Skip to content

Studies & Degrees in Fine Arts

Fine arts is the study and practice of making art: drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking, together with newer media such as photography, video, digital image, installation and performance. A fine arts degree is built around studio work. Students spend most of their time producing their own pieces, showing them and having them discussed by teachers and fellow students, and they study art history and theory alongside.

The Universidad de Sevilla describes its bachelor's degree as broad training in the disciplines of artistic creation, both the traditional ones (drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking) and more recent ones (digital image, photography, video art, performance and installations). The University of Texas at Austin puts it in similar terms: its studio art programme gives students the technical, critical and professional skills to bring their ideas to physical form, through production, critique, readings and exhibition.

Qualifications and levels

  • Spain. The official bachelor's degree is the grado en Bellas Artes, with 240 ECTS credits over four years, taught at university faculties of fine arts. At the Universidad de Sevilla the degree offers 180 first-year places and an optional specialisation (mención) in new technologies of 48 credits. Official master's degrees have 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits.
  • United States. The professional first degree is the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). At the University of Texas at Austin the BFA in Studio Art requires 120 semester hours, planned over four years, and covers drawing and painting, photography and media, print, and sculpture and extended media, with a course in professional practices. The usual graduate qualification is the Master of Fine Arts (MFA), which the same university awards in Studio Art.
  • United Kingdom. The usual degree is a BA (Hons) Fine Art. At London Metropolitan University the course is centred on making art in the studio, supported by professional practice and critical and contextual study modules, and students work in their own dedicated studio space.
  • Canada. The University of the Fraser Valley offers a four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts in which students explore several disciplines in the first year and choose a major, such as Visual Arts, before the end of the second.
  • New Zealand. At Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design the Bachelor of Fine Arts takes three years full-time (360 credits at level 7 of the national framework) and the Master of Fine Arts two years (240 credits at level 9).

Independent art and design schools also offer certificates and shorter programmes. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, such schools can award a certificate in an art-related specialty or an associate's, bachelor's or master's degree in fine arts. Ask a school that is not a university what recognition its qualification has.

Admission

Art schools usually select on a portfolio rather than on grades alone. London Metropolitan University asks for a portfolio of work with the application and may invite applicants to an interview. Whitecliffe requires a portfolio of original artwork, a letter of intent and an interview. Start building a portfolio well before applying, and check each school's guidance on what to include.

Where to study it

The SpainExchange directory lists 260 schools for fine arts. The United States has 104, followed by Spain (29), the United Kingdom (20), Canada (16), Australia (8), Italy (6) and Germany, Brazil and New Zealand (5 each). Teaching is in the language of the country, so Spain and Latin America are the options for studying in Spanish, while the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand teach in English.

When comparing schools, look at the workshops and studio space available to students, the disciplines actually taught, the chances to exhibit, and whether the qualification is a university degree or the school's own award.

Careers

Graduates work as visual artists and also in applied fields. The Universidad de Sevilla lists illustration, graphic humour, comics, concept art, storyboards for film, video game creation, animation, photography and exhibition installation among the professional outlets of its degree. Many graduates combine their own practice with teaching or with work in museums and galleries.

Art is largely a self-employed career. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 53,400 craft and fine artists in the United States in 2025, 58 per cent of them self-employed, and projects employment to decline 1 per cent from 2025 to 2035. It notes that most fine artists pursue postsecondary education to improve their skills and job prospects, and that education gives them the chance to develop a portfolio.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a fine arts degree take?

Four years in Spain (240 ECTS credits) and for a BFA at universities such as the University of Texas at Austin and the University of the Fraser Valley; three years full-time for the Bachelor of Fine Arts at Whitecliffe in New Zealand.

Do I need a portfolio to apply?

In most English-speaking countries, yes. London Metropolitan University and Whitecliffe, for example, both ask for a portfolio, and may add an interview.

What is the difference between a BFA and an MFA?

The BFA is the undergraduate studio degree. The MFA is the graduate degree for artists who want to deepen their practice; at Whitecliffe it takes two years.

Can I study fine arts in Spain?

Yes. The grado en Bellas Artes is an official four-year degree of 240 ECTS credits, and the directory lists 29 schools in Spain for this subject.