Courses –general information
Courses at the Schools of Visual Art
The Royal Danish Academy’s Schools of Visual Art are an institution of Higher Education, responsible to the Ministry of Culture, offering a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) which, in conjunction with the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) constitutes the 6-year course program in fine art. On this website you can find a draft of the new curriculum. The course requires both a full-time commitment to independent study and the desire to work closely with other students in undertaking the practical and the theoretical aspects of the course program.
The course objective is to develop the student’s own artistic work with a view to subsequent professional employment as a visual artist. This takes place through comprehensive individual instruction, by means of thorough training in the subject’s technical, practical and theoretical disciplines and aspects and, not least, as a result of group reviews, discussions and critical analysis of artistic production.
Job prospects
The goal of the Art Academy’s Schools of Visual Art is to provide students with the knowledge and qualifications to ensure that they can secure professional work as visual artists following their graduation.
This can occur through a career as independent practising artists, but also within other industries that demand high-level artistic skills, for example within the teaching, organisational, advisory and design sectors.
To ensure that the focus remains on the employment situation of graduates, an employment report is produced on an annual basis. Please refer to these for further information about employment, unemployment and average personal income. The reports contain information about both the standard course program and the special course program in art theory and communication, and can be found here: Billedkunstskolerne/Tal, mål og rapporter.
International collaboration
The Schools of Visual Arts collaborate extensively with overseas institutions. Examples of this collaboration, which includes lectures, workshops, seminars and study trips, are described in the curriculum. Another important form of student contact with art institutions in other countries occurs through exchange trips abroad.
The Schools of Visual Arts encourage students to undertake a foreign exchange trip, ideally for a whole academic year at some point between their third and fifth years of study. Within Europe it is possible to obtain financial support for this purpose from ERASMUS, and from KUNO for the Nordic and Baltic countries. (See KUNO and ERASMUS).