The BA History of Art with Foundation Year at Birkbeck offers you the chance to study all kinds of artworks, from buildings to installations, sculpture to digital media, paintings to photography. You will take a range of courses, from medieval to contemporary art, learning how to place artworks within their historical and cultural context, and to think more broadly about the role of images within society. If you are contemplating a career in the arts, this course will give you the chance to develop a range of key skills, from critical thinking and writing, to effective visual analysis.

Before proceeding to the main degree, you will spend your Foundation Year preparing yourself for a degree in the arts by improving your study and research skills and gaining arts-related knowledge and understanding. You will also have the opportunity to take a language module as part of the Foundation Year.

Upon successful completion of the Foundation Year, you can automatically progress on to our three-year, full-time, evening study BA History of Art.

• Our Foundation Year programmes will fully prepare you for undergraduate study. They are ideal if you are returning to study after a gap, if you have not previously studied the relevant subjects, or if you did not achieve the grades you needed for a place on your chosen undergraduate degree.
• Established almost half a century ago, Birkbeck's Department of History of Art is an internationally respected centre for research and teaching. Keep up to date with our activities on the Birkbeck History of Art blog. We offer information evenings for prospective students interested in our History of Art programmes throughout the year. As well as regular gallery and museum visits, we offer an exciting study trip abroad every spring.
• In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), Art and Design at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment supporting world-leading or internationally excellent research.
• We have a state-of-the-art cinema and exhibition spaces, all housed in a historic building that was a former home to key members of the Bloomsbury Group, including the author Virginia Woolf and the artist Vanessa Bell. See a video about our home in Gordon Square.
• Students are encouraged to become involved in the lively research culture of the Department through the Centre for Museum Cultures, the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, the Architecture, Space and Society Centre and the Vasari Research Centre, which has pioneered the field of digital art history.
• The School of Arts is an official partner of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Opportunities for students have included a year’s free membership of the ICA, private views, discounts on all talks and events, free members' screenings and £3 cinema tickets on Tuesdays, up to 25% off ICA Artists' Editions and a monthly e-newsletter.

Our students develop the ability to think critically and creatively, and to articulate their ideas persuasively. Intellectual rigor, visual sensitivity and informed debate are fundamental to the discipline of history of art, as well as being transferable skills relevant to a range of careers. Graduates can pursue jobs in arts management, conservation and policy; in education, marketing and publishing; in the museums and heritage sectors; and in research and academia.

Jobs gained by some of our BA and MA graduates include:

• Head of Learning, Design Museum
• Curator, Schools Programmes, Tate Modern
• Curatorial Assistant, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Curatorial Officer, National Army Museum
• Head of Campaign Management, Science Museum
• Curator, Handel House Museum
• Head Curator, National Maritime Museum
• Director, Foundling Museum
• Curator, British Art 1850-1915, Tate Britain
• Courses and Events Programmer, National Gallery.

We offer a comprehensive Careers Service to help you advance your career, while our in-house, professional recruitment consultancy, Birkbeck Talent, works with London’s top employers to help you gain work experience that fits in with your evening studies.