Communication, Culture and Media MA

at Coventry University

Why you should study this course
 

• Our theory into practice approach blends the study of media and culture with an exciting range of active assignments and real-life projects to develop creative, critical and digital skills of relevance in the professional world.
   

• We create a supportive and collaborative environment where students and staff work together on important and topical issues. You could find yourself tasked with hosting your own photographic exhibition, arranging professional academic conferences or taking a trip to the capital cities of France, Germany or the Netherlands (subject to availability and additional costs2). Alternatively, you may be invited to collaborate with one of our many professional partners – for example, with companies like ESL Games, who host professional live games tournaments (subject to availability2).
   

• Study is based in a converted 1930s art deco cinema, which offers a range of purpose designed spaces, including our new TV Studio ‘The Tank’ and the Media Loan Shop4. We currently have a global creative community with students from several different countries and highly respected staff, which include the Director of the East Winds, an internationally recognised East Asian film festival, and staff who have published internationally recognised research in journals and books.
   

• Taking full advantage of our extensive networks, we host guest lectures (subject to availability), which in the past have included senior academics from the UK, Finland and Turkey with expertise including: media fandom, cult film/TV and audiences in the digital era; the sociology of science and technology, including ethnographic studies of scientific culture, information technology and the Internet; on gender, media and the body; and journalistic culture and news production in international news organisations.
   

• We also provide insight from research being conducted within the university itself, which encourages you to explore disruptive social and open media, creative archiving, immersive, mobile and interactive media. Our staff share their most recent knowledge with you, while our quarterly Media Research Seminars offer you the chance to network with internationally leading scholars (subject to availability).

What you'll study
 

Our course is more than simply research-led, theory-based or practice-inspired; each module caters to new developments in media as a discipline, combining a distinct approach to creation, criticism and curation and  places you at the forefront of contemporary thinking. We cover all aspects of media, communications and cultural studies, from digital media, transnational identities, screen and moving image, new workplace practices, academic research in a digital context, media distribution, international film markets and genres, and contemporary experiences of health, wealth and happiness.
 

Working at a higher degree level, there is the opportunity to work across cultures as media experts, creative, professional communicators and researchers in the arts and cultural industries2. You will have opportunities to participate in experience-based learning with three separate opportunities to participate in outward-facing exercises (subject to availability)  – anything from running your own film festival to starting your own company - providing the chance to get real-life evidence of event management and project management, valuable in any profession.

Modules
 

• Contemporary Media Entanglements – 20 credits

  This module is about emerging media entanglements, or the ways in which media exist within socio-cultural networks. It is based on notions of interconnectivity and ecology, critically examining the infrastructures, communities, and algorithms that operate in our mediatized lives. In doing so, this module explores contemporary concepts, theories, and methodologies in media and cultural studies, with acknowledgement of the transdisciplinarity that is necessary to engage with such ideas through praxis.
   

• Research Methods – 20 credits
   

  This module provides you with the theoretical, conceptual, investigative and practical tools needed to develop your own independent research and comprehend which methods will best support your response to a particular research project. It introduces you to the professional and ethical aspects that underpin and/or informs your practice and will increase your ability to critically reflect, contextualize and create work within your chosen specialism/s.
   

• Global Professional Development – Entrepreneurship – 10 credits
   

  The aim of this module is to give you the opportunity to critically assess the relationship between entrepreneurship and other domains of management, such as strategy and leadership. You will gain an understanding of how entrepreneurial thinking can enhance organisational performance and leadership through the application of a more enterprising mindset.
   

• Collaborative Social Challenge Project – 10 credits
   

  This project module aims to allow you to develop independent and collaborative working skills through a focused application and response to a specific context. Working with peers from within the School of Media and Performing Arts MA courses and/or external partners, you will develop an interdisciplinary response to a live brief generated by addressing and engaging with a social challenge. In collaboration and through negotiation, use opportunities to lead, manage and contribute to the delivery of a professional approach to problem analysis, evaluation and strategies for developing a creative solution.
   

• Subjectivities and Digital Culture – 20 credits
   

  This module explores knowledge creation and subjectivities in digital culture, drawing on your own researcher identity and subjectivity, in response to contemporary ontologies and epistemologies in digital culture research. You will explore the cultural dimensions of media, and the relationships between subjectivity, society, and media.
   

• Final Project (Research and Development) – 30 credits
   

  This module offers you an opportunity for personalised learning by carrying out an original piece of research in a chosen subject area. You may select a topic that aligns with a professional role or career aspirations, or that might simply be an area of interest ready to be turned into a passion project.
   

• Collaborative Community Project – 10 credits
   

  This project module aims to allow you to develop independent and collaborative working skills through a focused application and response to a specific context. Working with peers from within the School of Media and Performing Arts MA courses and/or external partners, you will develop an interdisciplinary response to a live brief generated by engaging with a community issue with the support or guidance of a local group or organisation (subject to availability)2.
   

• Mobilities and Transformation – 20 credits
   

  This module explores the transformational potential of knowledge. Notions of mobilities and crisis are the basis of this module, exploring the tensions between global challenges and national/systemic institutions, and the role of media in informing perceptions of contemporary moments of crisis (i.e. refugees, climate crisis, pandemics).
   

• Final Project (Production and Sharing) – 30 credits
   

  In this module, you will manage to completion a substantial piece of independent research practice that is informed by the wider contexts of your discipline, and is well-conceived, well-rounded, coherent and of a standard appropriate to master's level. You will be required to independently manage a project of your own choosing and will rely upon a high degree of autonomy. Work will predominately be self-directed, with support from staff with relevant subject specialism in both group and individual tutorials (as appropriate).
   

• Collaborative Enterprise Project – 10 credits
   

  Working with peers from within the School of Media and Performing Arts MA courses and/or external partners, you will develop an interdisciplinary response to a live brief generated by exploring opportunities for enterprise within your practice (subject to availability)2. You will explore potential routes to monetise your work and consider your role as a member of the future media and performing arts workforce.

How you'll learn
 

During the course you’ll be encouraged to engage with a range of media – digital archives, film and moving images, traditional media forms, arts and arts-based practices, academic literature, photography and more.
 

As well as traditional teaching methods, such as lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials, we offer skills training in video editing, Photoshop, digital publishing and content management and also organise a number of practical sessions.
 

There’s opportunities to hear from guest speakers, our own Media Research Seminars, and opportunities to attend a number of field trips, from Leicester and London to Paris (subject to availability and additional costs).
 

This course can be offered on a part-time basis. Whilst we would like to give you all the information about our part-time offering here, it is tailored for each course each year depending on the number of part-time applicants.

UK

Standard entry requires a good undergraduate degree on the British model in the arts, humanities or social sciences. Equivalent qualifications from overseas and professional qualifications are also acceptable.

English language requirements

IELTS: 6.5 overall, with at least 5.5 in each component area
If you don't meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.

UK

£10,600 per year

International

£16,950 per year

International Pathways 2022 Scholarship

You could enjoy a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees.

Our high-quality foundation, international year one and pre-masters courses are for international students who do not meet the requirements for direct entry to their preferred Coventry University undergraduate or postgraduate course. We can support you to achieve the academic and/or English grades you need and help you gain the personal and professional skills required to study at university.

We want to encourage ambitious international students like you to study at Coventry University, so we’ve secured extra financial support for you worth £3,000, to help with the cost of tuition fees, living expenses and accommodation.

The scholarship application deadline is:

September 2022 intake: 31 July 2022

On successful completion, you will be able to:
 

• Demonstrate knowledge of cutting-edge theoretical frameworks, concepts, ideas and ways of understanding the world that help make sense of the complexity of contemporary media.
   

• Critically engage and interpret complex bodies of thought, and understand the relationships between and within frameworks for thinking.
   

• Evaluate a number of competing and contradictory theories, concepts and ideas and be able to reconcile differences and reason through their own theoretically informed thinking and practices.
   

• Produce, make, create and craft a broad range of artefacts (e.g. film production and distribution,conference/seminar/symposium organisation, exhibition, curatorial projects, installations, websites and other digital content) relevant to the context and engage in appropriate and thoughtful methods of advertising and promotion to ensure your work is visible and accessible to a global audience.

We provide a range of exciting opportunities to produce industry-related work and self-directed portfolios that are geared towards creating graduates who could work either in the UK or abroad. Past projects have included ‘JuneParis’, ‘Checkpoint/Counterpoint’ and ‘Rescheduled’, which have presented research through photographic and digital arts, with data produced in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris.
 

We focus on developing your creative capacity, enhancing your skills in creating, making and producing, giving you the confidence to respond to the media as it happens with meaningful and academically informed outputs (e.g. digital profiles, exhibitions, artefacts such as film and photography). With these skills, you should be well placed to take up roles in a range of creative sectors, ranging from advocacy and other forms of applied communications, academic research and scholarship, start-ups, arts, and particular industries within media sectors (e.g. film, journalism, cultural criticism, television, journalism, digital publishing).

Where our graduates work
 

Recent graduates have gone on to study for PhDs in the UK, Africa, China and America. Our students have gone on to work in: digital music services in The Netherlands; as research posts at the Five College Women’s Centre, Massachusetts USA; in PR companies in Saudi Arabia; in government organisations and broadcasters in Africa; and as producers in TV stations in China. Our graduates also regularly go on to set up their own companies across the globe.