New Zealand Diploma in Arts and Design (Level 6)

Locations and dates

Nelson:

23 February 2026
Length

34 teaching weeks plus 6 weeks of study break
Total credits

120
Fees

2026: $7,272 plus $350 Student Services Fee

A Student Service Fee applies (2025; $2.17 per credit).

Fees listed are for each year of the programme, indicative only and may vary with course selection.

View course details for individual fees.

N.B. The 2026 SSF final fee is currently subject to consultation with learners.
National qualification code

NZ2637

Enhance your technical and creative skills through independent studio work in your chosen field of photography, image, object, and digital design.

diploma in arts and media visual arts and design level 5

This Level 6 diploma builds on your creative experience from the Level 5 programme(external link), allowing you to expand your technical expertise and develop an independent body of work. You’ll deepen your understanding of professional practice, refine your creative direction, and gain the confidence to exhibit, collaborate, and engage with industry professionals.

With opportunities for guest workshops, real-world projects, and end-of-year showcases, this programme supports your growth as a creative practitioner and prepares you for employment or further study in the Bachelor of Arts and Media.(external link)

What you'll learn

Upon successful completion of this programme, you will be able to:

Apply a broad range of specialised technical skills and technologies to design, produce, and present creative work in a selected area of arts, craft, or design
Apply knowledge of historical and contemporary arts, craft, or design movements to inform and strengthen your creative practice
Apply professional business practices and creative processes - including discovery, conceptualisation, review, iteration, prototyping, and presentation - to independently manage projects in response to complex briefs
Apply knowledge of the elements and principles of your chosen creative field to review and quality-assure creative work critically

Courses offered

After exploring all disciplines at Level 5(external link), you’ll now have the opportunity to focus on the creative field that inspires you most.

You’ll study courses in:

Photography
Image
Professional Practice
Critical Studies
Digital Art and Design
Object Design
Studio

This structure allows you to refine your creative direction and develop an independent body of work, preparing you for professional practice or further study in the Bachelor of Arts and Media.(external link)

What learning is like

Students engage in a range of creative and technical practices, including:

Digital design, illustration, and typography
Manual camera operation and photography
Printmaking: lino cuts, monotype, and screen printing
Digital drawing and graphic design
Painting and clay work
Laser cutting
Art and design history: both historical and contemporary
Professional practices: understanding industry standards and workflows
Creating a body of work and portfolio
Holding exhibitions
Giving and receiving feedback and critique

You’ll have opportunities to apply for funding grants, write exhibition proposals, and showcase your work at public exhibitions and events such as the End of Year Showcase, Tā Ramaroa (Light Nelson), and the New Zealand Professional Photography Awards.

Career opportunities

Unleash your creativity and begin your artistic journey with a wide range of art and design programmes.

Entry requirements

You’ll need to have completed the New Zealand Diploma in Arts and Design (Level 5)(external link) or have equivalent knowledge and experience.

If you feel you have the required skills for direct entry, please contact us(external link) to discuss recognition of prior learning options.

Additional requirements

Please see the Supporting documents(external link) section for more information and form templates.

Creative work

As part of your application, you’ll need to show examples of your creative work that demonstrate concept development and presentation. This can include:

Drawings, paintings, or photography

Digital design or multimedia

Sketchbooks or workbooks showing idea development

Finished works or process pieces

We’re looking for your ability to demonstrate technical skill, design process, and creativity.

This article about providing creative work(external link) can also help.

Additional course costs

Our Creative Industries programmes require you to bring your own device/laptop (BYOD) with Adobe Creative Cloud installed in order to complete your studies.

BYOD specifications for Creative Industries programmes:

Processor	Intel or AMD Multi-Core Processor.
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 10 (64 bit) versions 1903 and later. Note: Win version 1607 is not supported.
RAM	16 GB minimum (32 GB recommended)
GPU	2GB of GPU VRAM. (4GB or more recommended) Adobe strongly recommends updating to NVIDIA driver 451.77 or later when using After Effects. Drivers prior to this have a known issue which can lead to a crash.
Hard disk space	15GB of available hard-disk space; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removeable flash storage devices) Additional disk space for disk cache (64GB+ recommended)
Monitor resolution	1920 x 1080 or greater display resolution.
Internet	Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions and access to online services.

Use of Apple products

Across our programmes, we use Microsoft Windows-based applications. As such, we can only sanction Windows-based laptops for use in the degree. Please be aware that you will not be able to log in to our network using an Apple laptop.

SLR camera

You will also need a digital SLR camera to complete the Lens-Based Media courses. Find out more here.(external link)