximately £6.00.
A5 notebook and A3 sketchbook, approximately £14.49
A3 layout pad, approximately £5.70
12” Maun safety steel ruler, approximately £2.10
A3 cutting mat, approximately £9.00
Swann-Morton safety scalpel - https://www.craftknives.co.uk/product/retractawaypremium and 10A blades (4 packs), approximately £7.55
Graphite sketching and colour pencils, fineliner pens (0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7mm), Letraset Tria (or equivalent) marker pens (1x dark and 1x light cool grey), approximately £28.00
3M masking tape (25mm), approximately £1.55

Computing equipment – Essential at start of course

Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel: Core i5, i7 or i9, or AMD: Ryzen 5,7 or 9 series
RAM: 16GB Minimum, 32GB or higher recommended
Graphics: Dedicated graphics cards with 2GB RAM. (either Nvidia RTX/Quadro or AMD Radeon)
Storage: 500GB to 1TB+ storage capacity (Preferably an SSD)
Screen size: 13” or larger

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Welcome to Interior Design BA(Hons) (Online). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

To help you get warmed up before the course starts, get drawing in your sketchbooks.

Aim for 10 minutes of drawing from observation every day. Buildings, parts of interior spaces, or everyday objects are all good practice. Try a range of drawing equipment - pencil or pen, charcoal etc, and different techniques i.e. single line drawing, using light and shade, pattern making etc.

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Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

The BA Interior Design Online degree course is studied wholly online. As well as a computer or laptop, you will need a reliable broadband connection. You may wish to investigate the cost of a broadband plug-in dongle if you travel a lot or are worried about your internet usage or connection.

When considering the specs of your equipment, the most important things to look out for are the CPU/RAM/Graphics Card, as we use software that needs a large amount of processing power, especially Revit. We recommend one with as fast a processor as you can afford, 16GB of RAM minimum and a reasonably sized screen (15" is minimum), plus the following absolute bare minimum computer specifications:

Windows:

Operating System - Windows 10 64-bit or Windows 11
CPU type - Multi-Core Intel Xeon, or i-Series processor or AMD equivalent with SSE2 technology. Highest affordable CPU speed rating recommended.
Memory - No less than 32GB Ram - more is better!
Graphics Card (Nvidia 1050 minimum - not Intel Iris or XE integrated graphics) with at least 2GB - the bigger the memory the better! (For Revit DirectX 11 capable graphics card with Shader Model 5)
512GB hard drive space minimum - bigger = better!
1920 x 1080 display resolution or higher. Ideally 4K.
Mouse with a scroll wheel and two buttons

You will be required to use Windows only software on the course, so an Apple computer will not be suitable for all of your studies. Chromebooks and iPads will not run the software you require for your studies. An iPad however, can be a useful secondary tool for digital notetaking, sketching and for creating digital sketchbooks, but is not mandatory.

Other digital equipment/software:

Adobe Creative Cloud. We anticipate being able to offer a discount for this and will inform you as soon as possible.
Sketchup pro - approx. £70
16 -32 GB memory stick - approx. £10-20. You will need to be able to back up and save work regularly.
Wireless or Bluetooth mouse - approx. £15
Access to either an A3 printer/copier/scanner or photocopying services (Approx £20 printing costs for A3 photocopies)

Process, Drawing and Modelmaking - Materials and Equipment - approx. £150 pa Essentials -

Sketchbook(s) - A5, A4 or A3 depending on your preference
Scale ruler
A3/2 layout pad
A range of pencils – e.g. 4B, HB, 2H 4H
A range of technical drawing pens e.g. 0.05mm, 0.4, 0.7, 1.0 mm UniPIN or similar make
Eraser
Cutting mat – A2/3
Metal safety cutting edge ie a Maun Safety Ruler
Retractable craft knife or scalpel and replacement blades
Masking tape
Pins (dressmakers steel)
Spray mount
Foamboard - 3mm or 5mm thick or corrugated card for model making (available from Amazon in 10xA3 sheets or larger format sizes from your local art supplier)
An assortment of different coloured cartridge paper for model making and
experimentation

Nice to have -

Adjustable set square and T square
Coloured pencils
A few marker pens in greys, beige, pale blue etc
Highlighters

Study trips

As an online student you will be given the opportunity to attend up to two events per academic year to meet your classmates and tutors in person. Dates and location of the events will vary.

These trips are not mandatory, although they are a great opportunity to meet your peers and staff in person and build connections.

Costs of the events themselves are covered, however you will need to cover your own costs for travel, accommodation, food and drink. More information about these events will be given to you when you start your course, but you should expect them to cost approximately £500-800.

Virtual Learning Environment

Welcome to Sustainable Product Design BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

2050: A sustainable vision of the future

Context:

You are joining a talented and diverse group of designers, makers and creative thinkers on the Sustainable Product Design course in Falmouth this September. You are about to embark on a journey into the future and are mentally and physically preparing to pack; selecting objects that are both useful in terms of function, but also objects with links to the past.

Objects are often embodied with, or develop, narrative through their lifetime, acting as vessels that communicate value systems, ideas and memories. Often, we assign meaning to objects, raising their importance and elevating them in status beyond many more expensive items we purchase.

As designers, we are always imagining the future and creating new ideas that aim to make it better for people and the planet. Imagination is a critical tool as a creative and this project will enable you to show us your ability to imagine and forecast a future world in 2050. In the search for a more sustainable world, creating a vision through text, images, and objects, is crucial for helping people understand how we may transition from the present to a more sustainable future.

The Brief:

Consider what a future world might look like in 2050. Have we managed to solve plastic waste? Is there enough food for all? Do we eat animals? How do we move around the globe? What materials do we use and how are objects made? Do we all live in megacities, or have we fled to Mars?

Design and illustrate an A6-sized picture postcard from your vision of 2050. This vision should help communicate what environmental and social challenges will be faced.

Design an object from this future world that responds to your vision of how life will change. Consider the function of your object in the broadest sense and develop a reason why it would be important. Use household materials, such as paper, card, and tape, to explore your concept three dimensionally. Have some fun and be imaginative.

Send your postcards to the following address, remembering to include your name, for delivery by Monday 15th September 2025:

FAO: Stage 1 Tutor

Sustainable Product Design

Falmouth University

Falmouth Campus

Cornwall

TR11 4RH

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

We will provide you with the materials needed for workshop inductions. In some modules, you will need to purchase other materials for prototyping, but the technicians and tutors can advise on making this as cost effective as possible. A yearly materials budget of £50 to £100 is recommended.

Safety glasses - Honeywell A800 Safety Glasses Anti-Mist, Clear or similar EN166-1F Polycarbonate Anti-Scratch safety glasses, approximately £4.50
5 metre metal tape measure, approximately £4.45
Retractable craft/Stanley knife and blades - https://www.stanleytools.co.uk/product/2-10-099/stanley-99e-classic-retractable-blade-utility-knife?tid=569066, approximately £6.00.
A6 notebook and A3 sketchbook, approximately £14.49
A3 layout pad, approximately £5.70
12” Maun safety steel ruler, approximately £2.10
A3 cutting mat, approximately £9.00
Swann-Morton safety scalpel - https://www.craftknives.co.uk/product/retractawaypremium and 10A blades (4 packs), approximately £7.55
Graphite sketching and colour pencils, fineliner pens (0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7mm), Letraset Tria (or equivalent) marker pens (1x dark and 1x light cool grey), approximately £28.00
3M masking tape (25mm), approximately £1.55

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this). The 3D CAD software and digital design tools we teach are fundamental design skills that require daily practice as part of your design process. We recommend budgeting around £1000 - £2500 for a recommended laptop specification. Educational and refurbished discounts are available direct from companies like Apple, Dell, Asus, etc., and can save you up to 50% sometimes. We also recommend having a laptop case/bag to carry and protect your laptop (approximately £50).

Students on the course become proficient in the use of industry standard software including:

Office 365, including Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. Free through the University.
Adobe Creative Cloud, including Acrobat, Photoshop and InDesign. Available at a discounted price through the University (For guidance, this was £67.47 in 2023/34 academic year).
Autodesk Product Design Suite, including Fusion360. Provided free through educational license agreement using your Falmouth email. Access will be setup during your first CAD session.
Rhino 3D – available on campus computers and for purchase at discounted cost
Vizcom – Free student account

Optional - Would be nice to have at start of course:

A wireless or Bluetooth, 3-button computer mouse – approx. £15

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Welcome to Visual Communication BA(Hons) (Online). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

If you would like to ensure you are warmed up and ready to go, we would recommend that you keep a sketch book/visual journal of drawings, typography, collage, ephemera and so on. Capturing and documenting the world around you off screen will be a great way to practice visual observations.

This process is very common for visual communicators and is something you should continue with across the course of your study at Falmouth and throughout your professional working life. This is not compulsory, just encouraged.  

A simple A4 or A5 plain sketch book will cost around £3-£10 and will allow you to record visits, observations, collections of memorabilia or graphic ephemera gathered day to day. Sketchbooks also allow you to capture ideas and aspects of the world around you that may impact on your views and understanding of visual communication and the wider world around you.  

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

As the BA Visual Communication degree course is studied wholly online, as well as a computer or laptop, you will need a reliable broadband connection. You may wish to investigate the cost of a broadband plug-in dongle if you travel a lot or are worried about your internet usage or connection.  

You’ll also need the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. We anticipate that there will be a discounted annual subscription available through the University before the start of your course. We will confirm this with you as soon as possible. 

You should allow around £100-200 for the studio kit outlined below, which you can start to gather over the coming months ready for September. Buy materials you wish to use. 

A3/A4 sketchbooks  
Scalpel and blades such as Swan Morten (10a blades most useful)  
12-inch metal ruler  
Selection of graphite pencils (3B to HB)  
Pritt Stick  
Masking tape  
Plastic eraser  
Glue (spray mount/PVA)  
Ink, paints, mark making materials  
Any other physical materials you wish to use for making visuals

You will also need to consider ongoing printing costs for projects and experimentation undertaken, which can be between approximately £100 and £200. This will be less should you work mainly from analogue to digital or with film or animation. Ultimately this cost is down to how you finish and produce your work and the production services you use.  

Face-to-Face Events: optional 

As an online student you will be given the opportunity to attend up to two events per academic year to meet your classmates and tutors in person. Dates and location of the events will vary.  

Your first study trip location will be to announced during your first Study Block and will involve visits to professional design and illustration studios, galleries and museums in March 2026 (final dates and location to be confirmed). The trip will last between three and seven days, although some students will want to spend more or less than the one week at the chosen location.  

These trips are not mandatory trips, although they are a great opportunity to visit some of brilliant studios and really put your own emerging interests into context. You will get to meet your peers and staff in person and build connections. The trips will be curated by your course leader and module leaders. There will be an itinerary to follow, along with some suggested activities and social events.  

For the trip , you will organise your own transport and accommodation. Costs associated with the trip are partly dependent on your own preferences: whether taking public transport, staying with friends, or in a hotel or hostel. Therefore, allow between £100 and £400 for this trip.

Further information on both face-to-face events will come via your course leader.   Previous locations have been London, Berlin and Amsterdam. Students will vote on the location for 2026.

Recommended reading list and costs 

Once on the course your resource list is varied including scanned in sections of books from the library, podcasts, videos and documentaries. You will be given further reading lists for the rest of the course as you progress through the course (many can be found new/used online). You may wish to buy some of these books and should allow up to £100-£200 for books and publications across the duration of the course.  

Virtual Learning Environment

Education

Fashion & Textiles

Welcome to Costume Design for Film & Television BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

In a small notebook, keep a diary of the films and shows you watch from this date until you arrive at Falmouth.

Include details of what you watched, who directed or was show runner, who starred, the original release date etc, plus of course the costume designer.

Make notes on whether you enjoyed it and a sketch of one of the costumes.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will set up a credit account of £150 with the department in your first week. This will cover all your workshop materials for the three years of the course.  Students will be required to purchase materials for any costume makes as well as purchasing second-hand garments and sketchbooks for design projects.

Additional costs

You will also need to factor in printing costs and presentation materials. It is difficult to give an exact figure on these additional costs as each project output will be individual to the student. A rough estimate would be £50 per practical module for these additional materials (based on one sketchbook, a charity shop purchase, thread, trims and/or fabrics), but this can vary depending on the ambitions of your project.  

It is likely that you may need to spend more on materials in your second and third years, but this will depend on the areas you choose to work in and the materials you choose to work with. We anticipate second- and third-year costs being less than £70 per practical module.

Many students raise funds through crowdfunding to meet higher costs.

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Welcome to Costume Design for Film & Television with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

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Welcome to Fashion Design BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

In Freshers’ week, we will be holding some mending workshops to prolong the life of your garments. Please bring a garment that requires mending, this could be a hole or stan that needs covering with a patch, darning or sashiko, or missing buttons, fallen hems or frayed cuffs.

Also, for your first project you will need two or three men's shirts. These should be brought from a charity shop or eBay, but not bought new. The shirts will be deconstructed and used for your first project.

We would like you to explore two websites www.fashionrevolution.org and https://fashion-declares.org before you arrive, this will start you thinking about Fashion Design’s impact on the environment.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Studio materials charge

We ask for a studio fee of £130 in your first week, this is to cover the cost of studio materials e.g. Pattern cutting paper, machine thread, materials for all workshops and bobbin and bobbin case. We will provide a breakdown of this fee when you arrive in September. Any balance left on your credit account due to early departure from the course will be refunded on a pro-rata basis.

Although you will be able to access IT suites on campus, you will benefit from a laptop to access the design platforms and tools we use, engage with online learning resources and watch industry guest lectures. It does not matter if it is a Mac or PC, but it should be able to run Adobe software. You will be having classes on a Mac.

In addition to the Studio materials charge of £130 in stages one and two, students will also be required to purchase project sketchbooks and materials for final garments. You will also need to factor in printing costs and presentation materials. It is difficult to give an exact figure on these additional costs as each project output will be individual to the student. A rough estimate would be £15.00-£30.00 per project, but this can vary depending on the ambitions of your project. Where possible we will provide upcycled calico and donated fabrics to minimise cost and material wastage.

During stage three you will complete your graduate collection, which will be self-funded. The costs will vary greatly from student to student, dependent upon your design proposal. Many students will successfully acquire fabric/materials sponsorship for their collections. A collection can cost from £100 to £2000+. Some students will also choose to develop ideas for printed fabrics through the print areas in the Fashion and Textiles Institute, where typical costs of around £50.00+ for materials, inks, binders, acetates etc can be expected.

You will also produce a hard copy graduate portfolio during Stage three. We do not advocate spending hundreds of pounds on a portfolio case as much portfolio viewing is now done digitally.

However, there will be printing costs for the final submission, which will be dependent on paper quality, page numbers etc. An A3 30-page printing job will cost a minimum of £20.00.

Additional costs

You are required to purchase the following items from this list of essential equipment, all of which are available from www.eastman.co.uk or www.morplan.com. You can use your Falmouth student number to receive an online discount with both of these companies. Please remember to allow enough time for delivery prior to the start of your course.

It is important that you have the equipment listed below by the beginning of term. You will be using it in workshops from the start. All prices are approximate.

Tools Pattern cutting equipment, Construction Tools, sketchbooks and drawing materials

Pattern master metric or Shoben fashioncurve £19.95
Paper Scissors (about 22cm: for cutting paper in the studio) £6.95
A mechanical pencil or traditional with lead 2H £3.25
Fine line colour pens
An eraser £0.99
Masking tape £1.50
30cm ruler £1.20
Pattern notcher (standard quality) £11.95. (after Christmas will be ok)
Pattern drill 4mm hole £16.95. (after Christmas)
Wooden awl £1.25 (nice to have but not essential)
Tracing wheel £4.45 (nice to have but not essential)
A3 spiral bound sketchbook for pattern cutting, this will become your technical Pattern cutting book and, you will refer back to this book throughout your time at Falmouth so it is important that it is robust, £15.00.
Quick Unpick - large £1.29
Tape measure £0.99
1 x 30mm dressmakers pins - 100g £6.00
2 pack tailors chalk £2.75
Good quality pair of shears (for fabric). It is important that you choose your own individual cutting shears as there is a wide selection and you need to find out what size and weight suits you. Ask to try them out in the shop. If you are left-handed you can get left-handed shears. Cutting shears must only be used for fabric and never paper or card. If buying new, make sure you can get all four fingers through the larger hand hole. From £11.95
A4 lever arch files £4. You might already have one that you could reuse, and we also have old files that can be used. This will become your construction folder that you will use throughout your time at Falmouth.

Studio equipment for drawing, illustrating and designing

Drawing pencils £10.95 (no need to buy new if you already have a good selection)
A selection of coloured and black crayons, pens, chalks £12.95 (no need to buy new). If possible environmentally friendly felt tip pens consciouscraft.uk/collections/art/products/lyra-high-quality-art-pen-20 (no need to buy new if you already have a good selection) these are also good for making pattern for Pattern cutting.
Set of Acrylic paint £12.95 (including white, black, magenta, cyan and yellow)
Selection of paintbrushes £5
A3 Landscape Lever Arch File £6.98 this will be used for research and design development instead of a sketchbook
A3 spiral bound sketchbook or loose sheets for research, designing and developing ideas. £15.00
A2 layout pad or tracing paper for drafting designs £7.75

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Welcome to Fashion Design with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Fashion Marketing BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

As marketers, we are at the forefront of commerce and communication, we understand the global standpoint, as businesspeople and as consumers. We are in a prime position to be able to shift opinions towards a more responsible way of being, to consider innovative ways in which the fashion industry can work towards positive solutions related to climate change, ethical practices, and prosperity.

We would like you to explore a few websites before you arrive, this will start you thinking about sustainable and ethical impact of the Fashion Industry and how fashion marketing plays a positive (and negative) role in the global challenges of our time.

We recommend you read the following report from Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Co. It is their latest 2025 update to the annual “State of Fashion” report (available on both websites).

During Freshers’ week, alongside our colleagues in the Fashion and Textiles institute, we will be holding a range of mending workshops to prolong the life of your garments. Please bring along a garment that requires mending, this could be a hole or stain that needs covering with a patch, darning or Sashiko (traditional Japanese embroidery technique), or missing buttons, fallen hems or frayed cuffs. This is an opportunity to learn some repair techniques and enjoy a chat with your new colleagues.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential for the duration of the course (costs estimated):

Black and white and colour printing (approximately £60 per year)
Art materials for presenting work (approximately £50 each year)

Recommended for the start of the course (costs estimated):

Black hard-back sketchbook, white pages, A4 or 30cm x 30cm (approximately £10)
Fine black writing pen or sharp pencil for sketchbook annotation (approximately £10)

Nice to have at the start of the course (costs estimated):

Notebook, pens (approximately £10)

Although you may use digital notetaking. Please consider that you may be asked to put your mobile phones away for the duration of the teaching session.

It is useful to have the equipment listed below for the start of the course, but it is not essential (costs estimated):

Scissors / scalpel blades + cutting mat (approximately £15)
Glue Stick or double-sided tape (approximately £5)
Small metal ruler (approximately £10)

Digital access:

Fashion Marketing students have studio-based access to MacBook Pros (13” +15” Laptops) with access to Adobe Creative Cloud software and there are desktop Apple Macs accessible throughout the Design Centre and Library during opening times.

If you are considering purchasing your own laptop, to allow more flexibility to work off-campus, the following specifications are advised: Mac or PC with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD, we also recommend a student subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud. (Approx £70 p.a.)

You can expect to spend approximately £200 on consumables for each year, e.g. printing costs. This can be less in year-one due to the nature of the project (shared group work). In year-three the final major project is likely to cost in the region of £350-£500. This is for the purpose of, for example, a research trip or professional print production (magazines/publications) or graduate showcase presentation.

Where appropriate, we encourage and accept digital submissions. However, understanding and demonstrating digital translation to professional print is a key part of the course.

Study trips and costs: (optional)

We are expecting that there will be an optional study trip, e.g. to London during London Fashion Week in mid-February, which we hope all students can attend. The cost will be confirmed at the beginning of term but is estimated to be around £250-£300, depending on student numbers. A nonrefundable deposit will be required within the first weeks of term when confirmation of the trip will be communicated.

Work Placements: (consideration)

Students may choose to undertake a non-essential self-funded work placement/internship across the summer break between stages, one and two, two and three. It is worth considering what the cost implications of this may be if you are required to live and work in London or another location outside of Cornwall for three months or more.

Membership: (optional)

Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) affiliated membership

Joining the CIM as an affiliate member allows you access to a wealth of networks and resources and initiates your professional journey as a marketer. During the first term there will be a presentation to explain the benefits of CIM membership and the graduate gateway to which BA(Hons) Fashion Marketing at Falmouth is affiliated. Membership costs £65 annually and is paid direct to CIM.

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Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Fashion Marketing with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Fashion Photography BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

As an introductory task and associated ‘icebreaker’ activity to develop your research practice of fashion, both historical and contemporary fashion image-making and style, we would like you to prepare the following tasks for the start of your studies:

Task 1:

Familiarise yourself with the website SHOWstudio, the excellent content, interviews, round table critical discussions and debates.  See: https://www.showstudio.com/recommended-playlists

Collections and Show Reviews: https://www.showstudio.com/collections

From the in-depth interviews with leading cultural figures from the world of fashion, select 1 x inspirational figure – be it designer, image-maker, stylist, art director or model/performer. Be prepared in an ice-breaker activity to introduce the individual and why they are inspirational to you.

Task 2:

Register a free Models.com account www.models.com. This is an excellent website to extend your awareness of contemporary fashion publications. The online resource gives limited access to current editorials from magazines such as MARFA, Re-Edition, Dazed, All-In, Beauty Papers and Document Journal. As your second ‘icebreaker’ activity, present 1 x inspirational editorial from the above publications.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

At the start of term, you will be introduced to your first project. While you will be immediately encouraged to use the professional cameras available in our Institute of Photography (IoP) Resource Centre, it is important that you have access to your own camera equipment. We would recommend holding off from immediately buying a new camera. The equipment listed below is an outline with some items deemed as essential, whilst others are desirable:

Essential

Digital DSLR/Mirrorless camera. You will be working with this on a regular basis so please ensure that it is in good working order. (Further guidance is set out below if you are considering purchasing a ‘full-frame’ sensor camera.)
Camera Memory Card 16Gb (minimum) good quality high speed memory card specific to your camera is recommended along with a USB 3.0 Card Reader – approximate cost £25. As guidance it’s better to have 2 x smaller sized SD or CF cards than one larger memory card. Cards can get corrupted, so a back-up, spare card is an important factor to consider.
USB Flash Memory: 1 x USB 3.0 - Flash memory stick (minimum 8Gb recommended) – These can be really useful in transferring files and are approximate cost £10. An example would be a SanDisk Ultra 64 GB USB Flash Drive USB 3.0.
External Hard Drive: 1 x (Post-Production HD) Portable Hard Drive SSD (fast) are preferable for video editing (Adobe Premier) and working with photography databases (Adobe Lightroom). Example model: Samsung T7 Shield Portable (1Tb) USB-C, approximate cost £100. (Amazon)
1 x (Back-Up HD) Portable external hard drive (2Tb recommended) USB 3.0 - approximate cost £60.

Desirable

Laptop: whilst you will have access to university computers, you may be considering purchasing your own machine to allow more flexibility. For longevity, we recommend that it has minimum 512Gb, ideally 1Tb SSD and has 16Gb+ RAM, USB-C and that it is capable of running Adobe Creative Cloud (e.g. Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator) (N.B. workshops are delivered using Apple computers). See UNiDAYS for discounts.
Not essential, but desirable is an Adobe Creative Cloud Suite subscription c.£64 per year arranged through the University portal on arrival.
Having your own camera is always preferable. In the IoP Photography Centre we carry Canon, Nikon equipment and some Sony A-series models. However, if you are considering purchasing a camera, we’d recommend one with a full-frame (24mm x 36mm) sensor. The sensor size is more important than the megapixel count. For example, a second-hand Canon 5D Mk3, or a Canon 6D Mk.2 can be purchased from a reputable source (see below) for approximately £750.

Materials and equipment list and costs

You will have a number of recurring annual costs for materials, as indicated below:

General printing costs – approximately £150 (based on colour page printing at 26p per sheet for contact-sheets, image selection, reports and essays)
Image printing and film costs – between £180 - £400
Publication / Zine Printing, between £50 - £250+

Year 3 – Final major project

As a culmination of your degree, you will create an extensive, resolved body of work which needs to have professional exhibition and presentation strategies; to this end 3rd year students can expect to invest up to £1000. It should be noted that this is in part an investment in a professional portfolio.

Optional costs

You may choose to undertake various independent research trips for the course duration.

Students may choose to undertake a non-essential self-funded work placement/internship across the summer break between stages two and three. It is worth considering what the cost implications of this may be if you are required to live and work in London or another location outside of Cornwall. You should expect to budget no more than £1,000 for these. There will be additional costs for attending exhibitions and final year graduate shows.

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Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Fashion Photography with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Fashion Styling & Art Direction BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Task 1:

Familiarise yourself with the website SHOWstudio, the excellent content, interviews, round table critical discussions and debates.  See: https://www.showstudio.com/recommended-playlists

Collections and Show Reviews: https://www.showstudio.com/collections

Task 2:

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential 

You will have a number of recurring annual costs for materials, as indicated below:

General printing costs – approximately £150 per year (based on colour page printing at 26p per sheet for contact-sheets, image selection, reports and essays). 
Publication/Zine Printing, between £50 - £150 per year
Styling kit: items to include – bag to carry dressmaking pins, elastic bands, lint roller, sewing kit, clamps/bulldog clips, double-sided tape, sticky tape, safety pins, scissors, lightweight suitcase on wheels (transporting garments safely).
USB Flash Memory: 1 x USB-C - Flash memory stick (minimum 8Gb recommended) – These can be really useful in transferring files and are approximate cost £10.
External Hard Drive: 1 x (Post-Production HD) Portable Hard Drive SSD (fast) are preferable for video editing (Adobe Premier) and working with photography databases (Adobe Lightroom). Example model: Samsung T7 Shield Portable (1Tb) USB-C, approximate cost £106. (Amazon)

Year 3 – Final year project

As a culmination of your degree, you will create an extensive, resolved body of work which needs to have professional exhibition and presentation strategies; to this end 3rd year students can expect to invest up to £1000. It should be noted that this is in part an investment in a professional portfolio.

Desirable

Laptop: whilst you will have access to university computers, you may be considering purchasing your own machine to allow more flexibility. For longevity, we recommend that it has minimum 512Gb, ideally 1Tb SSD and has 16Gb+ RAM, USB-C and that it is capable of running Adobe Creative Cloud (e.g. Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator)

(N.B. workshops are delivered using Apple Mac computers). See UNiDAYS for discounts.

Not essential, but desirable is an Adobe Creative Cloud Suite subscription c.£64 per year arranged through the University portal on arrival.

Optional costs

You may choose to undertake various independent research trips for the course duration. Students may choose to undertake a non-essential self-funded work placement/internship across the summer break between stages two and three. It is worth considering what the cost implications of this may be if you are required to live and work in London or another location outside of Cornwall. You should expect to budget no more than £1,000 for these. There will be additional costs for attending exhibitions and final year graduate shows.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Fashion Styling & Art Direction with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Textile Design BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

We would like you to explore two websites www.fashionrevolution.org and https://fashion-declares.org before you arrive, this will start you thinking about the textile industry and its impact on the environment.

You will focus your attention on colour in the first two weeks of the course. It’s particularly important that you have your gouache paints bought as mentioned in the equipment list.

If you have a ‘scrap-bag’ of fabrics, threads, or yarns this is always a useful resource on our course and we suggest adding to this on a continuous basis and having it available when you start the course. However, in line with our course ethos around sustainability and the environment, please do not buy new polyester or nylon.

In Freshers’ week, we will be holding some mending workshops to prolong the life of your garments. Please bring a garment that requires mending, this could be a hole that needs darning or patching, or a stain that needs covering. You might have missing buttons, fallen hems or frayed cuffs that you would like to fix up with our help.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential workshop items

You probably already have many items on this list, however, if you need to buy all these items from scratch, it will cost approximately £150. Current students recommend Hobbycraft for many items: 

Range of drawing pencils
Gouache paints - ensure these are good quality paints with a high pigment content such as Windsor & Newton. (Current students recommend ‘Arteza’ and ‘Seawhite’). You will need these colours in the first week of study:
White (large tube essential)
Lemon yellow (or any bright yellow) 
Marigold yellow (or any orange)
Magenta
Spectrum red or primary red 
Ultramarine blue or primary blue
Viridian green or a similar green 
Burnt umber 
Black
A range of brushes
White palette for mixing paints
Masking tape and double-sided tape
Sewing threads - a small range
A2 folder (a transparent plastic portfolio folder can be bought in the University shop)
A3 sketchbooks (can be bought in the University shop)
A range of good quality paper for drawing
Fabric scissors 
Small sharp-pointed scissors, kept for fabric and thread only
Paper scissors
Sewing needles, a variety of sizes 
(Optional) You may also consider a USB stick or hard drive for backing up your work.

Note that once you have settled into a main discipline area (weave, print or mixed media) there will be essential equipment that you will need to purchase such as shuttles, threads, needles, pins.

Studio materials charge

We ask students to pay £200 in the first week to cover the cost of studio materials e.g. use of dyes, print pastes and chemicals, and other miscellaneous items. This covers all three years and is a one off payment. You will also need to purchase fabrics and yarns and some specialist printing pastes as the course continues, but this cost varies from student to student depending on fabric/yarn choices and methods used. Some students spend £600 or more on additional materials in their final year, but it is possible to spend more or much less than this, depending on the processes used. We would expect year two costs to be less and recommend that second year students budget around £300 for materials.

Work placement (optional)

Short work placements and internships, generally undertaken during your second year, are very much encouraged, but are not required to pass the course. The costs of travel, accommodation and living should be factored in for this. Some placement providers may cover a limited amount of expenses, but this is not guaranteed.

New Designers Exhibition, London (optional)

We aim to exhibit our best students at New Designers in the summer following your third year. The University covers some of this cost, but students also need to contribute towards the cost of the stand and van hire to transport to and from London. As a guide, the students this year are contributing £400 each. We encourage students to fund raise as a cohort to help reduce this cost.

Study trips

We run overseas study visits from time to time in the second and third years of the course. Recent visits have been to important international trade fairs such as Première Vision in Paris. Trips such as this are optional, and we work hard to secure the best deals for accommodation and travel. Prices will vary at the time we organise the trips but as a guide, a trip we are planning to Amsterdam will cost approximately £500, including travel from London and accommodation, but not food.

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Welcome to Textile Design with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

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Find out more about AMATA

Games

Welcome to Esports & Livestreaming BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Essential

At this stage many students want to know what we’d recommend they do to be properly prepared for the course in September. A good starter software to prepare you for the first term is OBS (Open Broadcaster Software), a free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming. You should download and begin to familiarise yourself with this software and give livestreaming a go for free. The download and some tutorials can be found at: https://obsproject.com/

As part of your initial practice, you might consider (If you haven’t already) streaming Games and other content to friends or publicly on platforms like Twitch or YouTube. We also recommend that you go to esports and other community events that have a livestreaming component and get involved with their organisation and management as a volunteer if you are able.

You may already be a member of the community as a player review sports but it is good to gain some experience of how production happens even if it is in a grassroots setting. Make sure to watch and analyse esports and other live streams. Analyse and research how they are made in terms of scheduling, show running and content development and see if you can replicate some of the practices yourself with OBS Course equipment and costs

We recommend familiarising yourself with these websites, often used in the wider esports/games/livestreaming world:

Gamesindustry.biz: www.gamesindustry.biz/
Well Played Journal: https://press.etc.cmu.edu/well-played
The latest from Twitch | Twitch Blog: https://blog.twitch.tv/en/
Game Developer: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/
GDC Vault: www.gdcvault.com/
The international journal of esports: https://www.ijesports.org/
Esports Insider: https://esportsinsider.com/
Esports insider journal: https://esportsinsider.com/the-esports-journal/
ESPN UK: Esports: https://www.espn.co.uk/esports/

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential

The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-computer-advice#readme

Portable SSD storage

We highly recommend getting some form of external drive for storing footage from broadcasts/streams. We have had good results from drives such as the “SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 1TB”. Ideally, anything that is SSD-based and has 1TB of storage would be suitable. Prices range from £60 to £120

Please avoid using external drives with spinning disks, as these can be prone to disk failure when moved around a lot.

Headset with Microphone

You will need a headset with a microphone for some classes. We recommend purchasing a highquality headset for your comfort. Manufacturers such as Sennheiser, SteelSeries, Razer, HyperX and Corsair are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £30 - £150.

Webcam

You will need a webcam in some teaching. Manufacturers such as Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £25 - £100.

Internet Access

It is important that you secure sufficient access to the Internet as some materials are made available to you through our virtual learning environment. We recommend a fibre broadband connection if available, but a minimum of at least 5Mbps will be suitable for livestreaming content. If you have further questions, need more detailed advice or would like us to check the suitability of a particular model, then please email games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

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Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Esports & Livestreaming with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential

 (*You will need a computer for the IFY so it makes sense to buy one that will be suitable also for your progression). The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: link.falmouth.games/computer-advice 

Global supply chain issues are levelling but still having an impact on the prices of computers, due to the availability of computer chips, which means you don’t get as much for your money now than would usually be the case. However, you will have access to machines with a very high specification in our studios, where you’ll be expected to do most of your work.  

Headset with Microphone 

Webcam 

You will need a webcam in some teaching. Manufacturers such as Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £25 - £100. 

Internet Access 

If you have further questions, need more detailed advice or would like us to check the suitability of a particular model, then please email games.support@falmouth.ac.uk 

Smartphone

Hard Drive

During the IFY Year there will be some outdoor working. It is therefore highly recommended that you come fully prepared with the right sort of personal clothing to protect yourself from the elements and to meet risk assessment requirements.

This list is not exclusive, so please use it as a guide;

Waterproof jacket
Warm headgear
Strong waterproof boots/shoes
Waterproof trousers
Mobile phone for emergencies

Typical Costs

Typical course material costs:

£150 - Recurring annual costs may include printing and stationary.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

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Welcome to Game Animation BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-enrolment task

A list of all the software we use can be found here - https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-software-list#readme

At this stage many students want to know what we’d recommend they do to be properly prepared for the course in September. The primary tool we will be using for game-making in the first term is Unity. Please download the version of Unity indicated in the software list link

https://unity.com/releases/editor/archive

You should download and begin to familiarise yourself with this software as soon as you can. It’s free and the tutorials are located at https://learn.unity.com/tutorials

We’ll be expecting students to have undertaken several of the beginner level Unity tutorials, to hit the ground running with the software in September. The more familiar you are with this software, the easier you will find the course. Developing and keeping up to date with the software is something we never stop expecting students to do.

Please also download Autodesk Maya for free, and while you wait for it to install, watch these videos on the principles of animation (the ideas that help bring life to animation) –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haa7n3UGyDc

Once Maya has installed, have a go at the animated ball test. Using this video as a reference for different types of balls - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRVhtMxQWRs , work on creating a bouncing ball animation to get used to how animation works in 3D. A beginner’s guide can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axQZIiUq68M

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential

The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-computer-advice#readme

Webcam

You will need a webcam in some teaching. Manufacturers such as Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £25 - £100.

Internet Access

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Game Animation with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

When you start with us in September, we will all be visiting the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and their new exhibition on surfing culture - to inform the first IFY project 'Explore'.

So, over the summer we would encourage you to consider a creative response to the theme of ‘SURF’.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips: There are several IFY field trips and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Game Art BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-enrolment task

Essential

You should download Unreal 5 (UE5) - https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download

When installing an engine version, please use the one indicated in the table in the above link. We will be using that version of the engine in the upcoming session. We will be using UE5 in some of the Game Art modules, we would expect you to familiarise yourself with the Interface and some of the basic tasks in the Engine using a tutorial like the following - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-zMkzmduqI

We will also be using the following software during the course:

Concept Art:

We will exclusively use Photoshop in your concept art modules. You can download a free trial here - https://www.adobe-students.com/uk/creativecloud/buy/students.html Once you registered as a student, you will be able to sign-up to the following to receive a substantial discount: https://softwareregistration.falmouth.ac.uk/

Character Art:

In the Character Art modules we will be using ZBrush, you can download Zbrush via the Maxon One App - https://www.maxon.net/en/buy/plan-pricing-for-students and then install Zbrush. As a student you are able to receive a discount which reduced the cost of ZBrush (and other Maxon software) to £66 for a year’s subscription.

Environment Art:

For environment work (and other 3D work) we use Maya and ZBrush. You can download a free trial at the following: https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/maya/free-trial Once you sign-up register as a student, you can sign-up to receive one-year free educational access to all Autodesk products including Maya. Please note, this one-year can be renewed as long as you remain a student: https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview?sorting=featured&filters=individual

Other Software:

We use Substance Painter & Designer across the Environment and Character modules to create textures and materials. A free trial of Substance Painter can be found here: https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/substance3d-painter.html Once you register as a student, you can sign-up for a free license of Substance3D collection (which includes Painter & Designer) via the following: https://substance3d.adobe.com/education/

Please note, you must use the above software(and others recommended by staff) during your time on the Game Art Programmes at Falmouth University. All the above software is installed on the PCs at the Games Academy and Design Centre, if you can’t afford the above pieces of software, we would recommend that use the PCs in our facilities.

Optional

Orientation exercise:

Select three interesting objects from around your home or local area. Photograph them, sketch and draw them using any materials you feel comfortable with. Think about their shape, scale, texture, colour, material and how they interact with light. Draw them again the next day. Then, when you feel you’ve a good understanding of the objects’ properties, take elements of each to create a new hybrid object. Name it and write a short backstory about that new hybrid object. You can do this as a written paragraph or as a comic strip or storyboard.

Put all these in a portfolio, alongside the original photographs (printouts or show us the photos on your phone) and bring them along to Fresher’s Week.

Additional preparation advice

We suggest that you do lots of drawing of characters and landscapes/environment studies. It’s important to start getting used to drawing/painting in art software like Photoshop (£16.22/through educational licensing) or Sketchbook Pro (free). Also, it would be beneficial to download the free trial of Autodesk Maya and work through its tutorials.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential

Pencils- Royal & Langnickel sketching pencil set – approximately £5.56
Sketchpad- Daler-Rowney A3 series, a spiral cartridge pad – approximately £10.40
Sketchbook- Seawhite black cloth cover sketchbook 140gsm portrait A4 – approximately £7.49
Pencil case- Derwent Canvas pencil wrap - approximately £9.99
Grey-scale markers, they can either buy them as a set or individually. Sets range from £10 - £14. Individual markers are approx. £3.50

The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-computer-advice#readme

Headset with Microphone

Webcam

You will need a webcam in some teaching if you do not have a built-in webcam on your laptop. Manufacturers such as Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £25 - £100.

Internet Access

Optional

Watercolour- Windsor & Newton Cotman watercolour paints-12 half pans – approximately £15.43
Watercolour brushes- Pro Arte professional artist academy paint brushes (set of 5) – approximately £7.10
Acrylics- Daler-Rowney system 3 acrylic paint introduction set – approximately £13.80
Acrylic brushes- Pro Arte brush wallet series C hog – approximately £9.95

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Game Art with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

When you start with us in September, we will all be visiting the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and their new exhibition on surfing culture - to inform the first IFY project 'Explore'.

So, over the summer we would encourage you to consider a creative response to the theme of ‘SURF’.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Game Art MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

A list of all the software we use can be found here - https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-software-list#readme

You should download Unreal 5 (UE5) - https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download

We will exclusively use Photoshop for 2D Art. You can download a free trial here - https://www.adobe-students.com/uk/creativecloud/buy/students.html Once you register as a student, you will be able to sign-up to the following to receive a substantial discount: https://softwareregistration.falmouth.ac.uk/

For 3D Character Art, we will be using ZBrush, you can download Zbrush via the Maxon One App - https://www.maxon.net/en/buy/plan-pricing-for-students and then install Zbrush. As a student you are able to receive a discount which reduced the cost of ZBrush (and other Maxon software) to £66 for a year’s subscription.

For environment and prop art (and other 3D work) we use Maya and ZBrush. You can download a free trial at the following: https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/maya/free-trial Once you sign-up register as a student, you can sign-up to receive one-year free educational access to all Autodesk products including Maya. Please note, this one-year can be renewed as long as you remain a student: https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview?sorting=featured&filters=individual

Other Software

We use Substance Painter & Designer to create textures and materials. A free trial of Substance Painter can be found here: https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/substance3d-painter.html Once you register as a student, you can sign-up for a free license of Substance3D collection (which includes Painter & Designer) via the following: https://substance3d.adobe.com/education/

Please note, you must use the above software (and others recommended by staff) during your time at on the Game Art Programmes at Falmouth University. All the above software is installed on the PCs at the Games Academy and Design Centre, if you can’t afford the above pieces of software, we would recommend that use the PCs in our facilities.

Optional

Orientation exercise:

Additional preparation advice:

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential

Pencils- Royal & Langnickel sketching pencil set – approximately £5.56
Sketchpad- Daler-Rowney A3 series, a spiral cartridge pad – approximately £10.40
Sketchbook- Seawhite black cloth cover sketchbook 140gsm portrait A4 – approximately £7.49
Pencil case- Derwent Canvas pencil wrap - approximately £9.99
Grey-scale markers, they can either buy them as a set or individually. Sets range from £10 - £14. Individual markers are approx. £3.50

The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-computer-advice#readme

Headset with Microphone

Webcam

Internet Access

Optional costs

Watercolour- Windsor & Newton Cotman watercolour paints-12 half pans – approximately £15.43
Watercolour brushes- Pro Arte professional artist academy paint brushes (set of 5) – approximately £7.10
Acrylics- Daler-Rowney system 3 acrylic paint introduction set – approximately £13.80 Acrylic brushes- Pro Arte brush wallet series C hog – approximately £9.95

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Game Design MA. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

A list of all the software we use can be found here - https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-software-list#readme

At this stage many students want to know what we’d recommend they do to be properly prepared for the course in September. The primary tools we use are Unity & Unreal Engine, please download the versions indicated in the above software list link.

Please begin to familiarise yourself with this software as soon as you can. It’s free and the tutorials are located at https://learn.unity.com/tutorials for Unity & https://dev.epicgames.com/community/unreal-engine/learning for UE5.

We’ll be expecting students to have undertaken several of the beginner level tutorials, to hit the ground running with the software in September. The more familiar you are with this software, the easier you will find the course. Developing and keeping up to date with the software is something we never stop expecting students to do.

Do lots of drawing of characters, landscapes, and environment studies. It’s important to start getting used to drawing and painting in art software like Photoshop (£16.24/month through educational licensing) or Sketchbook Pro (free). Also, it would be beneficial to download the free trial of Autodesk Maya and work through its tutorials.

Reading lists

As we’ll be studying games and the theory of games studies as well as making them, these books are relevant:

Mandatory

Keogh, B., 2023. The videogame industry does not exist: why we should think beyond commercial game production. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusett. £30.41(or free eBook at https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph-pdf/2232827/book_9780262374132.pdf )
Fullerton, T., 2024. Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating innovative games, Fifth edition. ed, An A K Peters book. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, London £47.83

We recommend familiarising yourself with these websites, often used in the wider game development world:

Gamesindustry.biz: www.gamesindustry.biz/
Well Played Journal: http://press.etc.cmu.edu/wellplayed
Game Developer: https://www.gamedeveloper.com
GDC Vault: www.gdcvault.com/

Optional

Lemarchand, R., 2021. A Playful Production Process: For Game Designers. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. £33.55
Suits, B., 1978. The Grasshopper: games, life and utopia. Broadview Press. RRP £15.51 (Get the 2005 edition with the green cover if you can, it has lovely illustrations)
Keith, Clinton., 2020. Agile Game Development with SCRUM. £42.99

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for postgraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential

The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-computer-advice#readme

Headset with Microphone

Webcam

You will need a webcam in some teaching. Manufacturers such as Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer are rated highly by our current students. These can cost between £25 - £100.

Internet Access

If you have further questions, need more detailed advice or would like us to check the suitability of a particular model, then please email games.support@falmouth.ac.uk

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Game Development: Art BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-enrolment task

A list of all the software we use can be found here - https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-software-list#readme

https://unity.com/releases/editor/archive

You should download and begin to familiarise yourself with this software as soon as you can. It’s free and the tutorials are located at https://learn.unity.com/tutorials

You should also download Unreal 5 (UE5) - https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download

We will also be using the following software during the course:

Concept Art:

Character Art:

Environment Art:

Other Software:

Optional

Orientation exercise:

Put all these in a portfolio, alongside the original photographs (printouts or show us the photos on your phone) and bring them along to Fresher’s Week.

Additional preparation advice

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential

Pencils- Royal & Langnickel sketching pencil set – approximately £5.56
Sketchpad- Daler-Rowney A3 series, a spiral cartridge pad – approximately £10.40
Sketchbook- Seawhite black cloth cover sketchbook 140gsm portrait A4 – approximately £7.49
Pencil case- Derwent Canvas pencil wrap - approximately £9.99
Grey-scale markers, they can either buy them as a set or individually. Sets range from £10 - £14. Individual markers are approx. £3.50

The latest advice about which computers we recommend you buy for your course is available here: https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-computer-advice#readme

Headset with Microphone

Webcam

Internet Access

Optional

Watercolour- Windsor & Newton Cotman watercolour paints-12 half pans – approximately £15.43
Watercolour brushes- Pro Arte professional artist academy paint brushes (set of 5) – approximately £7.10
Acrylics- Daler-Rowney system 3 acrylic paint introduction set – approximately £13.80
Acrylic brushes- Pro Arte brush wallet series C hog – approximately £9.95

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Game Development: Art with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

When you start with us in September, we will all be visiting the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and their new exhibition on surfing culture - to inform the first IFY project 'Explore'.

So, over the summer we would encourage you to consider a creative response to the theme of ‘SURF’.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips: There are several IFY field trips and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Game Development: Design BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

A list of all the software we use can be found here - https://github.com/Falmouth-Games-Academy/ga-software-list#readme

https://unity.com/releases/editor/archive

You should download and begin to familiarise yourself with this software as soon as you can. It’s free and the tutorials are located at https://learn.unity.com/tutorials

Performance, Theatre & Music

Welcome to Acting BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

We’d like you to introduce yourself by creating a self-portrait — in any form that feels right to you. This could be a painting, a short film, a monologue, a poem, a piece of music, a collage, or something else entirely. There are no rules about how you do it — just aim to capture something of who you are.

It doesn’t need to be long or polished. We're not looking for perfection, just honesty. Don’t try to be ‘interesting’ — you already are.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential equipment:

Suitable loose warm clothing appropriate for all practical classes (acting, voice, movement, rehearsals). No jeans or restrictive clothing. Clothing for sessions should be plain colours (nothing too bright and no big logos etc).
Please have clean, soft-soled trainers/low-top skate shoes (Vans, Converse etc.)  Again, not too bright/leopard print etc. The studios do not permit outdoor shoes, so please have these with you to change into from the first day.
A reusable metal straw for Voice classes (an example one: amazon.co.uk/dp/B094R7G66N/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item )
A Yoga mat for Movement classes 
A refillable water bottle
A notebook, pens and pencils
A waterproof coat and suitable shoes for working outside
Smart black/brown shoes, either flat or with a heel 
Plain shirt and black trousers and/or long black skirt (plain simple style)

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Cert HE Creative Music Technology. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

There are no set pre-enrolment tasks, but it is always helpful to:

Update your software skills in your chosen and perhaps a new DAW, plug-in or coding environment through online tutorials and practical experimentation.
Work on your portfolio of music and/or sound design material and share via streaming services, YouTube, SoundCloud etc.
Learn more about your particular areas of interest through reading, watching and listening. A highly-recommended text is Audio Culture by Cox and Warner.
A highly recommended website that will point you towards loads of learning resources and inspiration is Create Digital Media: www.cdm.link

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Computers & DAWs

A computer running a suitable Digital Audio Workstation such as Ableton Live, Logic, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Reaper or Bitwig will be essential. A laptop rather than a desktop is highly recommended. If you need further guidance on computers and software then please speak to the course team during induction week.

Instruments

All of our practice studios are equipped with a piano or keyboard, amplifiers, PA and a drum kit. Drummers should bring their own sticks, cymbals, and snare. Other instrumentalists must bring their own instrument with them, and budget for any expendables relating to your specific instrument such as strings, plectrums and leads.

Headphones

You can book headphones from AMATA’s Technical Resource Stores, however a pair of good quality, open-back headphones are recommended for regular studio and production work. Prices vary but expect to pay upwards of £80-£100. If you are not sure what you need, search the Internet for ‘studio monitor headphone review’.

Ear protection

Your ears are the most important pieces of audio kit you will ever own! Looking after them is therefore top priority. Dispensers with free disposable foam earplugs are situated outside the practice and performance studios throughout the AMATA building, but it is also recommended that you purchase high quality earplugs - especially if you play in a loud group or attend gigs and/or clubs.

Backups

Backing up your work is essential. You will have access to online storage via Microsoft OneDrive but a physical drive may also be useful for additional security or when Internet upload speeds are slower than they are on campus.

Software

You will have free access to Microsoft Office software throughout your time at Falmouth.

Notetaking

You may wish to use your laptop for notetaking. However, if you prefer pen and paper, then we would suggest spending around £10 on pens and notepads / journals.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Cert HE Music. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

We would like all students to prepare a short performance of either an original song/piece of music, or a cover of their choosing. We will hear all of these in the welcome week, and they will help in the forming of initial groups/bands for the study block one performance modules.

If a student would prefer to showcase their production work, this is fine too.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

There are no mandatory costs here, but students are advised to bring their instruments with them. We would also recommend that they equip themselves with notebooks and pens.

Headphones are useful but can always be supplied by stores.

Likewise, a laptop is useful, but there are bookable computers in AMATA, laptops available for tech sessions, and all studio control rooms have a computer in them.

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Cert HE Popular Music. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

If a student would prefer to showcase their production work, this is fine too.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

There are no mandatory costs here, but students are advised to bring their instruments with them. We would also recommend that they equip themselves with notebooks and pens.

Headphones are useful but can always be supplied by stores.

Likewise, a laptop is useful, but there are bookable computers in AMATA, laptops available for tech sessions, and all studio control rooms have a computer in them.

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Creative Music Technology BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

There are no set pre-enrolment tasks, but it is always helpful to:

Update your software skills in your chosen and perhaps a new DAW, plug-in or coding environment through online tutorials and practical experimentation.
Work on your portfolio of music and/or sound design material and share via streaming services, YouTube, SoundCloud etc.
Learn more about your particular areas of interest through reading, watching and listening. A highly-recommended text is Audio Culture by Cox and Warner.
A highly recommended website that will point you towards loads of learning resources and inspiration is Create Digital Media: www.cdm.link

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Computers & DAWs

Instruments

Headphones

Ear protection

Backups

Software

You will have free access to Microsoft Office software throughout your time at Falmouth.

Notetaking

You may wish to use your laptop for notetaking. However, if you prefer pen and paper, then we would suggest spending around £10 on pens and notepads / journals.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Dance & Choreography BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Brief: In anticipation…

Anticipation is the feeling we experience when we are expecting something to happen and we are left in a state of suspense. Anticipate means to look forward to or await with the expectation of new experiences or change. It can also provoke a heightened state of awareness of both ‘before’ and ‘what’s to come’. To anticipate can be conceptualised as being on the edge of something new: on the edge of change.

We invite you, in advance of starting your studies with us, to tune in to your state of anticipation. You might want to notice how this makes you want to move, how your daily or habitual activities are affected by your upcoming new journey into the Dance and Choreography course. We encourage you to create 2 x 1 minute solos. One of them will respond to ideas of ‘edge’ and one to ideas of ‘change’.

It is up to you how you choose to interpret this brief. There is no right or wrong. The emphasis is on generating material connected to these ideas that you will be able to share with others in the early days of us working together. Make time for experimentation and allow your ideas to evolve using a mix of different methods for generating movement material eg. improvisation, writing, video and review etc. This project will form the starting point for discussion and generating interactions in the first weeks of the study block.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential equipment: Dance clothing eg leggings, tracksuit bottoms, tops etc (you do not need to wear ballet tights and leotard); water bottle; trainers.

Would be good to have for the start of the course but not essential:

Ballet shoes
Foam roller
Yoga belt
Yoga mat
Indoor trainers.

Costs: You should make sure you have suitable dance clothing and equipment, which might cost around £70- 100 per year.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Music BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

If a student would prefer to showcase their production work, this is fine too.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

There are no mandatory costs here, but students are advised to bring their instruments with them. We would also recommend that they equip themselves with notebooks and pens.

Headphones are useful but can always be supplied by stores.

Likewise, a laptop is useful, but there are bookable computers in AMATA, laptops available for tech sessions, and all studio control rooms have a computer in them.

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Music Business BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Welcome Task: Exploring Today’s Music Business

This short, low stakes task is designed to help you ease into university level study while getting you excited about the industry you’re about to join. We’re excited to see what intrigues you about today’s music business!

Task Learning Aims:

Discover a current artist, trend, issue, or innovation shaping the music business right now.
Develop your ability to locate and evaluate credible sources.
Communicate your findings concisely, either verbally (Pecha Kucha) or in writing (Insight Snapshot).
Build confidence with digital presentation or academic writing tools before classes begin.

Choose one of the two task formats below:

- Option A – Pecha Kucha Presentation

A Pecha Kucha is a rapid fire talk of 20 slides that each advance automatically every 20 seconds – total length 6 minutes 40 seconds.

1. Pick a topic – Examples: TikTok’s impact on A&R, AI voice clones, vinyl revival economics, livestream ticketing, music based NFTs, UK touring post Brexit.

2. Research – Gather at least three reputable sources (industry reports, news articles, academic journals, podcasts, webinars). Evaluate currency and reliability.

3. Design your deck – Visuals first! Aim for images, charts, keywords with minimal bullet point text. Practise speaking to complement (not read) the slides.

4. Rehearse the timing – Slides must auto advance. Time yourself; adjust script or visuals to stay on pace.

5. Present in our Week 0 session – Bring your exported timed PowerPoint/Google Slides or PDF to the session where you’ll present in small groups; no marks, just sharing and group discussion in response to the themes and ideas that everyone brings to the session.

- Option B – Industry Insight Snapshot (Written/Infographic)

If presenting right away feels daunting, craft a concise 500 word briefing or a one page infographic instead.

1. Pick the same kind of topic as above.

2. Research – Minimum three quality sources; include links or Harvard style citations.

3. Write or design – Explain what’s happening, why it matters, and who it affects (artists, labels, audiences, tech firms, etc.).

4. Include one data visual – a chart, table, or graphic that reinforces your point.

5. Bring your PDF to our Week 0 seminar; we’ll display and discuss all snapshots.

Task focus: insight, source quality, clarity, visual impact (for infographics) or structure (for briefs).

Suggested Timeline (pre arrival)

Week before arrival To Falmouth:

−4 weeks Pick provisional topic; bookmark first articles

−3 weeks Collect further sources; skim and annotate

−2 weeks Draft slide outline or 250 word plan

−1 week Finalise visuals / write up; rehearse or proofread

Any Questions?

Email the Head of Subject.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

A laptop will be an essential piece of equipment along with a reliable broadband connection.

Study trips and costs: optional

There are often events for Music Business students throughout the year across the three study blocks. These can be anywhere – from local events to expos and conferences in London and beyond. Your attendance at any of these is not compulsory and is not always possible due to the intensive nature of the course. If you do attend, it must be by negotiation with the course team and will be at your own expense.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Musical Theatre BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Brief : Musical Theatre is an evocative and inspiring art form. It can make us breathless with excitement, cry on cue or laugh hysterically all within a matter of moments. Prior to you starting your training at Falmouth, we would like you to reflect on a particular piece of Musical Theatre which has evoked strong emotions within you and led you to wanting to make a career within this industry.

Please prepare a short verbal presentation of 2 -5 minutes (or 500 word equivalent) to share with your peers during workshops in induction week and seminars at the start of the term. This could be based around a particular show, individual performance or musical film that you have seen, either live or in recorded medium, which has moved or inspired you in a visceral way. This should not just be a review of the contents or synopsis of a piece of theatre, but rather focus on the emotional impact it has had on you and how it has changed you.

You should consider:

How did the piece affect you emotionally, and how did it create this effect?
How the performance inspired you?
What change has it affected within you?
What personal goals has it inspired you to set yourself?
What is your personal manifesto for your 1st year of training – what three things do you want to focus on achieving?
What is your personal manifesto for the 3 yrs of your course and beyond? - Where do you want to be? What roles are you inspired to play?
What change do you want to make within the industry inspired by the piece you discuss?

Your short presentation will be given verbally to the group, but notes should also be written. This will prepare you for the structure of seminars in your essay module in SB1. We are by no means looking for a finished product, but rather an insight into your views and explorations.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Essential for the start of Study Block 1:

Suitable loose warm clothing appropriate for all practical classes (acting, voice/singing, movement/dance and rehearsals). No jeans, jeggings or restrictive clothing. Studio temperatures will be variable, and you should always bring extra layers.
You will often be working in bare feet in acting/voice classes.  You may find it useful to have at least one good pair of comfortable rehearsal socks which you keep for rehearsal.
Dance gear including footwear for ballet, jazz, tap & conditioning (Tap starts in Study Block 2). Suitable clothing should be tight fitting and would ideally be leotards / tights / unitards / gym type wear with ballet shoes/Jazz shoes or jazz sneakers and trainers for study block 1. Tap shoes are essential for the end of Study Block 1 prior to classes starting in study block 2.
A Yoga Matt of any description would be useful, but not essential. Medium strength resistance / stretch bands will be useful for Study Block 1 but are not essential. Knee pads may be useful for Study Block 2 but are not essential.
A non-shatter water bottle for sessions. A small hand towel is also essential for all movement classes.
Paper journal and pens

Additional costs

In addition to your living costs, it is important to set aside some funds to purchase books, scores, scripts and key textbooks throughout your three years of study. Approx. £70 - £100/year. There is a useful online market in secondhand books which you should consider as well as an excellent Library here at Falmouth.

You should also budget approx. £70 - £100/year for clothing and shoes for rehearsal and performance.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

The Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (AMATA) is a live performance venue offering a year-round programme of contemporary, cutting-edge, up-and-coming & high-quality performances for students to experience on their doorstep. For AMATA students in particular, access to live work is an essential part of your degree and the programme will feature artists and performances that relate directly to the AMATA courses of study.   

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Popular Music BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

If a student would prefer to showcase their production work, this is fine too.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

There are no mandatory costs here, but students are advised to bring their instruments with them. We would also recommend that they equip themselves with notebooks and pens.

Headphones are useful but can always be supplied by stores.

Likewise, a laptop is useful, but there are bookable computers in AMATA, laptops available for tech sessions, and all studio control rooms have a computer in them.

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Sound Design BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

There is no specific task but you are always encouraged to be developing your creativity and practical skills by working on projects such as resounding video clips, creating soundscapes, podcasts or working on music. You are also strongly encouraged to do some preliminary reading. Books such as 'Sound Design for Moving Image' by Kahra Scott-James are highly recommended.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Computers & DAWs

Instruments

Headphones

Ear protection

Backups

Software

You will have free access to Microsoft Office software throughout your time at Falmouth.

Notetaking

You may wish to use your laptop for notetaking. However, if you prefer pen and paper, then we would suggest spending around £10 on pens and notepads / journals.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Technical Theatre Arts BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Creative Journal / Creative Scrapbook Brief.

It is up to you how you interpret this brief and how you respond to it. It will form the basis of ongoing conversations about the importance of creative journalling, reflection and making connections across technical and creative areas as well as other diverse elements of life.

In addition to you seeing as much theatre, live performance and live events as you are able, we would like you to experiment with developing a Creative Journal / Creative Scrapbook. Ideally this will be a physical analogue thing, but you could explore building a digital one if you wish or a combination of both.

Your Creative Journal/ Creative Scrapbook will be a place where you gather a diverse range of thoughts, ideas, and responses to things you have seen, heard, imagined, dreamt etc. Yes, in relation to technical and production areas and theatre, performance and the arts in general, but also, and importantly, stuff related to life, human beings and your response to the world.

For example, responses to technical things you have seen or read about, images and objects that you have seen that engage and launch your imagination and thinking creatively, news items that particularly interest or engage you, stories you’d like to tell, or be part of telling, books and articles you have read, wild thoughts you have in the middle of the night, summeries of a workshop or exercise or technical training session you did that somehow interested you, responses to bits of theatre , events or interactions between people that you see.

It’s a scrapbook for making connections between things. It’s for you and not necessarily for others to see, though you might show other people elements of it if you wish.

It should be full of stuff, as it grows, that records things of interest you see or do, ideas you have, areas of interest and stuff you’d like to follow up on in terms of training or delivery, for example. It’s a kind of technical theatre artist explorers record book or creative scrapbook.

How you do this is very much up to you. There is no right way. Ideally, it will grow as something useful to you to record and connect different bits of your life, thinking, practice, technology, imagination and research and will feed your ideas, thinking and practice as a developing theatre maker and artist.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Students must come prepared with suitable personal protective equipment (PPE): please bring protective footwear (steel toecap or equivalent) and gloves. We will provide further PPE (safety glasses, helmet etc) as required.

Please also come with a torch (Maglite or similar), adjustable spanner (or equivalent), manual screwdrivers & clothing appropriate for all practical classes.

You are welcome to bring further tools if you wish, however please present them to technical staff on arrival for checking.

In addition to your living costs, it is important to set aside some funds to purchase books and consumable items throughout your two years of intensive study. We recommend you put aside approximately £150-175 per year. This would include the cost of a Live at AMATA pass (see below).

Additional costs

Opportunities to opt-in to partake in subsidised formal industrial training will be available at a reduced cost.

Estimated cost £80-£150.

Optional placements in your final study block of modules can sometimes have costs: £500-£1000.

Additionally, we would strongly recommend that you join the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) and familiarise yourself with the materials and articles on their website and in Sightline Magazine which is issued to all members on a quarterly basis. This will help you to understand current issues and developments involved in our industry.

Student membership of the ABTT costs £25 per annum.

Further information can be found here https://www.abtt.org.uk/join- abtt/

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Theatre & Performance BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Creative Journal / Creative Scrapbook Brief.

It is up to you how you interpret this brief and how you respond to it. It will form the basis of ongoing conversations about the importance of creative journalling in the course.

In addition to you seeing as much theatre and live performance as you are able, we would like you to experiment with developing a Creative Journal / Creative Scrapbook. Ideally this will be a physical analogue thing, but you could explore building a digital one if you wish or a combination of both.

Your Creative Journal/ Creative Scrapbook will be a place where you gather a diverse range of thoughts, ideas, and responses to things you have seen, heard, imagined, dreamt etc. Yes, in relation to theatre, performance and the arts in general, but also, and importantly, stuff related to life, human beings and your response to the world.

It might contain a whole range of things that you see, hear, read, smell, taste, imagine that inspire or confuse you or excite your imagination or your thinking. It might contain ideas for significant things you’d like to do or make in terms of theatre, the arts or indeed life. For example, little snippets of dialogue you overhear that interest you, Images and objects that you have seen that engage and launch your imagination and thinking, news items that particularly interest or engage you, stories you’d like to tell, books you have read, wild thoughts you have in the middle of the night, summeries of a workshop or exercise you did that somehow interested you, responses to bits of theatre or interactions between people that you see.

It’s a scrapbook for making connections between things. It’s for you and not necessarily for others to see, though you might show others elements of it if you wish.

It should be full of stuff, as it grows, that records things of interest you see or do, ideas you have. It’s a kind of explorers record book or creative scrapbook.

How you do this is very much up to you. There is no right way. Ideally, it will grow as something useful to you to record and connect different bits of your life, thinking, practice, imagination and research and will feed your ideas, thinking and practice as a developing theatre maker and artist.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

In addition to your living costs, it is important to set aside some funds to purchase books, scripts, and appropriate rehearsal clothing throughout your three years of study. We recommend you put aside approximately £150 per year.

Essential Equipment

Students must come prepared with suitable loose warm clothing appropriate for all practical classes (acting, devising, voice, movement, rehearsals). No jeans, jeggings or restrictive clothing. Studio temperatures will be variable, and you should always bring extra layers. We request that you work in “blacks” as much as possible: that is to say: black leggings or tracksuit bottoms or equivalent and black singlet, sweatshirt, t-shirt crop top or vest. Please avoid heavily branded clothing with big logos as work/rehearsal clothing.
You will often be working in bare feet. It is also useful to have at least one good pair of comfortable rehearsal socks which you keep for rehearsal an/or a pair of indoor only shoes. If you wish to you can also work in grippy socks/soft jazz type shoes.
A non-shatter water bottle for practical sessions.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’ : £25

AMATA is Falmouth University’s Arts Centre, offering a diverse year-round programme of exciting performances and productions, from monthly comedy nights to fantastic live music, trailblazing new theatre and dance. The programme complements our portfolio of degrees and enables students to experience high quality, contemporary performances on their doorstep.

Students can purchase a one year Live @ AMATA Pass which offers five tickets for £25. This represents a 50% reduction on our standard student ticket price of £10.

Find out more about AMATA

Photography

Welcome to Commercial Photography BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Start to look at Commercial Photography in Magazines, on Billboards and in Galleries, and become familiar with Commercial Photographer's contributing to the industry.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

As a medium, photography is constantly developing so the following figures are intended as a rough guide of anticipated expenditure on the course for 2024/2025.

Laptop

You will need to have your own laptop, PC or MAC, on which you can access online learning materials and can process high resolution digital images. This should be capable of running Photoshop as a minimum, the specifications can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/system-requirements.html

You will also need access to a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this).

Accessories

SD card(s), minimum 16Gb.
USB card reader for the above.
USB hard drive, minimum 250Gb recommended.

Approx. overall cost £50 – £100

Camera

Whilst a Laptop is the most important piece of equipment for your studies, If you have the budget for a camera then I would suggest waiting until you arrive as we have a wide range of cameras and lenses you can try before you decide which system is best for you. If you do want to take the plunge and buy your own DSLR then I would suggest a full frame or Mirrorless DSLR. The IOP supports Canon, Sony and Nikon so these may be the best choices for compatibility with our lenses and accessories.

Optional items – We also recommend the following optional equipment as an important aid to your studies:

Lens hood and UV/Skylight filter for each of your lenses.
Shutter release remote control or shutter release cable.
Camera bag – large enough for items you may wish to use/purchase during the course.
Sturdy tripod.
There will also be a number of stationery items that you will need to purchase during the course such as notepads, A4 binders and a Stanley knife.

Approx. overall cost £50 – £100

Consumable materials

Throughout all three years students need to budget for material costs for film, printing, portfolio materials and other consumables. The actual costs will depend on the amount of work you do and on the decisions that you make in terms of processes, presentation, print size and so on. A budget of £100-£400 per year should cover basic costs.

During the first year you will get the optional workshops in the darkroom to work with analogue processes. You will be able to buy these materials from our stores on Penryn Campus, or from the following suppliers:

Associated Photography

30 Arwenack Street, Falmouth

RESTRICTED

+44(0)1326 319591

associatedphotography@btconnect.com

or online from:

www.processuk.net

www.portfoliosplus.co.uk

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Commercial Photography with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Documentary & Editorial Photography BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

The equipment stores and facilities at Falmouth University provide a comprehensive variety of all necessary equipment, but there are certain essentials that incoming Documentary and Editorial Photography students should have at the start of term in order to be able to fully participate in course work and to be able to work independently.

The costs will be approximately £600 – £1500 and all of these should support you for the full three years.    
   
The most important things you need to have are:

A quality laptop. This is the most essential piece of equipment, along with a reliable broadband connection (if you are living in University accommodation you will have this). Either Mac or PC is fine, it is up to you as we use both. Do your research and get the best one you can afford. Your laptop will be an essential tool for photography editing and academic writing and a good one will last you for your University years and beyond.   
Digital SLR camera capable of shooting RAW files with manual over-ride of any automatic settings and extra memory cards. You do NOT need to have a brand-new top-of-the line camera, just something that you are comfortable working with, as you will have access to and be trained on the fantastic camera equipment we have here on campus.  
An external hard drive of at least 500 GB to back up your work. We also recommend having cloud storage as further backup, like Google drive.

Other items that will be important to you:

Camera equipment hold-all, large enough for extra items you may wish to use/purchase during the course. We particularly recommend photo backpacks rather than traditional camera bag as they are more ergonomic and more secure.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

As a medium, photography is constantly developing, and our figures are intended as a guide of anticipated expenditure on the course for 2025/2026. 
   
It is anticipated that total extra costs would be approximately £1900 per year. This will cover film, travel, trips, paper and any other sundries. The equipment costs indicated vary depending on the brand/type of equipment you choose to purchase.   
   
Your photographic practice will develop over the next three years of the course and there may be other equipment you want to purchase. It’s possible to buy very good quality second-hand photographic equipment. Once you are established on the course, you will also find many students who are selling and swapping equipment.    
   
If you have any questions or concerns about any of these equipment requirements, do not hesitate to get in touch with me at gretchen.viehmann@falmouth.ac.uk
 
Study trips

There will be a number of educational trips during the three years of the course. They are an integral part of your studies, and you are expected to take part to enrich your studies.  One of the highlights of the year is our all-year exhibition in London, which takes place in the Spring just before the Easter break.  There are optional study trips put on by the Institute of Photography that are available to all courses, including New York, Portugal and Iceland. These trips will incur an extra fee and the details will be available once you start in September.
   
Third Year Exhibition

In your third year you are encouraged to exhibit your work in the Degree Shows on campus, as well as in a group exhibition in a location of the year group’s choosing. Students are required to pay for these exhibitions (many choose to Crowdfund or otherwise fundraise). Depending on the medium you choose to exhibit in, such as prints, multimedia or publications, and the off-site venue in which the year group chooses to exhibit, estimated costs will be £200.   

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Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Documentary & Editorial Photography with Integrated Foundation Year. Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Pre-course preparation

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

You will be recording your creative progress and writing about your work throughout the IFY and so a laptop computer and a smartphone are highly recommended.

Typical course material costs:

£250 - Recurring annual costs may include: art/creative materials and costs towards your end of year show exhibition and can vary depending on material choices and specialism.

Study trips:

There are several IFY field trips, and you will need to allow for some costs for student contributions towards coach hire and exhibition entry. Total annual cost of day trips approximately £60.

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Find out more about AMATA

Welcome to Marine & Natural History Photography BA(Hons). Here you will find information about any pre-course preparation, as well as confirmation of your tuition fees together with any other costs that you might incur throughout your course that are not covered by your student loan.

Please ensure you read each section carefully. Further down you will also find details of an optional underwater photography module.

Pre-course preparation

Pre-arrival activity: Habitat storytelling in five frames

Over the summer, before starting the course, students are invited to choose a local habitat—this could be a park, a garden, a pond, a patch of coastline, a hedgerow, or even a balcony ecosystem—and create a short photographic story in five images that captures something of its character, changes, or hidden life.

The idea is to begin thinking like a natural history photographer by observing closely, working patiently, and communicating a sense of place or process through imagery.

As an optional creative challenge, students are encouraged to research the work of a contemporary photographer working in natural history, marine, documentary or environmental storytelling and consider responding to their visual style, use of light, framing, or tone. The aim is not to mimic, but to begin developing an awareness of photographic voices and visual storytelling. Submissions won’t be marked.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for undergraduate students starting in September 2025

Course equipment and costs

Before commencing the course, you will need to make sure you have the necessary kit.

Photographic equipment is constantly developing so the following figures are intended as a rough guide of anticipated expenditure on the course starting in September 2025.

Although you will be able to borrow University camera equipment during term time, you are required to have the following list of items at the start of term:

A Digital camera of reasonable quality with manual over-ride to any automatic settings. Nikon, Canon, Fuji or Sony are recommended as they are compatible with university equipment (Approximately £500-£1,000)
Lens hood and UV/Skylight filter for each of your lenses (Approximately £50)
Memory cards (High speed) minimum 8GB, but higher recommended (Approximately £25)
USB card reader for the above (Approximately £10)
USB external hard drive, minimum 1TB recommended (Approximately £50-£100)
Sturdy tripod (Approximately £100-£200)

Laptop

You will need to have your own laptop, PC or MAC, on which you can access online learning materials and can process high resolution digital images.

In addition to the above, the following items will also be required, but can be purchased during the first Study Block:

Print Box for storing prints and submitting them for assessments, these can be purchased at the university or online retailers (Approximately £20)
In addition, there will be several stationery items that you will need to purchase during the course such as notepads, A4 binders, pens and so on (Approximately £20)

You may need to purchase additional items to suit your developing practice as you progress through the course. Tutors will give advice where needed to support the purchase of additional equipment.

Ongoing Materials costs

You are expected to provide most of the photographic materials yourself such as film, printing paper and so on. The actual cost will depend on the amount and type of work you do. You are advised to allow approximately £400 for materials per year. This is particularly important in your final year as you will be required to have your portfolio pictures professionally printed.

Personal items

By the very nature of the course, you will be expected to work in a variety of locations and weather conditions. It is therefore essential that you come fully prepared with the right sort of personal clothing to protect yourself from the elements and meet risk assessment requirements. This list is not exclusive, so please use it as a guide; you are likely to have some of this kit already, but if buying new you should be able to equip yourself for the outdoors for approximately £300:

Weather/wind-proof jacket
Warm headgear
Strong waterproof boots/shoes
Wellington boots
Waterproof trousers

Study trips

During the course there are a number of one-day field trips. Some of these will incur a small additional cost. In addition, there may be the possibility of an optional international field trip or period of study abroad. The cost of these will depend entirely on location, means of travel etc.

It should be stressed that, whilst undoubtedly offering an excellent experience, international travel is not essential for successful completion of the course: £500 - £2500

Additional costs

Optional Diving Modules

For the two optional diving modules, there will be an additional fee of approximately £350 per occurrence.

Optional underwater photography module information – please read carefully

Essential paperwork: Underwater Photography

The following information is only for those students who wish to pursue underwater photography. If you do not intend to participate in the underwater element of the degree you do not need to read beyond this point.

It will help us in our planning if you intend to participate in underwater photography when you join the course in September if you could fill in this form as soon as possible: https://forms.office.com/e/Wh1ZiDVuGg

To join us on underwater photography you must also complete the following registration forms and return them to: dive@falmouth.ac.uk as soon as possible.

The forms can be accessed via the Underwater Photography Registration page

1. Registration form

Please complete and return this form as soon as possible if you intend on joining underwater photography at Falmouth.  

2. UKDMC Medical form

This is a self-assessment form that does not require a signature from a GP. If you answer ‘yes’ to any question on this form you will need clearance to dive from a hyperbaric doctor prior to joining the program. Please see the Marine and Natural History Photography welcome letter below for further information. 

3. GP Medical Form

Please fill in this form and arrange for your GP to sign and stamp it as a confirmation of your medical history.  

Please read the following informaiton prior to completing these forms.  

Course Structure

Underwater Photography is an optional element of the course and is split into two stages.   

Stage 1 (Panasonic and Olympus micro 4/3 cameras)

Stage 1 will begin in February 2026. In order to undertake this option you will need to opt for Exploring Practice – Underwater module in the second study block of your first year. If you meet our program entry requirements (as below) then you will have the opportunity to join our underwater photography program with costs covered by the course.   

In Stage 1 you will be inducted on to our entry level underwater photography equipment and taught the basic principles of underwater photography with a singular light source (strobe).   

Successful completion of Stage 1 Underwater Photography will enable you to book our entry level underwater photography equipment for your independent photography projects.   

Stage 2 (Nikon DLSR cameras)  

If you successfully complete the Stage 1 module (Exploring Practice – Underwater) you will have the option to enrol in the Stage 2 module, Extending Practice – Underwater.

In Stage 2 you will be inducted onto our professional underwater photography equipment and taught advanced principles of underwater photography with a dual light source (strobes).   

Successful completion of the course will enable you to book our professional level underwater photography equipment for your independent photography projects.   

This is an optional module route and due to many external cost factors the module necessitates an added fee. The fee for this course covers:  

Health and safety provisions from external contractors for all workshops.  
Equipment, pool and facilities hire.  
Specialist underwater equipment beyond camera systems.

The fees for 2025 / 2026 / 2027 are £150 in the first year and £300 in the second year.

As these modules also require external contractors it may not be possible to reschedule any sessions that are missed. It is therefore essential that you attend all of your timetabled sessions unless you are unfit to dive.  

Underwater Photography Entry Requirements

Diving Qualifications

All underwater photography participants must hold a recognised diving qualification equivalent to the following:  

BSAC Sport Diver  
PADI Rescue Diver

These are the most common qualification agencies in the UK, other qualifications will be accepted providing they are of the equivalent training level as those outlined above.   

*Please ensure you are qualified before the course begins in September, we will require your medical paperwork and qualification numbers in your first week of term. Whilst it may be possible to complete elements of your dive training when you arrive in Falmouth if you have already booked with a local dive school, we strongly recommend you complete your qualifications in good time prior to starting the course. Typically, between inclement weather and course commitments, completing dive qualifications in September before term begins can prove exceptionally difficult.

If you miss the qualification deadline we cannot guarantee you will have an alternate opportunity to take part in underwater photography.*  

Medical Clearance

All students must be declared medically fit to dive prior to undertaking any practical dive activities as part of the university. You will be asked to complete the following forms:  

GP Medical form

This form will ask a number of questions regarding any known existing medical conditions. You must confirm every box on this form and then have the form officially confirmed by your GP. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the medical queries on this form then you will need to be referred to a hyperbaric doctor to be deemed medically fit to dive. Your GP is not able to confirm your fitness to dive as many conditions and medications can have contraindications when underwater. We strongly advise that you prioritise confirming your medical fitness prior to booking any dive courses. If you are already qualified to dive you will still be required to provide certified medical clearance. Some conditions such as asthma or mental health considerations can take in excess of 6 weeks to resolve. You will not be eligible to join underwater photography without medical clearance. Please ensure you complete this process with your local GP. Registration and transfer of medical details can be a lengthy process and ultimately may result in you missing the course if you wait to do this in Falmouth.   

UKDMC Form

This is a self-certification medical form, it appears very similar to the GP medical form but does not require a signature from a professional medical body.   

Underwater Photography Registration form

This form is to register your interest in joining underwater photography. If you intend to join the course then please fill in and return this form as soon as possible. If you are yet to complete your dive qualifications then please leave this section of the form blank, your qualification details can be added at a later date.   

A dive in UK waters within 6 months of starting the underwater photography course

The UK presents different environmental considerations underwater to those that you may have qualified in, if you have done so abroad. All of our prospective students should have completed a UK dive within 6 months of the Underwater Photography program commencing, to ensure that you are comfortable in the environment and your skills are current.

All the necessary forms have been included on this page with instructions on where to send them upon completion.

The deadline for having medical clearance and your relevant qualifications completed is 15th September 2025.    

Equipment Requirements  

Alongside the Falmouth University team we have an external dive contractor that provides students with additional health and safety cover and equipment. If you do not have your own dive equipment our contractor will provide you with all necessary items to join the program (including wetsuits) with the exception of a dive mask. Since the pandemic it has been deemed necessary for all students to have their own personal mask.   

If you wish to dive on your own personal equipment, then your equipment must be professionally serviced every 12 months. You will not be able to use personal equipment that is not in service.  

Essential Items

Dive mask  
Minimum 16GB SD card  
4 x AA rechargeable Batteries for strobe. We recommend Eneloop Pro. *if you intend on joining the L2 program you will need 8 batteries.

Highly Recommended - the ‘Live @ AMATA Pass’

The programme complements our portfolio of undergraduate degrees and enables students to experience high quality, contemporary performances on their doorstep.  

Students can purchase a one year Live @ AMATA Pass which offers five tickets for £25. This represents a 50% reduction on our standard student ticket price of £10.

You can view the programme at the AMATA Arts Centre and the Live @ AMATA Pass is available to book now.

Please note: If a parent or guardian is purchasing on behalf of a Falmouth University student, the account should be set up in the student’s name, using their email address.

Solo singing performer Mia Tuesday at AMATA arts centre

What can I do in the meantime to prepare?

On these pages, you can find all the important information you need for starting your journey at Falmouth, so you’ve got more time to relax and feel ready for this new and exciting chapter.

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Game Art graduate brings private jet interiors to life in VR

Creative Industries in the Great South West Take Centre Stage at Houses of Parliament

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Natural Innovation: the Falmouth designer reimagining textiles with biomaterials

Game Art graduate brings private jet interiors to life in VR

Creative Industries in the Great South West Take Centre Stage at Houses of Parliament

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