Course summary
Join a pioneering MA Media and Communications programme in a world-leading department. Founded in 1993, this Master's programme reflects the research-led interdisciplinary approach we take to media and communications that has made us leaders in the field. We value the creative and the critical and their interrelationships, to explore and interrogate how the complex, mediated worlds we live in work.
- You’ll study in one of the top Media, Communications and Cultural Studies departments globally. We are ranked second in the UK for 'world-leading or internationally excellent' research (Research Excellence Framework, 2021) and 16th in the world (third in the UK) in the 2024 QS World Rankings by Subject.
- The programme aims to provide you with ways to understand, analyse and intervene within the complex, mediated worlds we live in, from how the digital age has transformed our communicative experiences to how the mediated worlds impact the rituals of our daily lives.
- Our teaching is theory-driven, but you will also have the opportunity to undertake a practice option in a range of areas, including journalism, campaigns and design, and the Screen School.
- You’ll complete a dissertation, where you will research a subject that ignites your interest. From creativity and AI, and post-pandemic digital practices to queerness in gaming, these are just some of the topics that past students have researched, but your dissertation topic is entirely up to you.
- We encourage you to look at issues holistically. Alongside lectures and seminars, we run workshops, screenings and cultural trips to encourage you to explore the role of the media in our lives as widely as possible – from the individual and organisational level to corporations, the state, and the market across both the public and private sectors.
- Every year we change the content you study to relate to existing issues, so we’ll always be working on what’s current. We take a collaborative approach, bringing in many different intellectual ideas and calling upon a whole range of ways of thinking which have been traditionally compartmentalised.
- Together, we will investigate modern-day issues to establish how the media are implicated in different aspects of life and the way the world functions.
Modules
Compulsory modules Introduction to Media and Communications Theory This core module will introduce you to key theories and enable you to develop and explore interdisciplinary perspectives on the study of contemporary processes of mediation. The content of the module changes in response to current debates but has at its core a concern with the role media plays in fostering and challenging inequalities. Does the development and expansion of digital media lead to new forms of media and new ways of experiencing and intervening within our worlds? Questions of how to engage with cultures of inequality have been at the heart of media and cultural studies, and this will be reflected throughout the module, where we aim to take an intersectional approach and are committed to developing an anti-racist curriculum. You will explore new ways of understanding media whilst developing your knowledge of key foundational debates that are still relevant now. The theories and skills you learn will form the basis for the more specific analytical skills and knowledge you will develop in your options and your dissertation. Dissertation You will complete a dissertation based on independent research, which is supported by a module in research skills training. Your dissertation can explore any subject of your choice. Topics recently explored by students include: creativity and AI, self-media work and the creative industries, photomaking and photosharing practices, hashtag activism and campaigns for social justice, digital practices post-pandemic, disinformation and post-truth, queerness in gaming, Chinese-American creators on YouTube, health communication, personalised advertising, K-Pop and mental health, podcasting and digital storytelling. Optional modules You will choose optional modules worth 90 credits, at least 60 of which must be from the list offered by the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies. Options are research-led specialist approaches to the fields of media, communication, and cultural studies, which reflect the department’s leading role in shaping debates. We are unique in our diversity of approaches, which draw from media and communications and cultural studies research, humanities and social sciences approaches, and in theory- and practice-driven work. Our options reflect the broad research groupings within the department, which include: Media and Democracy: research which explores the media’s contribution to democracy, including the changing nature of journalism and political communication; studying globalisation in relation to issues of diaspora and nationhood. Economy, Culture and Communication: investigating communication and discourse in finance and financial media; everyday representations and understandings of the economy and economic life; creative labour, neoliberalism and organisational practices in the arts and cultural industries; the impact of the promotional professions (branding, PR, marketing) on the economy, culture and society. Media Futures: bringing together humanities and social sciences approaches to understand the changing role of media technologies and global media flows in society, economy, identity, and science. Gender, Feminism and Contemporary Cultures: connecting the long tradition of work within the department on culture, representation, embodiment and affect to its specific strengths in gender, race, sexuality and labour in national and international contexts. Screen Cultures and Media Arts: consolidating the long-standing focus on screen cultures within the department, combined with an exploration of media arts such as photography, video, digital imagining, immersive media, sound and performance. Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.
Assessment method
The MA is assessed primarily through coursework essays and written projects. Practical modules may require audiovisual elements to be submitted. It will also include a dissertation of approximately 12,000 words.
Entry requirements
You should have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard in a relevant/related subject. You might also be considered if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level. We accept a wide range of international qualifications. If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
No fee information has been provided for this course
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Sponsorship information
AHRC.
Provider information
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross
Lewisham
SE14 6NW