MA Immersive Arts (Virtual and Augmented Reality)
- MA
- PG Certificate (Postgraduate Certificate)
- PG Diploma (Postgraduate Diploma)
Overview
Creative technologies and interactive and immersive media are transforming how we experience and engage with culture. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) are being used across a wide range of industries, including games and location-based entertainment (LBE); theatre, concerts and live events; museums and heritage; marketing, advertising and tourism; architecture and design; education and training; simulation and healthcare.
This MA will enable you to translate your learning and experience in the creative arts (for example, design, writing, theatre, film or music production) into the creation of engaging, immersive content and the design of innovative interactive experiences. We will equip you with the technical skills and knowledge to succeed in this exciting and rapidly growing sector. Throughout the programme, you will learn from world-leading academics and pioneering thought-leaders, and work closely with creative industry partners. This MA equips you with:
- creative skills and knowledge to work with virtual reality, augmented reality, and immersive media
- critical, theoretical, and practical skills in creative technologies and interactive storytelling, which underpin effective extended reality experiences (XR) and games
- the ability to creatively direct, design and deliver engaging digital media content for a range of audiences while meeting technological constraints and addressing live industry briefs
- the ability to work across disciplines to produce effective immersive experiences for a variety of contexts, through working collaboratively with students on the MSc Immersive Technologies (Virtual and Augmented Reality) to bring together skills in creative arts and computer science/software development
- transferable skills in creative technology R&D and innovation to become the next generation of leaders in the creative and immersive industries.
The creative, immersive and screen media industries are thriving in Bristol and the region, making the city an ideal place to study Immersive Arts. The MA has been co-designed with industry partners and is closely associated with excellent, cutting-edge research in creative and immersive technologies within the University, for instance, MyWorld, Immersive Arts and Centre for Creative Technologies. The teaching is research-led, giving you insights into emerging media and how the creative industries are evolving, along with emphasising hands-on, practical approaches to learning.
This programme will be taught in our state-of-the-art facilities at the new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, where enhanced links with businesses will provide you with real-world knowledge, networks and skills to succeed once you graduate. You'll also benefit from access to a range of student services and other facilities at our vibrant Clifton Campus.
Programme structure
You will be introduced to the fundamental technologies underpinning immersive art, media, and games, the diverse applications and experiences they enable, and the wide range of opportunities in the sector. You will get to experience and discuss inspiring examples, cover theories of immersion, histories of immersive and interactive media, and emerging technologies and approaches. This will enable you to position your practice in the field and reflect critically on how the sector is developing.
Virtual/augmented reality and location-based entertainment (LBE) require new forms of storytelling: you will develop your understanding of experience design, interactive narratives, and how to structure compelling XR experiences. You will develop skills in creative direction, game engines like Unity, 3D modelling software for designing virtual environments, 360-degree filmmaking and spatial audio, motion capture and projection mapping. You will learn how to design interactions to involve your audience and give players/users agency in how an immersive experience or game unfolds.
To complete your studies, a 60-credit research or practical project can be chosen. This unit will provide you with first-hand experience in planning, delivering, and presenting a substantial piece of original immersive and creative work in an academic, civic, cultural, and/or commercial environment.
Visit our programme catalogue for full details of the structure and unit content for our MA in Immersive Arts (Virtual and Augmented Reality).
Entry requirements
You will typically need a strong second-class honours degree (55% or higher) or an international equivalent in any discipline.
We will consider your application if your interim grades are currently slightly lower than the programme's entry requirements and may make you an aspirational offer. This offer would be at the standard level, so you would need to achieve the standard entry requirements by the end of your degree. Specific module requirements would still apply.
We will also consider your application if your final overall achieved grade is slightly lower than the programme's entry requirement.
If your achieved grade is lower than our entry requirements, your application may be more likely to receive an offer if you have additional qualifications.
If you have the following, please include your CV (curriculum vitae / résumé) when you apply, showing:
- a relevant postgraduate qualification.
See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.
Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.
If English is not your first language, you will need to reach the requirements outlined in our profile level C.
Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.
Fees and funding
- MA - Home: full-time
- £16,300 per year
- MA - Home: part-time (two years)
- £8,150 per year
- MA - Home: part-time (three years)
- £5,433 per year
- MA - Overseas: full-time
- £35,500 per year
- PG Diploma - Home: full-time
- £13,040 per year
- PG Diploma - Home: part-time (two years)
- £6,520 per year
- PG Certificate - Home: part-time
- £6,520 per year
Fees are subject to an annual review. For programmes that last longer than one year, please budget for up to an 8% increase in fees each year.
More about tuition fees, living costs and financial support.
Alumni discount
University of Bristol students and graduates can benefit from a 25% reduction in tuition fees for postgraduate study. Check your eligibility for an alumni discount.
Funding and scholarships
Further information on funding for prospective UK and international postgraduate students.
Career prospects
Graduates from this MA will be capable of developing immersive applications and content for a variety of sectors, applying their knowledge to real-world challenges, and will be able to innovate and work successfully in interdisciplinary teams. As diverse sectors pivot to embrace immersive technologies and media, the demand for graduates with skills in this area has skyrocketed, and such expertise is becoming integral to a wide range of occupations across the globe. You will graduate with a portfolio of work that shows what you are able to do, and you will have a network of professional contacts to draw on.
Graduates from this MA could go on to work in a wide range of roles, for instance in immersive theatre and events, in the interaction department of animation, film and screen media companies, in advertising, marketing, experience and app design, in digital museum interpretation and in games development. You will leave with transferable skills in creative direction, production, narrative, 3D, experience and interaction design, R&D and innovation, which are valued across the creative tech, media and games industries.
Contact us
- Contact
- Enquiries Team
- Phone
- +44 (0) 117 394 1649
- choosebristol-pg@bristol.ac.uk
- Contact
- Paul Clarke, Programme Director
- p.clarke@bristol.ac.uk
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- Schools
- Departments