Ideal applicants

You will be someone who is curious about what you see around you. Someone who looks at pictures, posters, photographs, buildings, design or decoration, and wants to know more about what their visual language can tell us about the culture they represent and about the creative minds that conceived and created them. You want to learn about ways of seeing and interpreting images and objects, to find out more about why they were made and who they were made for. You like to explore what lies behind and within anything from an ancient monument to a modern computer graphic. You are interested in what visual and material culture can tell us about ourselves and the historical past or the contemporary present, and how they have shaped and construct the world as we know it.

You may not have studied anything to do with art, history of art or heritage before – the most essential qualification is your own interest which you may have developed through going to exhibitions, visiting museums and historic sites, and travelling.

If you are thinking of studying History of Art and Heritage Management you will have a practical interest in the social and economic significance of monuments and museums, and in learning about some of the core business skills which the cultural sector can teach us. Or you may be thinking of combining History of Art with another subject because you want to develop your appreciation of the visual arts alongside other interests or aptitudes you have – literature, history, language, media and the humanities for example.

Whichever pathway you choose to follow, History of Art at Buckingham can offer you an intellectually enriching experience in a programme designed to develop you powers of analysis, interpretation and argument which you will find useful in any career, and which can prepare you for further specialist graduate study or professional training by equipping you with the skills for research, managing information and writing that you want from your degree.

Above all you are someone who is ambitious to succeed academically and who is looking for a degree which is absorbing, challenging and will expand your horizons.