TRANSART INSTITUtE
FOR CREATIVE RESEARCH
Transart Institute for Creative Research has been on the forefront of low-residency, interdisciplinary, international creative research programs since 2004. Developed and run entirely by artists, the Institute offers practice-based curricula: PhD and MFA courses, generating space for experimentation and thinking in any form with abundant resources for sharing and connecting. We champion self-directed, curious, flexible and socially engaged creative research working independently and/or collectively.
Our border-free platform attracts an eclectic international body of students and advisors from equally diverse artistic and academic contexts and geographic locations as part of a global, trans-disciplinary research community; creating opportunities to expand, enhance and sustain individual and collective practices in the world, beyond the walls of the academy.
We support research within all creative genres including: art and social technologies; curatorial practices; cultural engagement through food; docu-fiction and creative writing; ecology and environmental activism; expanded studio practices; experimental pedagogies; fashion and textiles; foreignness, otherness; home, nostalgia and the uncanny; international diaspora and exiled states; language and image; liminal states, interstices, and spacetime; media and design; memory, forgetting, trauma and the archive; movement, dance, choreography; new materialism, object-oriented ontology; olfactory arts; peace, mediation and performative activism; post-nationalism, post-colonialism; publishing as an art practice; robotics; sound, music, field recordings, composing; space and temporary architecture; walking as an art practice.
OUR PARTNER LJMU
In 1823 a small institution was founded that was to revolutionise education in Liverpool and provide opportunities for the working people of the city. The Liverpool Mechanics Institute was founded by people of power and influence who recognised the transformative effects of education and the impact that learning and aspiration could have on individuals, communities and society. It was the first such institution to be founded in England.
This small, pioneering movement was followed by the establishment of the Liverpool Institute and School of Art and the Liverpool Nautical College, and in 1900 Irene Mabel Marsh opened the IM Marsh campus. These organisations together laid the foundations for Liverpool John Moores University, an institution that has grown and flourished and continues to provide opportunities for all.
Today, with a vibrant community of over 23,000 students from over 100 countries world-wide, 2,400 staff and 250 degree courses, Liverpool John Moores University is one of the largest, most dynamic and forward-thinking universities in the UK.
ACCREDITATION AND HISTORY
Born out of a recognition that graduate work for artists required a different model, Transart Institute was founded in 2004 by two artists. It began as a low-residency Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program accredited in Austria in the summer of 2005 with an international body of 25 students and eight faculty. The new practice PhD Creative Research is accredited through Liverpool John Moore University (LJMU). Through our mobile platform, between all institutions and countries, it is our intention to amplify cross-pollination internationally between partnerships, students and faculty. Transart Institute is an independent school partnering with international universities for degree accreditations.
Current Accreditation
Liverpool John Moore University (LJMU)
United Kingdom: School of Art & Design, PhD Creative Research. (2020 - )
Along with UK Universities, LJMU is accredited
by the QAA & Council for Higher Education.
Learn more:
QAA’s Quality Code
(Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education)
Council for Higher Education
ACCREDITATION PARTNERS 2004 - 2022
Liverpool John Moores University
UK: School of Art and Design
MFA Creative Practice + PhD Creative Research
University of Plymouth, (PU)
UK: School of Art, Design & Architecture
MFA + PhD Creative Practice
(2008 - 2020)
Donau University Krems (DUK)
Media Arts, MFA New Media
(2005 - 2009)
TRANSCRIPTS
Liverpool John Moores University: site + form
Plymouth University: site
Donau University Krems: email
DEGREE VALIDATION
Degree recognition service in the U.S.
Educational Credential Evaluators
(a quicker process, as they have worked with our students for many years)
DONAU UNIVERSITY KREMS CONTACTS
Donau University contact for credential evaluators:
Brigitte Müllauer, MSc
Leiterin- Dle StudienServiceCenter
Donau-Universität Krems -Universität für Weiterbildung
Abteilung für Studienmanagement
Dr. Karl Dorrek- Strasse 30
A-3500 Krems an der Donau
Tel +43 2732 893 2281
Fax +43 2732 893 4280
www.donau-uni.ac.at/ssc
Email
PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY CONTACTS
TT/PU Liaison: Michael Bowdidge, PhD email
TT/MFA Program Manager: Susie Quillinan, MFA email
PU Information Specialist: Amanda Russell email
PU Finance + Sustainability: John Popplestone email
PU MFA Registration: Abigail Quinton email
PU Registrar: Donna Strickland email
PU Programs Liaison: Anya Lewin email
CREDITS
PhD
Understanding the value of a research doctorate in credits
Within the UK Higher Education system (within which LJMU awards its degrees) "taught doctoral degrees require at least 540 [UK] credits (270 ECTS), of which a minimum of 420 (210 ECTS) is at level 12 - see National Qualifications Framework". (Source)
In order to acknowledge the level of independent, advanced study which they involve, research doctorates (such as those delivered by the LJMU and TT partnership) are not normally quantified in terms of taught credits, however "all doctoral degrees are expected to meet the generic statement of outcomes set out in the qualification descriptor for doctoral degrees in The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies (QAA, 2014) (QAA, 2014)." (Source)
Given the stringent emphasis placed by the UK QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) upon parity of outcomes and expectations across all doctoral degrees (both taught and research) awarded by UK HEIs (Higher Education Institutes), research doctorates can be deemed to have a broad equivalence to taught doctorates in terms of the numbers of credits earned. While the mode of delivery varies across courses and institutions, the duration of programs (typically 3-4 years), time spent studying and level of study must necessarily be of a directly comparable level in order to maintain the parity of outcomes specified by the QAA.
Credit conversion
Converting UK credits to ECTS or US credit hours is as follows:
"UK Credits are the same at a nominal 10 hours of learning per credit unit across CATS... There is an official equivalence with the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) where two UK credits equals one ECTS credit, based on there being 120 UK credits and 60 ECTS credits to an academic year.[6]
Four CATS points are equivalent to one US credit hour.[9] Rather than award fractional credits, US universities will sometimes consider a typical British 10 credit module to be worth 3 (rather than 2.5) US credit hours, similarly rounding 15 UK credit modules to 4 US credit hours and 20 UK credit modules to 5 US credit hours." [Source]
Working on the basis that the TT/LJMU PhD program equates to 540 UK credits (or 180 UK credits per year), the above conversion process yields a total of 135 US credit hours for the three year program (or 45 US credit hours per annum).
MFA
All Transart MFA modules are graded on a simple Pass/Fail basis. For assistance on converting a Pass/Fail grade to a GPA click here.