Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours)

Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours)

UNDERGRADUATE

Develop your talents and broaden your skill set as you study, research and practice photography at an advanced level.

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Student type:
Learning mode:
On campus
Entry score:

Not applicable

Duration:
Full-time 1 year
Fees:

Commonwealth supported places

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

See admissions

Duration:
Full-time 1 year
Fees:

AU$36,480 (2023 total)

Next intake:
February
Location:
Melbourne City

Overview

In today’s visually sophisticated but increasingly competitive and fragmented market, it is imperative for successful photographers to demonstrate a distinctive visual voice.

This honours degree will provide you with the advanced knowledge and skills to effectively adapt to various ways of thinking and making photographic images. You will be guided through personalised mentorship and individual supervision, as you are introduced to practice-led research and research methodologies. Through intensive studio-based research and workshop practice, you will develop creative autonomy and a critical and ethical understanding of photography that will allow you to make significant cultural contributions.

The Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) is designed for students who have successfully completed a three-year degree in photography, and who wish to undertake a further year of study to focus exclusively on an individual project.

The degree will also appeal to commercial photographers, photographers with commissioned practices (such as advertising, editorial or fashion photographers), photojournalists, socially engaged practitioners, artists, designers and other creative industry professionals seeking a more advanced studio practice in photography.

Why study photography at RMIT?

Expert academics

Learn from professional photographers, photojournalists, artists, editors, writers and curators.

Industry partnerships

We work with the NGV, the Centre for Contemporary Photography, the AIPP and more.

Residency programs

Opportunities are available for outstanding students to undertake an overseas art residency.

Details

Honours is an opportunity to develop your professional practice through immersion in a year long, self-initiated, inquiry focused, creative project.

Over the course of producing this project, you will become familiar with advanced principles and conventions of practice-based research.

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You will have access to a range of specialised photographic facilities across the school to support your area of practice, including photography studios, professional capture equipment, post-production editing facilities, computer labs and large format fine art printing technologies.

You will be required to attend on-campus classes throughout the delivery of this degree. 

Learning in this degree uses a variety of teaching and learning approaches, with a major focus on intensive photographic production and workshop practice. The workshops are places in which you will refine and develop your practical, theoretical and conceptual skills through development of an independently generated project proposal negotiated with supervisory staff. 

You will learn in an environment where the politics, meanings and functions of images are examined. Your studies will involve regular engagement in the review, critique and analysis of work through discussion with staff and peers in both individual and group critiques and tutorials.

Independent research forms an integral part of the course structure, focusing on locating and developing your photographic practice within a broader understanding of historical and contemporary photographic narratives and providing a firm foundation for embarking on a career as an independent photographer or as preparation for further advanced study at postgraduate level. This degree produces rounded graduates who are conscious of the ethical, social and cultural implications of their professional choices.

Assessment involves learning by doing, and will include developing a range of project based photographic works, written reflections, oral and visual presentations, proposals and exegesis documents. 

You’ll receive ongoing feedback on the strengths and areas for improvement in your photographic practice from your lecturers and peers.

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 has many close links with photographic and aligned creative industries which take a variety of forms. Academics are professional photographers, photo-journalists, artists, editors, writers and curators maintaining strong linkages within national and global photographic practice and the community.

External industry experts and speakers are regularly engaged to speak to students through a number of forums, and international study tours are available.

RMIT holds existing and longstanding partnerships and connections with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), the Centre for Contemporary Photography, the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP), regional galleries and many other photographic institutions.

The School of Art has a long tradition in and focus on international engagement. The awards available assist graduates to build international experiences into their practice and emerging careers.

The following awards are conferred on those students who demonstrate outstanding art practices and academic achievement.

SITUATE

SITUATE is a residency program in the School for artists, curators and researchers, and honours students (along with postgraduate students) may apply for this program. SITUATE connects people through art by creating onsite real-time opportunities for creative experimentation, cross-cultural dialogue and global mobility. SITUATE manages a series of Reciprocal Residencies where we send RMIT affiliated and Australian artists overseas and receive artists from the partner organisations. Exchanges include:

  • The Austrian Arts Residency Exchange
  • The Canadian Indigenous Arts Residency Exchange
  • The Taiwanese Arts Residency Exchange
  • The Japanese Arts Residency Exchange.

Graduate successes have included exhibitions and prizes in Australia, France, Italy, Portugal, the UK, and New Zealand. Honours graduates have had inclusions in national institutions and festivals including the Monash Gallery of Art, the Centre for Contemporary Photography, the Head On Festival, Photo 2201 and the Ballarat Foto Bienalle.

International Artists in Residence program

The School of Art has a longstanding global focus provided through many activities, but particularly the International Artists in Residence (iAIR) program, which provides students with access to international artists and academics who often feature as guest lecturers throughout the year.

You'll have the opportunity 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.

Global work, exchange and study experiences

RMIT offers a range of opportunities for our students to study abroad through global work, exchange and study experiences with over 165 partner universities worldwide.

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.

Using critical enquiry, practice-based research methodologies and 'thinking through making’, the structure of this course allows you to take ownership of your photography education.

You will be allocated a senior academic as a supervisor who will provide support and guidance as you develop your honours project.

Course structure

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

Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours)
Program code: BH125
Title
Location
Duration
Plan code
CRICOS
Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours)
City Campus
One year Full-time
BH125
096092G
Location
City Campus
Duration
One year Full-time
Plan code
BH125
CRICOS
096092G
View plan
Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours)
City Campus
One year Full-time
BH125
096092G
Location
City Campus
Duration
One year Full-time
Plan code
BH125
CRICOS
096092G
View plan

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

Career

Honours graduates will have more expansive employment opportunities within the enterprise formation and employment portfolio areas due to increased skills and time for self-directed and autonomous study.  

Graduates gain skills in creative thinking and problem solving that are valued by employers in a range of sectors. Specifically, graduates from this degree will be more competitive in those careers and markets where higher qualifications are desired, such as museums, galleries, government institutes, education, community organisations and private sector organisations.  

Photography as an industry is constantly changing to meet global shifts in image culture, and the more traditional role of the ‘professional photographer’ has diversified to incorporate not only competition from related disciplines, but a broadening demand for discipline expertise and more complex understandings of the power of images in culture. This is evident in social media platforms, the speed of global image distribution and the extensive knowledge required to respond with sensitivity to vulnerable communities around the world.  

Graduates with an Honours degree will be more competitive in a global market with a qualification more recognised in Asia and Europe, and ideally positioned to respond to, and impact the changing photography industry.

Admissions

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 (or equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant photographic discipline with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 (out of 4.0).

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

Semester 2, 2023

The Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) is not available at midyear.

Semester 1, 2024

Selection task details and submission dates will be available early August 2023. 

You must complete and submit the Photography (Honours) 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 TBC
Late applications TBC

Selection task requirements

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Submission instructions

Upload your proposal in a single PDF.

Your proposal should indicate what you consider your project (research) will encompass, including, why this research project is significant to your practice. Why is it worth doing? Why might you be the ideal person to undertake it? You might include the following headings: 

  • Proposed project title 

  • Research topic outline – a description of your proposed project, including any historical, contemporary and theoretical contexts relevant to your project. What area of the cultural, social or political world does it intersect with? 

  • Aims – what do you hope to achieve through your project? 

  • Methods – a description of your proposed research methods (practical or theoretical). Here, if necessary, you may also provide some indication of any specific requirements necessary for your research (this may form as an explanatory paragraph and/or dot points. 

  • Prior Reading – list key texts that will inform your project. These may be texts that you have drawn from in past work. This may include texts you are yet to read. 

Your proposal should be between 500 and 700 words. Remember that you haven’t done the research yet so there is no expectation that you have definitive answers at this stage. The proposal is to demonstrate that the area of enquiry is viable. 

Submission instructions

Upload your folio in a single PDF or supply a URL to your folio if hosted online (provide the username and password if applicable). 

Your folio should contain photographic images and include approximately 10-12 recent works. Photographic work should have been taken and edited to completion over the past 18 months. Please include titles of works, and where applicable: date, medium and dimensions.

Your folio should cohere around a topic, rather than an assemblage of unrelated image types. 

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

Selection criteria by applicant type

Please select the highest level of education you have or will be completing in order to find out the selection criteria that applies to you, in addition to meeting the above entry requirements.

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Secondary education (Year 12) is not considered for entry into this program.

Vocational education and training (VET) is not considered for entry into this program.

You must have successfully completed an Australian bachelor degree (or equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant photographic discipline with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 (out of 4.0).

Work and life experience is not considered for entry into 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) in a relevant photographic discipline with a minimum GPA of 2.0 (out of 4.0).

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

Pre-selection kit: You are required to submit a completed pre-selection kit (PDF 137kb) and attend a folio presentation. This can be conducted in person, via video call 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

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If you have successfully completed the BP117 Bachelor of Arts (Photography) at RMIT with an overall Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 2.0 (out of 4.0), you will be exempted from submitting the selection task and guaranteed entry into this honours program.

Credit, recognition of prior learning, professional experience and accreditation from a professional body can reduce the duration of your study by acknowledging your earlier, relevant experience.

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

Upon successful completion of this program, you can continue your studies in the MC270 Master of Photography, subject to the program's entrance requirement and receive 96 credit points of advanced standing into the master program.

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You are guaranteed entry into the Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) when you successfully complete the Bachelor of Arts (Photography) with a minimum overall Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.0 (out of 4.0).

Credit may reduce the duration of your study by acknowledging your earlier, relevant study experience.

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 their weightings, and reference to the learning resources such as prescribed textbooks and recommended readings.

You are guaranteed entry into the Master of Photography with 2 semesters of credit (equivalent to 96 credit points) when you successfully complete the Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours).

Alternatively, when you successfully complete this program, you may be eligible for entry into an RMIT postgraduate program or RMIT Masters by Research or Doctoral (PhD) program.

Fees

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2023 indicative fees

In 2023, the annual student contribution amount (tuition fee) you will pay for a standard year of full-time study is between AU$4,124 to AU$15,142*.

Additional expenses

  • Student services and amenities fee (SSAF): AU$326 maximum fee for 2023.
  • 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

You may be eligible to apply for a HECS-HELP loan, which can be used to defer payment of up to the full amount of your student contribution fees. You may also be eligible to apply to defer payment of your SSAF through the SA-HELP loan scheme.

Learn more about fees for undergraduate study.

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.

New government eligibility rules in 2022 - low completion rates

From 2022, there are new government rules about eligibility for higher education student funding as part of the Australian Government’s Job-ready Graduates legislation. If you're starting a program in or after 2022 and are enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place (CSP) or have a HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP loan, these changes affect you. For details, please see Low completion rate and government funding.

If you are offered a Commonwealth supported place, your tuition fees are subsidised by the Australian Government.

Your share of the fee (student contribution) is set on an annual basis by the government and is determined by the discipline areas (bands) of your individual enrolled courses, not the overall program.

How much can I expect to pay for my Commonwealth supported place?

The Australian Government has introduced changes to university funding and student contribution fees under its Job-ready Graduates Package. 

The fees in the table below apply to students who commence their program in 2023. Fees for continuing students are available at fees for Commonwealth supported students.

Each course (subject) falls into a band. The band determines the student contribution amount for the course.

Amounts listed in the table below are based on a standard, full-time study load (96 credit points per year) with all courses in the same band. A proportionate fee applies for more or less than the full-time study load or for enrolment in courses (subjects) from a combination of bands.

You can learn how to calculate your exact tuition fees for units from different bands at Fees for Commonwealth supported students.

Maximum student contribution amount for Commonwealth supported places in 2023 for commencing students

Student contribution band by course (subject)

Maximum annual student contribution amount (per EFTSL) in 2023
Education, Postgraduate Clinical Psychology, English, Mathematics, Statistics, Nursing, Indigenous and Foreign Languages, Agriculture $4,124 per standard year
$515 per standard (12 credit point) course
Allied Health, Other Health, Built Environment, Computing, Visual and Performing Arts, Professional Pathway Psychology, Professional Pathway Social Work, Engineering, Surveying, Environmental Studies, Science, Pathology $8,301 per standard year
$1,037 per standard (12 credit point) course
Dentistry, Medicine, Veterinary Science $11,800 per standard year
$1,475 per standard (12 credit point) course
Law, Accounting, Administration, Economics, Commerce, Communications, Society and Culture $15,142 per standard year
$1,892 per standard (12 credit point) course

Student Learning Entitlement

On 1 January 2022, the Government implemented the Student Learning Entitlement (SLE).

  • The SLE allows students 7 years of full-time subsidised study in Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP).
  • Your total SLE amount will be reduced in accordance with your overall study load in a CSP. 
  • Once you have utilised all your SLE, you can not longer study in a CSP.

For more information about SLE, visit Study Assist.

HECS-HELP Loans

The Australian Government provides financial assistance via the HECS-HELP loan scheme, which allows eligible students (such as Australian citizens or holders of an Australian permanent humanitarian visa) to defer payment of up to the full amount of their student contribution.

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.

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 2023 is $326. 

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.

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 total indicative tuition fee for 2023 commencement is AU$36,480.

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