Master of Arts Practice

What is this course about?

The aim of this course is to afford the student the opportunity to direct their studies to a focused area for investigation and resolution, to critically analyse and reflect on their creative practice and research investigation in national and international contexts.

The Master of Arts Practice - with specialisations, replaces the Master of Visual and Performing Art, and may be undertaken full-time over one year, or part-time over two years; either by distance education, on campus or in mixed mode, i.e. the first year on campus and the second year by distance education, or vice versa.

The following specialisations are available:

• Master of Arts Practice (Acting) MAPrac(Acting)
• Master of Arts Practice (Advertising) MAPrac(Advert)
• Master of Arts Practice (Circus and Physical Theatre) MAPrac(Circus&PhysTheatre)
• Master of Arts Practice (Communication Design)MAPrac(CommDsgn)
• Master of Arts Practice (Costume Design) MAPrac(CostumeDsgn)
• Master of Arts Practice (Cultural Event Management) MAPrac(CultEventMgt)
• Master of Arts Practice (Directing for Stage) MAPrac(Directing for Stage)
• Master of Arts Practice (Drama and Theatre for Young People) MAPrac(Drama&TheatreYoungPeople)
• Master of Arts Practice (Electronic Arts) MAPrac(ElectArts)
• Master of Arts Practice (Illustration and Drawing) MAPrac(Illstrtn&Drwng)
• Master of Arts Practice (Image, Sound and Text) MAPrac(ImageSnd&Text)
• Master of Arts Practice (Installation Art) MAPrac(InstallationArt)
• Master of Arts Practice (Jewellery Design and Production) MAPrac(JewelleryDsgn&Prod)
• Master of Arts Practice (Lighting Design) MAPrac(LightingDsgn)
• Master of Arts Practice (Online Writing) MAPrac(OnlineWrtg)
• Master of Arts Practice (Performance) MAPrac(Perf)
• Master of Arts Practice (Photomedia) MAPrac(Photom)
• Master of Arts Practice (Publication Design) MAPrac(PublnDsgn)
• Master of Arts Practice (Scriptwriting) MAPrac(Scriptwriting)
• Master of Arts Practice (Set Design) MAPrac(SetDsgn)
• Master of Arts Practice (Sound Production and Design) MAPrac(SndProdn&Dsgn)
• Master of Arts Practice (Stage/Production Management) MAPrac(Stage/ProdnMgt)
• Master of Arts Practice (Television and Screen Direction) MAPrac(TV&ScreenDir)
• Master of Arts Practice (Television Post Production) MAPrac(TVPostProd)
• Master of Arts Practice (Typography) MAPrac(Typog)
• Master of Arts Practice (Visual Arts) MAPrac(VisArts)
• Master of Arts Practice (Visual Effects)MAPrac(VisEffects)

It is a Commonwealth supported course which provides students the opportunity to undertake a supervised creative practice-based project in either; fine arts, performance, photography, theatre, television, sound, text, hybrid arts or new media, or any other creative discipline, which can be exhibited, published, produced, performed or presented; and a writing project, as part of which the student carries out contextual research in creative practices and critical reflection on the practice based project.

The specialisation with which the student graduates is dependent on the nature of the project.

Students may commence in either session.

Professionals teaching you

Students of the course are supervised and guided by lecturers from the School of Communication and Creative Industries experienced in their field.

Admission requirements

Successful completion of an undergraduate award, with not less than 50% of core discipline studies in the final year of the award. Applicants who have not completed an undergraduate award but who have equivalent professional experience will be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for entry into this course are required to submit a Master's project proposal and visual and/or other evidence to support the application.

Applicants must submit details of the infrastructure and resources required to successfully complete the project, and if studying by distance of their ability to access these resources.

English language proficiency

Applicants will be deemed to have sufficient English proficiency if they:

• have completed all their formal studies in one or more of the following countries; or
• were born in one of the following countries and have completed at least one qualification in one of those countries; or
• have completed senior secondary study or at least one year of full-time University study in one of the following countries: American Samoa, Australia, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, United Kingdom, USA, Zambia
  or
• have successfully completed one year of full-time (or part-time equivalent) post-secondary study at an affiliate institution of the University, with English as the medium of instruction and assessment.

All other applicants must explicitly demonstrate proficiency.

Acceptable tests for English proficiency

Any of the following results, attained within the last two years, can be used to demonstrate English proficiency:

• an Academic IELTS (International English Language Testing System) overall score of at least 6.0, and with no score below 5.5;
• a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) paper-based score of 550 and TWE of 5.0;
• a TOEFL computer-based score of 213 and Essay Rating of 5;
• a TOEFL internet-based score of 80 for undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs, and 90 for postgraduate research candidates with a minimum score of 25 in the writing section.
• a Combined Universities Admission Test (CULT) overall score of at least 65;
• a C pass in English at the GCE 'A' level examinations in either Singapore or the United Kingdom;
• completion of the International Baccalaureate diploma with English A2 at higher or sub. Level;
• a C pass in 'Use of English' in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE);
• completion of the UNSW Foundation Studies Certificate with a C pass in 'Use of English';
• completion of an AQF Certificate IV (including English for Academic Purposes);
• successful completion of at least one year of study in a course at Associate Diploma or Diploma level on the Register of Australian Tertiary Education;
• a score of 155 in the verbal component of the STAT test;
• a Pass grade in the Uniworld English College English for Tertiary Entrance course; or
• IRI Diploma of English.

An applicant who does not otherwise meet the University's requirements may be admitted on the recommendation of the Dean of the appropriate faculty.

Internet access

CSU places great emphasis on services to its students. It is a leader in the provision of online services and, in particular, the use of the internet in the support of teaching, administration and communications with students.

The online environment is so integrated into all aspects of student life and the learning experience at CSU that the University now assumes that all on campus and distance education students at CSU will have ongoing access to an internet connected computer capable of communicating with CSU online systems.

Students enrolled in Information Technology subjects (i.e. with an ITC subject code) may be required to have additional hardware and/or software that is deemed essential for the completion of the learning activities in that subject.

Apply now

This course is available to commence study in

Session 1; Session 2