Courses and qualifications

The Art History Department at the Open University has a distinguished record of producing innovative, high quality and engaging courses on art history since the Renaissance. Our achievements are reflected by an Excellent rating in the most recent Teaching Assessment Exercise.

The courses we produce aim to break new ground and inspire interest. Several years before a course is launched we assemble a course team of experts including members of the Art History department and outside consultants. In this way our courses reflect not only the research strengths of our department, which were recognised in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise with the award of a 5 rating – but those of specialist contributors from other universities.

The end result for our students is teaching material that is original and informed by the latest research. Our textbooks are widely used in teaching across the country and internationally. We pride ourselves in producing courses that are innovative but also accessible to those with no previous knowledge of art history. We have a strong commitment to conveying complex ideas in clearly presented and well illustrated teaching material that excites the interest of our students. We use a wide range of media, including printed materials, DVD/video, audio materials and web-based learning packages.

Our Courses

The Art History Department has adopted a broad approach to the teaching of art history, enabling students to study courses of both an interdisciplinary and single-disciplinary character. Follow this link for more details about our courses and an overview of some of the ways in which different courses can be combined.