MA Media & Communication

Delivery:
Full time according to Funding Council definitions, Sandwich (Thick) out of college.

Apply now:
Apply now
Visit us:
Visit us
Call us:
Contact us
Request a prospectus:
Request a prospectus

This flexible course gives you the chance to study communication and media theory at an advanced level. It will provide you with a highly employable set of skills, together with the ability to engage with theoretical concepts and display critical understanding and analysis.

You can tailor this MA to suit your needs, with the option of a start date in September or January, and three exit points from the course, each leading to a different qualification: Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or Master’s degree in Media & Communication.

Significantly, this MA also offers you the option of a 30-week professional placement within the communication or media sector, designed to enhance your employability after graduation. You will be offered a range of options, giving you the opportunity to focus on subjects that are of interest and relevance to you.

This MA is underpinned by our practice-led research expertise, which allows you to develop your capability to engage with research and communicate your ideas in a variety of media, including text, video and audio.

Key information

Next start date:

September 2019, January 2020

Location:

Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus

Duration:

September: 1 year full-time (18 months with optional placement). January: 16 months full-time (2 years with optional placement)

Required subjects:

Mass Communication, Media Communication, Business Studies or Social Sciences

Entry requirements:

For 2019 entry: A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in a required subject, or equivalent. For more information check out our full entry requirements.

International entry requirements:

If English is not your first language you'll need IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and 6.0 in each component of speaking, listening and reading. For more information check out our full entry requirements.

Course details

On this course you will be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. You will also benefit from regular guest lectures from industry.

Download the programme specification (pdf 331kb)

Core units

Communication Theory: The study of communication theory, with an emphasis on the role of the media and its relationships with societies and cultures. You'll explore the historical development of mass media and theories for studying mass communication and its processes, with a focus on the professionalisation of communication and its impact on the public sphere. This covers contemporary issues associated with communication theory. You'll develop a critical awareness of the role and influence of communication in contemporary society.
Media in Transition: How media institutions are evolving as a response to societal, economic and technological changes. The unit offers contextual knowledge to underpin the remainder of the course, and you'll be expected to develop an advanced understanding of an area in media and communication that interests you and supports your future career goals.
Research Methods in Media & Communication: Develop an appreciation of the key principles and practices of research in the field of media and communication. You'll be offered a broad grounding in social science research methods and be prepared to rigorously design, conduct, report and evaluate research. You'll also be introduced to opportunities and challenges of conducting applied research using industry data collection and analysis techniques. The course is built around three complementary strands. These are generic social science research training, subject specific research training and industry specific research commissioning and interpretation.
Communicating Ideas: You'll be expected to deliver research outcomes in a variety of ways, including text, video and audio. This unit’s intention is to improve your ability to communicate with a range of audiences and to generate impact from the research which emerges from your educational experience, and the future research projects you might be involved in. You'll develop skills in a new language of academic expression, and your fluency with media technology will help you articulate ideas.
Exhibition: An opportunity to share key ideas and thinking within your research project to an audience of students and academics. The skills developed in Communicating Ideas will help you present your ideas using a range of media technology. Your work will also be informed by the underpinning provided in the Research Methods in Media & Communication unit.
Master’s Project: Generate an individual piece of research adopting either a humanities or social sciences approach. This is likely to draw from what you learnt during the postgraduate diploma stage of the course. It's possible your Project will embrace practice-led research if your production skills gained from the Communicating Ideas unit are excelling.

Option units (choose two)

Cross-Platform Media: Theory & Practice: Through the analysis of multiple cross-platform media case-studies, you are encouraged to develop an informed and critical understanding of the academic approaches and methodologies that can be used to address cross-platform practice.
Brands & Brand Communication: Critically analyse the key theoretical approaches to branding and integrated brand communications planning and delivery. Evaluate the specific individual theory and practice of each of the main marketing communications’ disciplines, in order to appreciate how organisations plan, implement, and evaluate this expenditure for performance success.
Intercultural Communication: Develop the knowledge and skills to critically evaluate varied forms and approaches to communication in an intercultural context. You will also develop the ‘soft (interpersonal) skills’ to be able to work effectively cross-culturally.
Media & Crisis: You will gain an understainding of the function and role of the media during crises. Review the various theoretical perspectives on crisis reporting and the impact of media coverage of national and international crises on audiences.
Youth Culture & Media: Investigates the kinds of media platforms and practices that make youth culture move, examining how cultural forms travel, catch on, and spread from city to city, from nation to nation. The unit draws from a range of media practices from blogging to music videos to street art, focusing in particular on how youth culture travels transnationally via media and mediated exchange.
Music, Media & Communication: Explore the historical role of music within broadcast media; theoretical approaches to the analysis of the function of music embedded within media and the influence of media on the contemporary musical canon.
New Media Innovation: You will critically engage with key issues and debates facing a networked media landscape, where audiences as passive consumers make way for collaborative reporting, crowdsourcing. Ways in which new media can complement and enhance existing journalistic processes will be at the forefront – including data journalism, increased transparency and accountability, as well as mobile news applications and augmented reality.

Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year.

Programme specification

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Your application

How and when to apply

There is no application deadline for this course. However, if you will need a visa to come to the UK to study, think carefully about the length of time it will take for your visa application to be processed and make sure your visa will be ready in time for the beginning of your course.

Click the green ‘Apply now’ button to submit your application free of charge online through myHub, our application portal. You will create your own myHub account so that you can track the progress of your application. Don’t forget to save your application as you go; you can return to it at as many times as you want before you submit it. For more information visit our How to apply section.

Placements

An exciting and valuable part of your studies with us is the opportunity to engage in a 30 week optional placement during this degree. The placement provides you with the experience of how an organisation operates, as well as an opportunity to enhance your personal development and future employability. This means you can begin to put theory into practice.

Find out more about placements for postgraduate students

Typical placement roles

What support is available?

Our placement students have previously worked with

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

The normal requirements for embarking upon a postgraduate taught degree are:

A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in a required subject.
Required subjects include: Media Communication, Mass Communication, Business Studies or Social Sciences.

If you lack the formal academic qualifications needed to enter a postgraduate or post-experience degree, there are several alternative routes to follow - some based on experience. Contact the Future Students Enquiry team for more information.

International entry requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you can understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and 6.0 in each component, or equivalent.

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level.

You can also find further details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our study postgraduate entry requirements page

Careers

This course will provide you with advanced-level skills of critical understanding and analysis. You’ll develop the capability to engage with research and communicate the findings of your research using text, video and audio methods. This course will empower you to enhance the impact of your research outcomes, but will also provide you with skills which will be of value within the context of your future employment.

Career opportunities for graduates of this course can be in a number of industries from news media to marketing and government communication, along with education, research and management and business organisations.

Typical starting job roles

Further study

Costs and fees

You can find full information about the deposits required and how to pay your fees in our postgraduate fees and funding section, including details of the Postgraduate Loan (subject to fee status).

All fees are quoted in pounds sterling and are per year. Fees quoted are for tuition only unless stated otherwise. Your tuition fees will be the same for each year of your course.

Find out more about living expenses for postgraduate students

No hidden extras

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

One set of study-related consumables such as a memory stick/ DVD
Materials for laboratory and field-based teaching activity
Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and fieldwork, and non-financial support whilst on placement
A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service
The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces
IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow
Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme
Disability and additional learning support
The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills
24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Costs of living and other expenses you need to consider

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website.
Optional fieldwork travel, outdoor wear and footwear (where applicable)
Text books, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of text books and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shops stock a wide range of stationery supplies on both campuses.

Repeat units

Deposits

International (non-EU) students need to pay a non-refundable £2,000 deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment. There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit:

You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

Financial help available from BU

Our staff

On this course you will be taught by staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This could include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners and research students, many of whom are actively engaged in research and/or professional practice which is integrated into the teaching of this course. Please note that staff can change.

Dr Nael Jebril – Programme Leader

Dr Nael Jebril is Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Director of the cross-faculty MA in Media and Communication. Prior to joining Bournemouth University, he was an academic fellow in media and democracy at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University, where he taught Media, Public Opinion and Politics.

Nael is former convenor of Oxford University’s Media Research Seminars (2012 – 2014), and co-recipient of the 2016 Goldsmith Book Prize by Harvard Kennedy School. He is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and, previously, he was an associate member of Green Templeton College, Oxford University (2012 - 2015), and a research associate at the Center for Journalism, University of Southern Denmark (2013 - 2014).

In 2013, Nael held a visiting fellowship at SDU’s Center for Contemporary Middle East Studies, and in 2009, he was a visiting scholar at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research. Nael’s research interests include media and democratization, political communication, audience studies, news journalism, and the Middle East. His research received support from the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), the Danish Social Science Research Council (DSSRC), the BBC and the Broadcasting Board of Governance (BBG). Dr Jebril welcomes applications from prospective PhD candidates in Journalism Studies.

View Dr Nael Jebril's staff profile

Courses changes

Changes in 2017

Date	Changes to this course
14/09/2017	Where the change was made: Key Information Change: Required subjects added for 2018 onwards: Mass Communication, Media, Communication, Business Studies or Social Sciences Previous text: No required subjects
30/01/2017	Where the change was made: Course details content Change: Removal of option units Previous text: Media, Social Cohesion & Extremisms Exploring Word of-Mouth Communication Cross-Platform Media: Theory & Practice Media, Power & Conflict Critical Perspectives in Media Communication Applied Creativity Women, Gender & Media Brand & Brand Communication Media & Fictional Violence Intercultural Communication Digital Media Literacles Media History Media & Crisis Media Economics Youth Culture & Media Alternative Media Media Power & Conflict Media, Journalism & the Environment Music, Media & Communication New Media Innovation

Date

Changes to this course

14/09/2017

Where the change was made: Key Information
Change: Required subjects added for 2018 onwards: Mass Communication, Media, Communication, Business Studies or Social Sciences
Previous text: No required subjects

30/01/2017

Where the change was made: Course details content
Change: Removal of option units
Previous text:

Media, Social Cohesion & Extremisms
Exploring Word of-Mouth Communication
Cross-Platform Media: Theory & Practice
Media, Power & Conflict
Critical Perspectives in Media Communication
Applied Creativity
Women, Gender & Media
Brand & Brand Communication
Media & Fictional Violence
Intercultural Communication
Digital Media Literacles
Media History
Media & Crisis
Media Economics
Youth Culture & Media
Alternative Media
Media Power & Conflict
Media, Journalism & the Environment
Music, Media & Communication
New Media Innovation