Master of Fine Art

Master of Fine Art

POSTGRADUATE

Take your art to the next level.

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Student type:
Learning mode:
On campus
Entry score:

Not applicable

Duration:
Full-time 2 years
Reduced duration available
Fees:

AU$28,800 (2024 annual)

Next intake:
February, July
Location:
Melbourne City
Learning mode:
On campus
Entry score:

See admissions

Duration:
Full-time 2 years
Fees:

AU$38,400 (2024 annual)

Next intake:
February, July
Location:
Melbourne City

Overview

RMIT offers a hub for emerging artists, researchers and practitioners to cultivate contemporary art practice and gain exposure through local and international exhibitions.

The course has transformed my practice, peeling back inhibitions and prejudices like spent bandages. It has re-introduced me to the joys of writing and to the blackest depths of continental philosophy. Perhaps most of all, I feel it has sensitised me to art's plurality, softening my previously held assumptions.
Portrait of Lewis Gittus, Master of Fine Art at RMIT - Lewis Gittus, Master of Fine Art (photo credit, Rochelle Flack) at RMIT

This degree is designed to help those with emerging art practices who are looking to focus their work, and those who seek to expand and extend their existing practices.

The Master of Fine Art is structured in a way that allows ample room for experimentation. You will be mentored and challenged by academic staff who are professional artists, performers, writers, historians and curators to explore multiple media, conceptual tools and techniques, and narrow your focus down to the core of what you want to create and communicate as an artist.

Why study the Master of Fine Art at RMIT?

Leading practitioners

Be mentored by prominent local and international professional artists and curators who are highly active in the industry.

Purpose-built facilities

Study in a studio environment using state-of-the-art equipment, resources, materials and technology.

Global opportunities

Take the opportunity to study in Hong Kong, attend the Tropical Lab intensive in Singapore and apply for overseas art residences.

Male student, wearing a leather apron, looking towards the camera

Build your professional practice

Exhibit nationally and globally as a professional practising artist with a body of artwork that demonstrates technical and conceptual excellence.

Professional practice is offered in media including:

  • art and technology
  • drawing
  • ceramics
  • gold and silversmithing
  • painting
  • performance
  • photography
  • print media
  • sculpture
  • spatial practice and installation
  • social practice
  • sound
  • video.
Art installation on a wall; student placing a piece inside an inset part of the wall

Explore ideas through making

Enhance your creativity and innovation in a studio environment where experimentation is possible and where supportive educators know the value of art in communities and cultures.

Details

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Every student will have access to a studio space in the heart of Melbourne's vibrant and culturally diverse CBD.

You will be taught by leading and highly active professional artists and curators who will mentor you in exploring multiple media, conceptual tools and techniques, and challenge you to narrow your focus to the core of what you want to create and communicate as an artist. Throughout your studies, you’ll be surrounded by a community of emerging and established artists, who generate projects and exchange knowledge and expertise.

You’ll hone your technical skills using state-of-the-art equipment, resources, materials and technology relating to your craft, including:

  • sculpture and light fabrication workshops
  • high-end printing facilities
  • ceramic workshops and kilns
  • media and sound recording studios
  • photography studios
  • gold and silversmithing workshops
  • traditional printmaking workshops.

The capstone experience of this degree is a major project that culminates in an exhibition of creative work for assessment. Your work will be presented to an industry assessor, unfamiliar with your work much in the way a reviewer, funder, gallerist or curator would be, to provide an arts industry context where feedback is integral to your learning and success.

Learning at RMIT

The types of classes you have will depend on the course you’re studying. Classes are offered in various formats designed to provide meaningful engagement with staff, industry and peers and provide for access and use of spaces where learning can be applied and active, including an array of specialised equipment.

Most RMIT courses do not include passive large-scale classes such as lectures, instead the content traditionally provided in lectures is made available online. This may be in the form of readings, videos or other on-demand learning materials. This content will also support the basis of interactive learning that takes place in on-campus classes.

RMIT connects you with a network of practising artists, curators, historians, gallerists (including public, commercial and artist-run initiatives), theorists and critics, both local and international, to support your studies.

RMIT holds existing and longstanding partnerships and connections with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Contemporary Centre for Photography and many other institutions.

You’ll enter a diverse community of artists and form lasting connections with the teachers and fellow students that you will carry for the rest of your professional life.

You’ll draw on expertise from arts industry professionals through regular forums that examine various issues, opportunities and perspectives of the industry and models of contemporary art practice.

Through a professional practice seminar series, you will develop a proposal for an arts industry body that will be assessed by an expert with extensive experience in government and non-government galleries, funding bodies and publishers. The arts industry expert will provide feedback that you’ll have the opportunity to incorporate into your final proposal.

The RMIT Master of Fine Art is also delivered in Hong Kong. Visit the Hong Kong Art School for program information and to apply for this offering.

Master of Fine Art students are selected to attend the Tropical Lab intensive in Singapore, and RMIT frequently hosts a seminar for staff and students from LaSalle Singapore in Melbourne.

The RMIT International Artists in Residence Program (iAIR) gives you opportunities to apply for overseas art residencies, which have placed previous students in East China Normal University in Shanghai, China; Krems, Austria; Tokyo Wondersite, Japan; and the University of Lethbridge, Canada.

  • 2 years full-time (without advanced standing). Students have the option to undertake a reduced study load and complete the program in 3 years.
  • 1 - 1.5 years full-time (with advanced standing).

For further information about advanced standing see the Pathways section. 

The knowledge and skills you will acquire throughout this degree and how they can be applied in your career are described in the learning outcomes.

The subjects you will undertake are divided into three core streams:

  • Studio Practice
  • Creative Research
  • Critical Frameworks.

Half of the degree is dedicated to studio time, making your studio central to the learning environment. Individual studio practice will be complemented by guest lectures, workshops and studio visits by international and local industry professionals.

Your creative research will encourage you to explore new ways of creating and skills for continual innovation, while critical frameworks will help you to develop your knowledge in building a sustainable enterprise and practice around your art.

Course structure

Choose a plan below to find out more about the subjects you will study and the course structure.

Master of Fine Art
Program code: MC266
Title
Location
Duration
Plan code
CRICOS
Master of Fine Art
City Campus
2 years full-time, 3 years reduced study load, reduced duration available
MC266
092466D
Location
City Campus
Duration
2 years full-time, 3 years reduced study load, reduced duration available
Plan code
MC266
CRICOS
092466D
View plan
Master of Fine Art
City Campus
2 years full-time
MC266
092466D
Location
City Campus
Duration
2 years full-time
Plan code
MC266
CRICOS
092466D
View plan

Note: International student visa holders can only study full-time.

Career

RMIT graduates are informed contemporary artists who work across disciplines and media in the arts industries as professional practising artists, exhibiting nationally and internationally.

Balancing the conceptual with the practical, graduates continue to make significant contributions to contemporary art and culture in roles such as:

  • Contemporary Artist
  • Gold and Silversmith
  • Ceramicist
  • Art Educator

Many staff, students and graduates have also exhibited at biennales around the world and many have won awards through local and international competitions, positioning RMIT at the forefront of the arts industry.

Progressive and collaborative thinking is in demand across major professional fields, like education, health, and entertainment, and artists are playing important roles in shaping creative endeavour in these areas.

Grants continue to be available through local and federal funding, which allow graduates to establish and progress their careers. Established institutions, including Federation Square, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) and the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), as well as an increasing number of commercial and artist-run spaces, provide exciting opportunities for graduates.

Admissions

You need to satisfy all of the following entry requirements to be considered for entry into this degree.

You must have:

  • successfully completed an Australian bachelor degree (or equivalent overseas qualification); or
  • at least 5 years of undertaken significant relevant work experience, studio practice or professional practice.

To have your professional experience considered you must submit with your application a CV and a personal statement detailing your experience.

Selection is merit based and is determined by the selection task and interview.

There are no prerequisite subjects required for entry into this qualification.

Semester 1, 2024

You must complete and submit the Fine Art selection task. Please click the apply button to submit your direct application. The link to submit your selection task will appear on the applicant dashboard after you have submitted your application.

Entry into this program is competitive, and applications are assessed in the order that they are received until the selection task dates, if places are still available. For your best chance at admission into this program, you are encouraged to apply as early as possible.

Selection task dates

Applicant type Register and submit the selection task by
Timely applications 30 November 2023
Late applications 1 March 2024

The selection task requires:

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Provide a statement introducing us to your recent and current contemporary fine art creative practice and how it engages with the discipline in a critical way. Your response should describe the material aspects of your creative practice, including what media and techniques you have developed your expertise in; and introduce the concepts you are exploring; and describe how your inquiry is located in the field of fine art (maximum 200 words). 

Describe what you want to explore in your Master of Fine Arts studies and what you seek to gain. You should discuss both the practical and conceptual opportunities you see for your practice, and the reason you want to study this program (maximum 200 words). 

Please indicate if you have used AI or other digital tools in the development of your application text, and how you have used them. 

Outline any relevant experience to your current practice or the areas you want to explore in this program. Consider including previous study, creative work presentations (exhibitions, performances etc), publications, employment, voluntary work, creative practices, etc. (maximum 200 words).

You are required to supply a curated folio of your creative work that reflects your current concerns and achievements. Your folio may consist of images, video and sound work, or online project documentation.

Please ensure to provide captions for all your works, including author(s), title, year, media/materials, size, duration. If your work is a collaboration, please precisely detail your role and the role of the collaborator/s in the project.

Submission instructions
Provide a URL to your folio if hosted online (provide the username and password if applicable) or upload your folio into a single PDF containing a maximum of 20 pages (maximum file size 100MB).
 

Within the PDF, you can provide links to your work/s. If you are unable to host sound or video works online, you can upload them in the following format:

  • Videos works should be in MOV or MP4 format (a maximum of 5 files and a duration of 10 minutes in total). 
  • Sound works should be in MP3 format (a maximum of 5 files and a duration of 10 minutes in total). 
  • Each file should be maximum 100MB. Files larger than 100MB need to be hosted online. 

Interview

Some applicants will be selected based on their selection task and will not be required to attend an interview. If further information is needed to make a selection decision, you will be invited to attend an interview.

Semester 2, 2024

Selection task details and submission dates will be available early 2024 for programs with a midyear intake. 

You must complete and submit the Fine Art selection task. Please click the apply button to submit your direct application. The link to submit your selection task will appear on the applicant dashboard after you have submitted your application.

Entry into this program is competitive, and applications are assessed in the order that they are received until the selection task date, if places are still available. For your best chance at admission into this program, you are encouraged to apply as early as possible.

Selection task dates

Applicant type Register and submit the selection task by
All applications TBC

Selection task requirements

Selection task requirements will be available early 2024 for programs with a midyear intake.

You must meet the University's minimum English language requirements to be eligible for a place in this program.

You need to satisfy all of the following requirements to be considered for entry into this degree.

You must have successfully completed an Australian bachelor degree (or equivalent overseas qualification).

You may also be considered if you have at least 5 years of relevant work experience, studio practice or professional practice.

To have your professional experience considered you must include in your application a CV and a personal statement that details your experience.

There are no prerequisite subjects required for entry into this qualification.

Pre-selection kit: You are required to submit must a completed pre-selection kit (PDF 235kb) along with your application.

Interview: You may be required to attend an interview. This can be conducted in person, via Skype or telephone.

To study this course you will need to complete one of the following English proficiency tests:

  • IELTS (Academic): minimum overall band of 6.5 (with no individual band below 6.0)
  • TOEFL (Internet Based Test - IBT): minimum overall score of 79 (with minimum of 13 in Reading, 12 in Listening, 18 in Speaking and 21 in Writing)
  • Pearson Test of English (Academic) (PTE (A)): minimum score of 58 (with no communication band less than 50)
  • Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE): minimum of 176 with no less than 169 in any component.

For detailed information on English language requirements and other proficiency tests recognised by RMIT, visit English language requirements and equivalency information.

Don't meet the English language test scores? Complete an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Advanced Plus Certificate at RMIT English Worldwide.

Pathways

You can gain entry to this masters degree from a range of RMIT undergraduate programs, if you meet the entry requirements.

Masters advanced standing

If you have successfully completed one of the following qualifications specialising in fine art, you will be eligible for advanced standing as follows:

Qualification level Advanced standing Remaining program duration

Bachelor Degree (AQF level 7)

48 credit points (equivalent to one semester full time study)

144 credit points (equivalent to three semesters full time study)

Bachelor Honours Degree (AQF level 8)

96 credit points (equivalent to two semester full time study)

96 credit points (equivalent to two semesters full time study)

Graduate Certificate (AQF level 8)

48 credit points (equivalent to one semester full time study)

144 credit points (equivalent to three semesters full time study)

Graduate Diploma (AQF level 8)

96 credit points (equivalent to two semesters full time study)

 96 credit points (equivalent to two semesters full time study)

The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is the national policy for Australian qualifications in vocational and higher education.

Credit and recognition of prior learning

Applicants with a bachelor degree (honours), graduate certificate, graduate diploma or masters qualification majoring in a different discipline may also be eligible for credit transfer of up to 48 credit points (equivalent to one semester full time study).

Credit and exemptions will be assessed consistent with the principles of the RMIT Credit Policy.

Upon successful completion of this masters degree, you may be eligible to undertake further studies in related programs at RMIT University, including postgraduate research programs, subject to the program's entrance requirements.

You can gain entry into this degree from a range of RMIT undergraduate programs.

Master Advanced Standing

If you have successfully completed one of the following qualifications specialising in fine art, you will be eligible for advanced standing as follows:

Qualification level Advanced standing Remaining program duration
Bachelor degree (AQF level 7) 48 credit points (equivalent to one semester full time study) 144 credit points (equivalent to three semesters full time study)
Bachelor honours degree (AQF level 8) 96 credit points (equivalent to two semesters full time study) 96 credit points (equivalent to two semesters full time study)
Graduate certificate (AQF level 8) 48 credit points (equivalent to one semester full time study) 144 credit points (equivalent to three semesters full time study)
Graduate diploma (AQF level 8) 96 credit points (equivalent to two semesters full time study) 96 credit points (equivalent to two semesters full time study)

The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is the national policy for Australian qualifications in vocational and higher education.

When you are submitting an application, please indicate that you want to be considered for credit.

Credits

Applicants with a bachelor honours degree, graduate certificate, graduate diploma or masters degree qualification majoring in a different discipline may also be eligible for credit transfer of up to 48 credit points (equivalent to one semester full time study).

When you are submitting an application, please indicate that you want to be considered for credit and provide detailed course syllabus (also known as course outline), outlining volume of learning, course content and weekly topics, learning objectives/outcomes, assessment types and weightings, and reference to the learning resources.

Credit and exemptions will be assessed consistent with the principles of the RMIT Credit Policy.

Upon successful completion of this degree, you may be eligible for entry into an RMIT Masters by Research or Doctoral (PhD) program.

Fees

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2024 indicative fees

  • Full-fee places: AU$28,800 (2024 annual fee)*.

Additional expenses

  • Student services and amenities fee (SSAF): AU$326 maximum fee for 2023*. The SSAF fees information for the 2024 intake has been delayed by the Australian government and will be updated when it is available.
  • Other items related to your program, including field trips, textbooks and equipment.

Annual fee adjustment*

Amounts quoted are indicative fees per annum, and are based on a standard year of full-time study (96 credit points). A proportionate fee applies for more or less than the full-time study load.

*Fees are adjusted on an annual basis and these fees should only be used as a guide.

Defer your payment

This program is offered on a full-fee paying basis only. If you are offered a place, you will need to pay the full tuition costs of your program. However, eligible students (such as Australian citizens or holders of an Australian permanent humanitarian visa) may apply to defer payment of some or all of their tuition fees via the Commonwealth Government’s FEE-HELP loan scheme.

Paying your fees and applying for refunds

For information on how to pay your fees or how to apply for a refund, please see Paying your fees and applying for refunds.

In addition to tuition fees, you will be charged an annual student services and amenities fee (SSAF), which is used to maintain and enhance services and amenities that improve your experience as an RMIT student.

The SSAF is calculated based on your enrolment load and the maximum fee for 2024 is $351.  

For more information about calculating your actual SSAF see Paying SSAF.

You may also be required to purchase other items related to your program, including field trips, textbooks and equipment. These additional fees and expenses vary from program to program.

FEE-HELP loans

Eligible students (such as Australian citizens or holders of an Australian permanent humanitarian visa) may apply to defer payment of some or all of their tuition fees via the Commonwealth Government’s FEE-HELP loan scheme.

SA-HELP Loans

You may be eligible to apply to defer payment of the Student services and amenities fee (SSAF) through the SA-HELP loan scheme. If you use SA-HELP, the amount will be added to your accumulated HELP debt.

How does a HELP loan work?

If your FEE-HELP and/or SA-HELP loan application is successful, the Australian Government will pay RMIT, on your behalf, up to 100% of your fees. This amount will become part of your accumulated HELP debt.

You only start repaying your accumulated HELP debt to the Australian Government once you earn above the minimum income threshold for repayment, which is set each year by the Australian Government (this also applies if you are still studying). The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will calculate your compulsory repayment for the year and include this on your income tax notice.

For more information about loan repayment options see Commonwealth assistance (HELP loans) or Study Assist.

You may be eligible to apply for income tax deductions for education expenses linked to your employment.

See the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for more information.

RMIT awards more than 2000 scholarships every year to recognise academic achievement and assist students from a variety of backgrounds.

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The annual tuition fee for 2024 is AU$38,400.

The total indicative tuition fee for 2024 commencement is AU$78,720.

In addition to tuition fees you also need to pay for:

You also need to account for your living expenses. Estimate the cost of living in Melbourne.

Find out more details about how fees are calculated and the expected annual increase.

Applying for refunds

Find information on how to apply for a refund as a continuing international student.

RMIT awards more than 2000 scholarships every year to recognise academic achievement and assist students from a variety of backgrounds.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Looking for answers or more general information?

Use our Frequently Asked Questions to learn about the application process and its equity access schemes, find out how to accept or defer your offer or request a leave of absence, discover information about your fees, refunds and scholarships, and explore the various student support and advocacy services, as well as how to find out more about your preferred program, and more.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.

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aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.

More information