Guidelines
M.F.A. Standards
Adopted by CAA Board of Directors, April 16, 1977; revised October 12, 1991.DEFINITION AND PURPOSE
The M.F.A., unlike most master's degrees, is used as a guarantee of a high level of professional competence in the visual arts. It is also accepted as an indication that the recipient has reached the end of the formal aspects of his/her education in the making of art, that is to say, it is the terminal degree in visual arts education and thus equivalent to terminal degrees in other fields, such as the Ph.D. or Ed.D.
First and foremost, the profession demands from the recipient of the M.F.A. a certifiable level of technical proficiency and the ability to make art. However, having earned the degree does not necessarily guarantee an ability to teach this proficiency to others. When work toward the M.F.A. has been concentrated in a particular medium, there should be complete professional mastery of that medium. The generalist, whose preparation has been broader and less specialized, must still meet the critical demands of the profession by convincingly demonstrating expertise and knowledge in a number of areas. The need for thorough training of the mind, the eye, and the hand is self-evident. The remainder of this document outlines specific standards and requirements for the M.F.A. that are approved and endorsed by the CAA Board of Directors.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Definition of Credit
Because credits are a unit of measure, reflecting amounts of work over certain periods of time, a precise definition is needed in order to reconcile the differing academic record-keeping arrangements that exist throughout the nation. The College Art Association recognizes a standard in which one semester credit represents three hours of work per week over a semester of at least fifteen weeks (one-quarter credit is the equivalent of 66 percent of a semester credit). Work toward credit may take place in formal classes, critiques, and technical workshops, or may be independent studio activity. While the distribution of time spent between formal and independent options is a decision that must be made by the faculty, who determine specific educational patterns within a given institution and a given discipline, the ratio of three hours of work per credit must be met.
Credit Requirements
The minimum requirement for the M.F.A. is 60 semester credits of course work at the graduate level (or 90 quarter credits), including courses in art history and cognate areas of study. These required credits may not include course work that is required as make-up for undergraduate deficiencies.
Undergraduate degrees (B.A., B.F.A., B.S., B.Ed.) differ in disciplinary credit distribution and educational emphasis. In order to compensate for these differences in the studies (both undergraduate and graduate) leading ultimately to the M.F.A. degree, the following combined (undergraduate plus graduate) semester credit totals are recommended: art studio, 100; history of art, 24. However, new genres/disciplines in the visual arts at the graduate level may require or take into consideration undergraduate study outside traditional art studio areas (video and computer-based art, for example). Thus the total semester credit hours recommended for the undergraduate/graduate program leading to the M.F.A. in studio art may have to be adjusted to include appropriate course work relevant to new genres of studio practice. The above recommendations are not absolute minimum requirements, but provide reasonable guidelines for faculties concerned with maintaining the standards of the profession.
In addition to the required number of credits, which are essential, the M.F.A. as a terminal degree demands a level of maturity that can develop only from study over an extended period of time. It is strongly recommended that there be a balance between classes with scheduled meetings and those that are supervisory; the practice of basing the M.F.A. entirely on supervisory courses and individual critiques must be discouraged, as this format does not lend itself to sustained intellectual, artistic, and theoretical exchange. Moreover, CAA strongly recommends that two years of study for the degree be considered an absolute minimum, with three years preferable and advisable.
Studio Curriculum
It is not the intention of CAA to provide curriculum outlines and thus undermine the valid principle of diversity in higher education. Credit distribution must be left to individual programs in the belief that they will capitalize on their strengths and minimize their weaknesses in order to provide the most sound education possible. At the same time, there are certain requirements and standards that should be considered in every program of study.
Graduate faculties have the responsibility of structuring courses and course sequences in studio disciplines to lead to the achievement of professional competence. This goal may be met through concentration in any one specific discipline (painting, sculpture, performance, ceramics, video, etc.) and/or by intelligently designed interdisciplinary programs of study. For the latter, it should be stressed that the range of diversity must, of necessity, be limited in order to guarantee the depth of involvement demanded by graduate standards in each discipline. Each student deserves from the staff careful consideration of individual needs and conscientious direction in planning an appropriate course of study.
Requirements in Art History, Art Criticism, and Other Cognate Areas
Much of a practicing artist's knowledge of our cultural heritage is gained through studying art history. Accordingly, formal courses in art history are considered essential to an M.F.A. program (CAA recommends a minimum combined undergraduate and graduate total of 24 semester credits). For M.F.A. candidates, advanced courses on various historical periods, styles, and themes are strongly recommended. To encourage greater diversity among students seeking the professional degree, requirements should include options stressing the history and role of the visual arts in cultures other than those of Western Europe and North American. (Statistics compiled by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design indicate that the number of students of color completing the M.F.A. degree remains disproportionately low.) Seminars in modern and contemporary art history, theory, and criticism are especially appropriate for M.F.A. candidates. Art criticism, which develops from art history and in some respects cannot be separated from it, is another crucial part of the informed artist's education. Self-criticism and external comparison are among the means by which artists evaluate their ideas, processes, and/or the objects they make; these skills cannot be left entirely to intuition or casually grasped assumptions. A large part of criticism of self and others is verbal (in many cases, a major component of a work of art may be verbal); therefore, verbal skills must not be ignored. The need for continual writing, criticism, and self-explication in the careers of most artists is self-evident.
Other disciplines of educational value to the student should also be encouraged where relevant, and may in some cases replace art history, theory, and/or criticism courses. In addition to helping students design their programs of study, the faculty must consider all of their individual needs and advise M.F.A. candidates to take full advantage of appropriate resources in areas both in and outside the visual arts that are available in the M.F.A. granting institution, guiding them to learning in such cognate areas as will augment the total educational experience.
Theses and Comprehensive Examinations
A written thesis on art history or theory should not necessarily be required; however, a critical statement, in writing, on the student's work, its development, and its cultural and historical references should be insisted on as a logical alternative.
Comprehensive, out-of-class art history examinations, whether oral or written, should not be required. High-quality performance in course work itself can be counted on as assurance of the student's having a good working knowledge of the material.
Graduate Exhibition
As a final step prior to receiving the degree, each M.F.A. candidate should be required to mount a substantial exhibition of his/her work. Some schools face a difficult problem of providing satisfactory spaces for individual exhibitions, which should be solved by finding large facilities for group shows, either on or off campus. Even when space considerations necessitate group exhibitions, however, every care must be taken to insure that individual students are able to place a sufficient number of works together for viewers to assess their development. This is particularly important in contexts in which the M.F.A. exhibition serves as an introduction of the student's work to a larger professional art community. Since the profession demands from M.F.A. degree recipients an ability "to make art," a faculty, institutional, and public review of the final product is absolutely necessary.
Slide Portfolio and Retention of Student Work
A slide portfolio of the M.F.A. exhibition should be required and kept by the school for the record. In addition, institutional resources should, if possible, be used to purchase one or more examples of work for the school's permanent collection. CAA, in its resolution of April 29, 1972, has discouraged the all-too-prevalent past practice of institutions demanding, without compensation, examples of student work. The acquisition of student work assumes the existence of adequate display and/or storage facilities for artwork.ADMISSIONS
Preadmission Preparation and Dealing with Deficiencies
Admission to M.F.A. programs should be based on the nature, extent, and quality of undergraduate preparation, including courses in studio art, art history, and other academic subjects. Quality of studio preparation can best be judged on the basis of careful evaluation of work done at the undergraduate level; therefore, a portfolio review is regarded as an absolute necessity in the admissions process.
While many institutions consider the B.F.A. to be the standard qualifying degree, the fact that the applicant has attended a B.A. or B.S.-granting institution does not necessarily rule out acceptance in most M.F.A. programs. Whatever the undergraduate degree, most entering graduate students tend not to be completely prepared in one or more of the areas cited above and will require remedial work.
Prior to the admission of a successful applicant, the graduate faculty should determine the individual's deficiencies in studio art, art history, and general studies and inform the student of its findings. The prospective student should also be given a clear indication of the prerequisite make-up the institution will require, emphasizing that no course work to compensate for gaps in undergraduate preparation can be counted as contributing to the minimum number of credits required for the M.F.A. degree.
Advising on Degree Requirements
Admission committees are urged to clearly inform each potential student of the institution's M.F.A. requirements and other relevant matters concerning the specific make-up of the degree program, pointing out the various guidelines previously outlined in this document, including the minimum of 60 graduate credits, and other curricular requirements.
The M.A. as a Qualifying Prerequisite
Some institutions use the M.A. degree (30 credits) as a qualifying prerequisite for final acceptance into M.F.A. candidacy, allowing the student to apply the earned credits toward the higher degree. This practice is legitimate only if the quality of work toward the M.A. is acceptable within the terminal degree standards, and if total degree requirements are ultimately met.GRADUATE FACULTY
It is axiomatic that M.F.A. programs should have excellent and well-qualified teachers. While quality of teaching is of primary importance, professional recognition of individual faculty members is also desirable. Not every good teacher needs to be a recognized star, but CAA is concerned that all graduate faculty members be fully competent professionally and that they be professionally active in their respective disciplines and fields. This standard does not necessarily imply the imposition of age and experience standards. Some very young artist/teachers are as well qualified as many faculty members who have taught for a number of years. Each individual must be judged on his/her own strengths and weaknesses.FACILITIES
A faculty needs to be large enough so that students can receive the amount of instruction they deserve, and diverse enough in its areas of expertise to cover thoroughly all fields offered. It is not necessary for every institution to offer everything; however, the disciplines that it does and does not offer should be made clear to all applicants. To guarantee graduate programs of quality, it is of critical importance that schools or university departments offer fields of study only when excellent instructional resources are available in a specific discipline or within an interdisciplinary range.
Visiting artists and visiting lecturers can provide inspiration and broadened horizons for any student body (and faculty), multiplying diversity of intellectual, aesthetic, and cultural points of view, from which all can benefit. Full value from such outside authorities, however, usually demands more extended contact than that afforded by a one-hour lecture, which can leave students with only fragmentary, superficial impressions of what they have heard and seen. Visits of several days duration are recommended. It is also important that affirmative action goals not be solely addressed through visiting artist programs; rather, permanent faculties should reflect not only gender but also other demographic patterns.
M.F.A. programs should be offered only in those areas that are fully and adequately equipped with a reasonably full range of available technology and satisfactory working spaces for the students. While facilities can never take the place of gifted teachers and students, the better they are, the more those using them will benefit. Specialized equipment is absolutely necessary in some areas, and students should not only become technically competent in its use, but should also understand fully safe shop and studio practices and procedures.FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Private studios for graduate students are a near necessity, though they should not be so private--so segregated--that they prevent healthy contact and interchange. Independent studios should be supplemented by readily available access to all shops, labs, and general studios. In institutions that do not provide private studios for graduate students, students must have access to a private communal space set aside for their specific needs as a community.
No M.F.A. program can exist without adequate library, museum, and exhibition resources. The need for access to the library at all hours, within reason, is clear. M.F.A. students must have reasonable access to the visual cultures of the past and have continuous contact with the works of the present.
It is not appropriate, within the limits of this document, to deal at length with the important subject of graduate assistantships and other forms of financial assistance. At the same time, CAA wishes to enunciate two principles that have direct bearing on the question of standards in M.F.A. programs:
1. No graduate academic credit should be given for teaching or other assistantship work for which pay is received.
2. When graduate faculties distribute assistantship assignments, they must consider with care the hours each week needed by their students to complete the academic obligations expected of them. The foregoing requirements and guidelines define clearly the amount of time and commitment necessary to justify the granting of the M.F.A. Undue interference with the right of students to apply themselves to their primary mission in graduate school is both unfair and unwise.