The UAL Level 4 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design is a transformative qualification that provides a transition from general education to autonomous specialist art and design education.
The qualification has been designed to encourage independent exploration, experimentation and risk taking. This enables learners to demonstrate the ability to be autonomous in their specialist practice and demonstrate a full understanding of the standards required to achieve progression into higher education, employment or entrepreneurship.
UAL Awarding Body is currently the UK's largest provider of the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design qualification.
Please read the UAL Awarding Body statements of purpose for this qualification:
More information
To find out more about this qualification please email academic.awarding@arts.ac.uk.
Contact
To find out more about the academic content of this qualification please contact academic.awarding@arts.ac.uk.
For all non-academic enquires please chose an appropriate department via our Contact Us page.

Qualifications at a glance
Foundation Diploma
- Level - 4
- Units - 3
- Total Qualification Time (hours) - 1200
- Guided Learning Hours (GLH) - 680
- Typical course duration - 1 year
- UCAS points - N/A
- Qualification Accreditation Number (QAN) - 603/3139/2
- Typical progression - Higher education, employment, self-employment, other training opportunities.
Specification and documents
UAL Level 4 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design specification (PDF 2.2MB)
Delivery guidance available upon request from academic.awarding@arts.ac.uk.
Stakeholder support
This qualification has been developed in collaboration with subject practitioners and further education colleges to ensure that it provides learners with the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to prepare learners for employment and/or support a role in the workplace.
You can request Letters of support for this qualification.
Email: qualdev.awarding@arts.ac.uk.
Working with us
For first delivery in 2018/19 academic year by approved centres.
These qualifications have been recently developed, and a small selection of centres will be delivering them during their first year of operation.
For further information, or to register your interest in order to be notified when the qualifications are ready to be offered to all centres, please contact the Qualification Development team at qualdev.awarding@arts.ac.uk.
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Millie Beck, ‘Communication’, Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, Leeds Arts University | Origins Creatives 2024.jpg