Bachelor's degree

In London

Price on request

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    London

  • Duration

    3 Years

The course has been created to examine the prominent role of the media alongside parallel developments in contemporary culture. You will explore theories drawn from disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. You will also become familiar with the roles that the press, photography, cinema, television and new media play in reflecting and shaping cultural life.

Facilities

Location

Start date

London
See map
Elephant And Castle, SE1 6SB

Start date

On request

About this course

2 A levels plus 5 GCSEs (A-C), or equivalent qualifications, or relevant professional experience/experiential learning, or a combination of formal qualifications and experiential learning.

International and EU students - If your first language is not English you should check you have achieved the correct IELTS level in English: IELTS 6.0

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Course programme

Content

The course will enable you to apply theoretical approaches when you are introduced to a range of media practices including journalism, radio production and film-making during the first two years of the programme.

The Media and Cultural Studies degree is not a vocational course. You are not being trained to be a photographer or a journalist or a television producer. Instead, you will develop a range of transferable skills - the capacity to organise your ideas and make arguments, critique cultural objects and cultural practices, understand how the media is organised and how it shapes content. You will meet a range of practitioners from across the media and cultural industries and develop a capacity to present your ideas in a creative and authoritative way.

In the second year you will undertake work experience within a chosen sector of the media and cultural industries such as advertising agencies, art galleries, museum, magazines, radio stations and television production companies. You will understand current developments across the cultural sector (this will be applied through the work placement) and you can take advantage of the networking opportunities available across University of the Arts.

Structure

Year 1

In Year 1 you are introduced to the core theories of Media and Cultural Studies. We ask questions about culture and cultural differences, about the organisation of the media, about its histories and the histories of technologies, about identities.

We think about the effects of globalisation and digitalisation. We develop a range of different ways to analyse texts (films, advertisements, photographs, television programmes) and to explore and understand media and culture.

On the practical side students undertake a practice-based course each term, such as feature writing, radio production and introduction to film-making. These courses are taught by practitioners - people who work in various areas of the creative industries. While these applied parts of the programme are intrinsic to the way we think about media and culture they do not mean that this programme is a 'practical' course - by exploring aspects of practical media work you will gain insights into the media and cultural industries and your practical work will help illuminate aspects of the theory that we study in other areas of the degree.

Year 2

In Year 2 the theoretical approaches become more focused. We consider the centrality of consumer culture to contemporary identities and look at how consumption is related to media cultures and practices such as branding and design. We also explore the way new media technologies and social networking are changing people's relationship to media and culture and how these changes are part of a process known as 'globalisation'.

In the second year we have a strand of the programme that focuses on working in the media and cultural industries. You will go on visits to different media organisations and you will meet a range of people working in different fields. You will also begin to understand ideas about the 'sociology of the workplace' and the nature of work, how it is changing as a result of new media practices for example.

This strand prepares you for the work placement you will undertake in the summer term of Year 2. We help you find the placement but the process of obtaining one is an important part of your Personal and Professional Development.

Year 3

In Year 3 you focus in the first term on two courses that complement each other - Travelling Cultures (considering the travel, tourism, mobility, displacement and identity shapes cultural artefacts, identities and social lives) and a specific area study of Latin American Media and Culture. You also find out about research methods to help you develop your final project. You will also explore the latest developments in media and cultural studies.

The final part of the degree is the dissertation. This gives you the opportunity to focus on a piece of research developed around an area of study that you are particularly interested in.

Additional information

Payment options: Home/EU Fee £3,290 International Fee £12,250 Fees given as guidance only and will be subject to review.
Comments: This course is taught within the Faculty of Media.
Career opportunities: The skills and knowledge you develop will be invaluable when you leave the programme, either to continue studying at post-graduate level or entering the media and cultural industries where portfolio careers (often freelance) require a range of working practices. These involve a myriad of activities from creative production to curating, promoting, marketing, organising and networking.
Contact person: Dr Lynda Dyson

Media and Cultural Studies

Price on request