Media and Communication Industries MA

This course is in clearing

Overview

Course options

Select year

MA

  • MA Media and Communication Industries, home applicant, full time

    • Home Applicant
    • Full time, 1 year
    • Pound 10800 per year
  • MA Media and Communication Industries, home applicant, part time

    • Home Applicant
    • Part time, 2 years
    • Pound 1800 per 30 credit module
  • MA Media and Communication Industries, international applicant, full time

    • International Applicant
    • Full time, 1 year
    • Pound 15420 per year
    International applications are closed for 2024

MA

  • MA Media and Communication Industries, home applicant, full time

    • Home Applicant
    • Full time, 1 year
    • Pound 10800 per year
  • MA Media and Communication Industries, international applicant, full time

    • International Applicant
    • Full time, 1 year
    • Pound 15420 per year

What makes this course different

Industry links

This course supports you in investigating contemporary media and marketing communication industries through research, industry work/study experience, and (optionally) by developing your media production skills.

Worldwide connections

Exploring changes across media businesses in the UK and worldwide, you will be assisted in investigating chosen topics, from working practices and governance, to co-creation and use, across creative industries, from digital publishing, audiovisual, mobile and social media, to advertising and other promotional industries.

Multiple resources

Our course gives you access to a broad range of expertise in the School of Arts and Digital Industries and the School of Social Sciences, both at UEL. We have a wide network of industry professionals and researchers.

Course modules

NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.

Download course specification

Your future career

Your future career

The course will prepare students for a variety of careers in the management and production of media content and services, both in the UK and worldwide. Students will be able to demonstrate both academic and applied skills in research, planning and communication, and those pursuing practice-based options will be able to demonstrate enhanced skills in content creation and production processes.

Students will also be equipped to work in communications in broader contexts such as in communications regulation and compliance and media policy, marketing communications and promotion, and various strategic and support services across the media and creative industries. Our students will also be well placed to pursue further research at PhD level, and even pursue an academic career.

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.

How we support your career ambitions

We offer dedicated careers support, further opportunities to thrive, such as volunteering and industry networking. Our courses are created in collaboration with employers and industry to ensure they accurately reflect the real-life practices of your future career and provide you with the essential skills needed. You can focus on building interpersonal skills through group work and benefit from our investment in the latest cutting edge technologies and facilities.

Career Zone

Our dedicated and award-winning team provide you with careers and employability resources, including:

  • Online jobs board for internships, placements, graduate opportunities, flexible part-time work.
  • Mentoring programmes for insight with industry experts 
  • 1-2-1 career coaching services 
  • Careers workshops and employer events 
  • Learning pathways to gain new skills and industry insight

Mental Wealth programme

Our Professional Fitness and Mental Wealth programme which issues you with a Careers Passport to track the skills you’ve mastered. Some of these are externally validated by corporations like Amazon and Microsoft.

Our Mental Wealth programme

We are careers first

Our teaching methods and geographical location put us right up top

  • Enterprise and entrepreneurship support 
  • We are ranked 6th for graduate start-ups 
  • Networking and visits to leading organisations 
  • Support in starting a new business, freelancing and self-employment 
  • London on our doorstep

What you'll learn

  • Advanced understanding of media and communication industries, their economic or business applications, their industrial and management structures and methods, their creative practices and techniques, their activities and influence on users, stakeholders and societies.
  • The ways in which cultural and media organisations and practices intersect with political and economic processes, cultural meaning-making, creativity and social communications 
  • The political, economic, social, cultural and technological forces that influence the media and communication industries
  • The ways in which creative artefacts are originated, produced, distributed, appropriated and used
  • The organisation of work and professional and occupational codes and practices in cultural production, distribution and reception 
  • The legal, ethical and other regulatory frameworks, including the intellectual property framework, that are relevant to media and cultural production, distribution, circulation, and reception 
  • How to engage critically with major thinkers, contemporary researchers and debates within the field, putting them to productive use
  • Develop critically informed analysis and evaluation of cultural texts and practices associated with media and marketing communication industries, and your own work.

How you'll learn

You'll be taught by a range of staff, some of whom are practitioners and/or published researchers in the area they teach. The assessments focus on a mix of research and practical skills some of which are presented as 'live or simulated briefs' as well as applied or academic research projects. This ensures that the practice-led and research-informed teaching is relevant to industry and the world of work as well as the pursuit of advanced PG study (MPhil, PhD) and research careers.

Our staff are well placed to take advantage of a range of professional and research networks, and industry contacts. Each module is designed with practical components and a reflective component, with the intention that students develop an ability to comment critically on and justify their creative process.

Guided independent study

When not attending timetabled lectures or workshops, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This will typically involve skills development through online study, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects and preparing coursework assignments and presentations. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, and specialist facilities, such as edit suites, the library, the full Microsoft Office software, including MS Teams, and Moodle: our Virtual Learning Environment.

Academic support

Our academic support team provides help in a range of areas – including learning and disability support

Dedicated personal tutor

When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of the academic course team who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at UEL and who will show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer.

Workload

For full-time time study, you will spend around 330 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities to complete the MA. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module.

The approximate workload hours for this course are:

  • Full-time scheduled teaching - 332 hours
  • Guided independent study - 1768 hours

Your timetable

Your individualised timetable is normally available within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9.00am and 7.30pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.

Class sizes

To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally attracts 20 new students per year. Lecture sizes are normally a maximum of 40 students.

In the classroom, you will be taught in groups of 18–20 students. However, this can vary by academic year.

Our MA partners include:

The BCMA is the global industry body for branded content practitioners, run by practitioners, promoting best practices, sharing knowledge and growing the branded content industry. BCMA will also recommend placements to its member companies.

  • Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (and associated organisations involved in media policy, research and production)
  • CY Film Productions - an independent film and TV production company.
  • Drum Omnicom Media Group's award-winning content and creative business is dedicated to helping ambitious brands create and influence popular culture.
  • Instinct PR - a leading consumer public relations agency founded by Jonathan Kirkby, a PR expert for over 12 years and UEL alumni.
  • New Internationalist - the world's leading independent publisher of magazines and books on politics, global justice and equality.
  • OpenDemocracy - based in Dalston, openDemocracy is an independent global media platform publishing up to 60 articles a week and attracting over eight million visits per year.
  • TCO London - TCO is a Shoreditch-based independent agency and media owner, that makes premium content for brands and publishes film reviews and youth culture magazines.

The MA team also brings a strong track record of working with BAME cultural producers and organisations across London and the South East.  

How you will be assessed

Depending on options, coursework will include a mixture of practical outcomes, e.g. individual or group-based films, artefacts, presentations, written assignments, videos and podcasts or research-based assignments.

The approximate percentages for this course are:

  • 100% coursework

You’ll always receive written or audio feedback, outlining your strengths and how you can improve. We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 15 working days.

Campus and facilities

Docklands Campus, London, E16 2RD

Who teaches this course

This course is delivered by the School of Arts and Creative Industries

The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.