Duration
1 year part time
Mode (Location)
On campus
Intake
See How to apply
Fees
AUD $12,992 (2026 indicative first year fee). Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) are not available
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Entry schemes
Access Melbourne is available
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Student experience
Overview
Meet graduate Liz Smith
After a 40-year career in psychology and education, Liz Smith joined the vibrant community of artists at the University of Melbourne’s Southbank Campus, where the students and teachers support one-another, whatever their background. “We’re all from different backgrounds, you only needed to be a graduate to apply – so we’ve got a biologist, a photographer, a couple of graphic artists, an illustrator. There are people from all different walks of life, and that just makes it a more layered, fascinating and experience".
Attending classes two nights a week is a joy, as is having the time to create work. “At the VCA I can go wild! And the wilder I go, the more I love it”.
Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
The course is taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, the proud home of the Victorian College of the Arts and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
Much of the teaching, research and performance takes place in, or near, the new Ian Potter Southbank Centre on the University of Melbourne’s Southbank campus. Our facilities on the University's Parkville campus, including Melba Hall, are also used for teaching, research and performances.
While studying at the Faculty, you will have the chance to benefit from a range of partnerships and engagement activities at major arts companies in Melbourne's Arts Precinct, local and national festivals and sister institutions around the world.
Explore the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
Wilin Centre
Situated in the heart of Melbourne's Arts Precinct, the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development provides exposure to contemporary Indigenous arts practices and supports the recruitment of Indigenous artists, academics and students.
Learn more about the Wilin Centre
Exhibition and Studio spaces
The Stables and Arts Studios
The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music art studio and exhibitions area comprises 465 art studios, work preparation areas, multipurpose installation and project spaces, tutorial rooms, and public exhibition venues, including The Stables and VCA Art Space.
Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery
Visit the Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, our primary exhibition space. It is a professional exhibiting space for graduate and alumni work, Art studio projects, artists in-residence, staff exhibitions, as well as independent local and international exhibitions.
2024 Graduate Exhibition Catalogue
Explore the 2024 VCA Art Grad Show - one of the largest exhibitions of emerging art in the country. See an extraordinary display of new art by more than 160 graduating students from our Sculpture, Photography, Painting, Drawing and Printmaking, Honours, Master of Contemporary Art, Masters of Fine Art, and PhD programs.
With more than 500 ambitious and thought-provoking artworks on display, the 2024 VCA Art Grad Show is a snapshot of the future of artmaking in Australia, introducing the next generation of artists to the world.
Profile
John Meade
Meet John Meade, Head of the Graduate Certificate of Visual Art
Artist and Lecturer in Painting Dr John Meade has been described as having "an omnivorous eye". He uses his extensive creative practice and expertise to steer the Graduate Certificate in Visual Art at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, as course coordinator. He tells us here a bit more about the course.
The Graduate Certificate in Visual Art is unique. It is a part-time graduate course, but your previous degree does not need to be in Fine Art. We attract an incredibly diverse range of students who have probably harboured the idea of studying art for quite a while (in some cases decades) but, for various reasons – be it through choice or circumstance – they have not chanced the enterprise. Some students do come to us with a degree in art but want a refresher, or want to prepare for a coursework masters.
The Graduate Certificate students do three coursework subjects over two semesters: two studio classes and one theory subject each semester. It can be completed in one or two years. We teach students how to think, how to look at art, and how to make art. As most of our students are so fresh, our focus is primarily on making, on engaging with campus activities, and on introducing students to the Melbourne contemporary art world."
What sort of careers or pathways can students expect to go into?
Well, the plan is always that students in Visual Art at the Victorian College of the Arts move into professional practice as artists. However, success comes in many forms. I think most of our students have a great time and their life is enriched by the experience. So, some graduates go on to establishing a career as an artist, some will work in allied fields, taking what they have learned into other creative spaces. And some will just keep at it because they love it. Sustainability is the most important thing for an artist.