Overview (2027)
Key Information
Duration
Minimum 1 Year, up to a maximum of 5 years.
Location
Duration
Minimum 1 year, up to a maximum of 5 years.
Location
Within this diploma, you will develop skills in self-expression and creative problem solving to generate art work. You will be encouraged to participate in contemporary culture, engaging directly with Tasmania’s internationally acclaimed arts culture through our ongoing partnerships with festivals and arts institutions across the state. You will be provided with opportunities to actively contribute to the cultural life of our society and interact with both Australian and international visiting artists.
You will gain an awareness of your own creative practice and the role and function of visual art and design within contemporary culture. You can choose from a range of selected units, which will provide a foundation for further study in fine art and/or enable you to encounter and develop skills in diverse art disciplines.
- 1 Produce creative works and projects with speculative and iterative outcomes as a process of directed creative inquiry
- 2 Apply technical and theoretical knowledge to identify ideas, artefacts and methods in the arts in order to reflect on your own and others’ work.
- 3 Consider your practice within relevant and diverse contexts (e.g. social, cultural and historical)
- 4 Communicate ideas and processes to audiences and stakeholders using written, oral and visual skills.
Learn beyond the classroom
Collaboration is an important part of Fine Arts. Depending on your skills and interests, you could be working across Tasmania’s iconic festivals, behind the scenes at a gallery, interpreting collections, or at a museum handling objects not yet for public display. Along the way, you’ll gain valuable insights into how organisations operate and the diverse career pathways available to you.
Studying in Tasmania, our whole Island becomes your campus. Speak with your unit coordinator about how you can gain practical experience by volunteering in research initiatives, becoming an ambassador, or taking part in a work experience program.
Study overseas at one of our partner institutions
Our international exchange program offers opportunities to study at universities around the world, and it counts towards your degree. Exchange can allow you to have an affordable educational and cultural experience in a foreign country for a semester, or a full year. To facilitate this, we offer a range of scholarships and financial assistance. You may also be eligible for OS-HELP Loans or scholarship funding to assist with airfares, accommodation and other expenses. For more information, please visit Learning Abroad.
Become a Student Ambassador
Improve your communication, teamwork and leadership skills, meet new people, inspire and help others, and developing lasting friendships and networks as a student ambassador. Our ambassadors proudly represent the University throughout Tasmania in schools, at University and community events, and support a range of recruitment and engagement activities. Through the Student Ambassador Program you will have many opportunities for training and professional development, experience in real-world community engagement and outreach, networking, and public speaking, plus end up with a key point of distinction on your CV.
Work Integrated Learning
Tasmania is a place filled with creativity, industry, nature, and adventure. Because we’re the only university in the state, you get close access to the industry leaders, artists, and deep thinkers who are shaping our island. That means learning alongside the very best so you can hone your job skills for a successful career.
Whatever you’re passionate about, we’ll give you a hands-on education and an unforgettable adventure with our work integrated learning opportunities. https://www.utas.edu.au/study/work-integrated-learning
Career outcomes
Diverse opportunities
Build a career you love in the ever expanding creative arts sector. In a world being redefined by innovation, design and creativity, a vast selection of exciting career opportunities present themselves:
- Arts administrator
- Creative director
- Furniture designer
- Illustrator
- Multimedia artist
- Museum or gallery curator
- Painter
- Photographer
- Printmaker
- Researcher
- Sculptor
- Sound artist
- Video artist
- Teacher
Further study
Open your options with further study, students who successfully complete the Diploma of Fine Arts may progress to the Bachelor Fine Arts.
Course structure
The Diploma of Fine Arts requires the completion of 100 credit points from the schedule.
You can complete the Diploma of Fine Arts with a broad engagement in Critical Practices and Studio Practice units all at Introductory (100) level, or specialise in specific studio practice units at Introductory and Intermediate (200) level.
If you wish to complete studio practice units at Intermediate units, you should complete the relevant Introductory level studio unit first.
For example, before attempting FSH214 Photography 2A you should complete FSH111 Photography 1.
This unit introduces you to ceramics practices through hands-on exercises, demonstrations, and creative projects. You will undertake a number of small experiments to gain and apply knowledge of a range of ceramic techniques and explore surface possibilities through the firing…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
| Semester 2 | |||||
| Launceston | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
Critical Practices in Art: Foundations fosters the development of foundational knowledge, skills, and understanding for creative practice. This unit centres on the artist studio and the resultant works, placing a strong emphasis on materiality as a fundamental element of art…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
We exist as embodied beings: bodies are how we move through the world and how we touch, see, and interact with it. The purpose of the unit is to introduce you to concepts of the body and bodies within creative…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
View all details for FSA126 Critical Practices: Bodies, Identity and Politics
Creativity and culture find their expression within intricate networks. These networks interconnect various elements, through knowledge ecologies that encompass individuals, environments, communities of practice, media platforms, and artificial intelligence (AI). Through these networks, a symbiotic relationship is established, giving rise…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 2 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 2 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
This unit will introduce you to the techniques of drawing and printmaking as processes of enquiry and creation. You will learn about the technical and material possibilities of both mediums and how to use a studio as both a site…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
This unit is an introduction to studio-based object design and making. It sets the foundations for designer makers to respond to a world undergoing rapid change. Directed by academic staff and technicians, you will design and make a cohesive collection…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 2 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
Sculpture and Time-Based Media 1 (STBM 1) explores the integration of objects and spatiality with electronic and time-based media to provide a platform for creative experimentation and expression. You are able to focus on a specific medium within this unit,…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
Photography 1 will introduce you to the medium of black and white photography. Directed by staff and technicians, in the context of a studio/workshop/tutorial curriculum, you will be introduced to traditional techniques, new technologies and approaches to contemporary practice. Study…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 2 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 2 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
Painting is a dynamic art form that continues to captivate both artists and audiences alike. This course is tailored to students with a keen interest in contemporary art and a desire to acquire the fundamental principles of painting. By engaging…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
In this unit, you are invited to engage with Indigenous realities through an Indigenous lens. Using the key concept of Lifeworld, you will journey into Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, with a particular focus on the perspectives and…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 2 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 2 | ||||
| Online | Semester 2 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
View all details for HOS113 Introducing Indigenous Lifeworlds
This unit will explore the ground as both a site for exploration and a support for expression. You will undertake a suite of practical exercises and projects that provide you with methods, concepts and practical skills for generating new ideas…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
This unit will focus on the body as a site for exploration. The body has been a subject for drawing and printmaking across cultures and time. You will engage with the body through observation and interpretation from life drawing and…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 2 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 2 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
This unit provides further development in object and furniture design. It reflects a commitment to craft skills necessary for contemporary studio designer makers while also exploring the role of design as a critical practice and way of thinking within a…
Credit Points: 12.5
This unit provides development in experiential objects, installation and immersive contexts. It reflects a commitment to making skills necessary for contemporary studio artists and designers while also exploring the role of creative practice within a world already filled with objects…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 2 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
Sculpture and Time-Based Media (STBM) 2A is focussed on creating Immersive Environments through studio-based creative experimentation and investigation of historical precursors, current practice and related discourse. Students will create installation artworks through experimentation with sculpture, construction, electronic and time-based media…
Credit Points: 12.5
Sculpture and Time Based Media (STBM) 2B is focussed on Interactive and Participatory Installation through studio-based creative exploration and investigation of historical precursors and current practice and related discourse. Second year STBM involves deep engagement with objects, making processes, electronic…
Credit Points: 12.5
Photography 2A will diversify and broaden your capacity to understand and engage with the methodologies and processes associated with contemporary photographic practice in the expanded field. Through group and individual tasks, you will develop your ability to experiment with aspects…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
Photography 2B will diversify and broaden your capacity to understand and engage with the methodologies and processes associated with contemporary photographic practice in the expanded field. Through group and individual tasks, you will develop your ability to experiment with aspects…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 2 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 2 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
This unit focuses on the development of image-making strategies using paint as the primary medium. Via a focus on image construction and pictorial space, you will explore ideas and concepts in response to a brief. As well as learning about…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 1 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 1 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
This unit focuses on the development of ideas and images into resolved paintings. You will build on skills acquired in preceding units to explore painting using a range of media and techniques, drawing on historical approaches and recent innovations. The…
Credit Points: 12.5
| Location | Study period | Attendance options | Available to | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | Semester 2 | ||||
| Launceston | Semester 2 | ||||
- Key:
On-campus
Off-Campus
International students
Domestic students
Entry requirements
We encourage you to apply for the courses you most want to study. If you’re not eligible to enter your chosen course right now, the admissions team will work with you to find the best pathway option.
Enquire online for advice on the application process and the available pathways to study.
School Recommendation Program
Australian year 12 students can apply for this course via our Schools Recommendation Program (SRP). Rather than an ATAR, your application is based on a recommendation by your school teachers. This can factor in your year 11 results, an assessment of your capabilities, and other considerations.
Through the SRP, you can receive and accept an offer prior to completing year 12. You will still need to finish your year 12 studies – including any exams – to commence your studies. In addition, this course requires you to pass specific pre-requisite subjects in Year 12 (or equivalent), see below for details.
If you don’t receive an offer for this course through the Schools Recommendation Program, you will be re-assessed for a higher preference offer once your ATAR is released.
Domestic applicants who have recently completed secondary education
Applicants are ranked by ATAR and offers made based on the number of places available. The lowest ATAR to receive an offer may change from year to year based on the number of applications we receive
Applicants who have recently completed senior secondary studies but have not received an ATAR may still be eligible for admission if you have completed at least one of the Subject Pre-requisites below. We will consider your subject results on a case-by-case basis when we assess your application.
Domestic applicants with higher education study
To be eligible for an offer, applicants must have:
- Partially completed an undergraduate course at Diploma level or higher (or equivalent). Applicants must have completed at least one unit of study (equivalent to 12.5 UTAS credit points). If an applicant has failed any units the application may be subject to further review before an offer is made; or
- Completed the UTAS University Preparation Program (or an equivalent qualification offered by an Australian University).
Domestic applicants with VET / TAFE study
To be eligible for an offer, applicants must have completed a Certificate III (or equivalent) in any discipline.
Domestic applicants with work and life experience
Applicants without senior secondary, tertiary or VET / TAFE study can complete a personal competency statement.
Subject Pre-requisites
These prerequisites apply to students from all educational backgrounds.
To be an eligible for an offer, you must have studies or experience equivalent to a satisfactory achievement in one of the following Tasmanian Senior Secondary subject:
| ART315117 | Art Production |
| ART315214 | Art Studio Practice |
| ARA315116 | Art Theory and Criticism (replaces Art Appreciation ARA315111) |
| CGD315118 | Computer Graphics and Design |
| HDS315118 | Housing and Design |
| MED315117 | Media Production |
| TEG315115 | Technical Graphics |
You can enquire online for information on interstate and international equivalents to the Tasmanian senior secondary subject above. If you have not met this prerequisite, you will need to complete a UTAS foundation unit before you start your course.
Provide evidence of pre-tertiary TASC subject/s in visual arts successfully completed (e.g. academic transcripts and certificates of completion).
Special Consideration
If your ability to access or participate in education has been affected by circumstances beyond your control, you can apply for special consideration as part of your application. We will consider a range of factors, including economic hardship, serious medical condition or disability.
We can only approve applications for special consideration where we are confident that you have the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in your studies. If your application is not approved, the UTAS admissions team will work with you to find the best alternative pathway to your chosen course. Special consideration is not available for international applicants.
All international students will need to meet the minimum English Language Requirements, University General Entry Requirements and any course specific requirements such as pre-requisite subjects, if applicable.
English Language Requirements
This degree requires an IELTS (Academic) of 6.0, with no individual band less than 5.5, or a PTE Academic score of 50, with no score lower than 42 or equivalent.
For students who do not meet the English Language Requirement through citizenship or prior studies in English in an approved country, evidence of an approved English language test completed within the last 2 years must be provided. See the English Language Requirements page for more information.
General Entry Requirements
Admission to undergraduate courses at the University of Tasmania requires the completion of qualifications equivalent to a 12th year of education in Australia.
Please review the equivalent undergraduate entry requirements to see the minimum requirement relevant to your country. The ATAR information for this course is located in the “For Domestic Students” section of the entry requirements on this page.
You can also meet the General Entry Requirement for this course with the following qualifications or prior studies:
- Completion of an equivalent AQF Certificate III or above
- Complete or incomplete (minimum 12.5 credit points) of previous tertiary study at Bachelor level or higher
If you do not meet the minimum requirements, we offer the Foundation Studies Program.
Course Specific Requirements
To be an eligible for an offer, you must have studies or experience equivalent to a satisfactory achievement in one of the following Tasmanian Senior Secondary subject:
| ART315117 | Art Production |
| ART315214 | Art Studio Practice |
| ARA315116 | Art Theory and Criticism (replaces Art Appreciation ARA315111) |
| CGD315118 | Computer Graphics and Design |
| HDS315118 | Housing and Design |
| MED315117 | Media Production |
| TEG315115 | Technical Graphics |
You can enquire online for information on interstate and international equivalents to the Tasmanian senior secondary subject above. If you have not met this prerequisite, you will need to complete a UTAS foundation unit before you start your course.
Students may be eligible for specific advanced standing (i.e. credit points for relevant units) in this degree if they:
• Have successfully completed relevant units through the through the University Connections Program (UCP);
• Have completed an award such as a Diploma or Advanced Diploma at the University, from TAFE or another institution;
• Are currently studying another Bachelor degree at the University or at another institution;
• Have completed a Bachelor degree at the University or an equivalent qualification.
Students who successfully complete the Diploma of Fine Arts may progress to the Bachelor Fine Arts.
If you do not meet the General Entrance Requirements or course-specific requirements, there are alternate entry pathways to the Diploma of Fine Arts:
Detailed admissions information and advice for all undergraduate courses, including comprehensive, course-level student profiles, is available from UTAS Admissions.
Fees & scholarships
Domestic students
Commonwealth supported places (CSP) are available for this course. For eligible domestic students, this means your fees will be subsidised by the Australian Government. You’ll only need to pay the student contribution amount for each unit you study within the course.
Commonwealth Supported Place indicative annual fee: $10,027.57
How is this calculated?
This is an estimate. The calculation is based on the average full-time enrolment for this course in 2026. All figures are indicative only for 2027. Actual tuition fees will depend on specific unit enrolment, and are subject to annual increases each year. You can find the complete fee details for each unit of study on the individual unit pages. The units for this course are found in the course structure section of this page.
These figures do not include other costs such as the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF). For further information, please visit Scholarships, fees and costs.
HECS-HELP loans
You may be able to defer payment of the student contribution amount by accessing a HECS-HELP loan from the Government. If eligible, you’ll only have to pay your tuition fees once you start earning above a specific amount.
Further information on student loans and a CSP eligibility checker can be found at Australian Government Study Assist.
International students
2027 annual international student tuition fee: $42,263 AUD
The standard year of study for this course is 100 credit points.
Indicative total tuition fee for international students: $ 42,263 AUD.
This total tuition fee is indicative only. Please visit fees and costs for further information on how this is calculated.
International students are charged the Student Services and Amenities Fee but this fee is incorporated in the annual rate. International students do not have to make any additional SSAF payments.
Domestic scholarships
For information on general scholarships available at the University of Tasmania, please visit the scholarships website.
Course year 2027
Share this page
How can we help?
Do you have any questions about choosing a course or applying? Get in touch.