Modules

With 50% core and 50% elective modules, you can choose which specialisms you study. This means you can design your own course and determine your direction right from the start – it gives you the freedom to shape your future. The core modules offer insight into the global creative industries, their development and mechanics; the elective modules are structured around three broad areas of concern and examine: 1. Issues of structural inequality across the sector eg gender, work, place 2. The challenges of technological and social change 3. Regional, world, economic and political structures. The MA culminates in a 13,000–15,000-word dissertation. You are expected to take 2 core modules and choose 2 elective modules each term. Work on the Dissertation progresses through terms 2-3 with the support of your individual supervisor and should be completed by the end of August. In your First term you will study:

• Global Creative Industries (core): surveys and offers an analytical framework and insight into the development of the cultural and creative industries at a global scale.

• Creative Cities (core): explores the idea of the creative city and to examine creative cities in a globalised world, their economic, social and cultural transformations and the assumptions and policies supporting their development.

• Culture: enables you to explore ideas of what culture is and to appraise a range of important strands of the development of contemporary thought in relation to culture, economy and society.

• Ethics and Social Responsibility in the Creative Industries: allows you to assess the social impact of the production of culture and consider the ethical challenges that characterise the creative industries in the 21st century.

• International Organisations in Global Politics: provides an introduction to the politics of policy-making in the main international organisations and familiarises you with their work and governance. In your second term you will cover: Global Creative Industries – - Area Studies (core): enables you to develop area specialisation and to examine local/regional/world processes in the creative industries, how they interrelate and interact.

• Introduction to Research (core): will equip you with a range of methodologies with which to design robust and effective research strategies and carry out research.

• Globalisation and Identity: draws on examples from the creative industries to consider how culture has been produced in relation to globalised markets and explore the tensions between globalisation and local and national identities.

• Digital Cultures: explores the sorts of roles new communication technologies – and in particular digital media, social media and the internet – play in the transformation of cultural economic, political and social structures and practices.

• Developments in Communications Policy: provides an introduction to the debates surrounding communications policy process and an analysis of current developments in communications policies globally.

• Development and World Politics: offers a comprehensive review of the connections between the processes and practices of development and the functioning of the international political system (with a particular focus on developing countries).

• Global Political Economy – Contemporary Approaches: introduces you to the field of global political economy, and enables you to critically engage with the role, purpose and power of key agents and structures of a given political economy.

Assessment method

Learning will be assessed through a number of diverse but complementary methods including essay, report, creative portfolio, research proposal and a dissertation. The rationale for this is to expose you to different approaches, to help you make the most of your abilities and to assess a range of skills and knowledge. The typical word-length of written assignments for modules with one summative assessment is ca. 3,000 words. You are able to apply your academic work to the real world.