BA (Hons) Media
University of Hertfordshire
Key Information
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Campus location
Hatfield, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
4 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
GBP 13,450 *
Application deadline
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Earliest start date
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* international students full time / UK students full time £9250 / EU students full time £13450
Scholarships
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Introduction
"Due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, examinations may be replaced by an alternative form of assessment during the academic year 2021/2022. Please refer to the Programme Specification on these pages for further details."
Why choose this course?
In today’s fast-paced media world, people with the ability to write, design, understand imagery, and harness new technologies are in high demand. Join this group by developing your communications skills (both oral and written), learning to create and publish content across a broad range of formats.
This course will equip you with a portfolio of practical skills as well as a theoretical and critical understanding of Media. Our industry-focused approach, combining theory and practice, will help build your confidence, give you the communication and technological skills required for the industry and help you plan your career.
You’ll learn how the media works globally and nationally, how to build and edit brilliant websites and create a hard-hitting ad campaign. You can study public relations, celebrity culture, and influencers or examine how the media represents diverse groups. Using industry-standard software and equipment, our professionally experienced academics and researchers will help you develop skills across divergent platforms and for different audiences.
What's the course about?
The delivery of teaching varies according to the characteristics of each module. Workshops are used for modules where practical skills taught are taught enhanced by the supervision of experts, but there are also seminars and lectures. Assignments range from storyboards to creating audio for radio, websites, and even the traditional essay. The course is exclusively coursework.
In your first year, you’ll explore the world of media communications and global media, looking at who owns the news, at the influence of the BBC, and commercial entities such as Sky and consider how media varies across the globe. Your practical skills will include learning to tell stories using your phone and podcast and learning about the power of the image.
In your second year, you’ll learn key media research methods and skills. You’ll explore radio journalism and examine world-changing journalism campaigns such as Black Lives Matter and Watergate.
If you’re into music, film, food, or travel, you’ll have opportunities to create magazine layouts and pdfs for online publications or design for mobile phones. A video option will give you the chance to create a documentary, or alternatively, you can explore the world of the brand.
Work placement/study abroad option: Between your second and final year, you’ll have the option to study abroad or complete a work placement for up to a year. Not only will this give you an amazing experience to talk about, but it will also give your CV a boost. If you would rather go straight to your final year, that’s fine too. You can decide in your second year with us, so there is still plenty of time to think about this.
In your final year, you’ll be spoilt for choice. You’ll undertake a major project to design your own website, but you can also choose to do a media project for a commercial or charitable client, to learn about Corporate Communications or Advertising or both and you’ll also learn about PR and the world of celebrity. As you move through your degree, you’ll have improved both your thinking skills and knowledge of media, in tandem with practical media-related skills.
Your main campus is de Havilland
You’ll share this campus with students from business, law, sport, education, and humanities subjects. The student housing is close to our Sports Village which includes a gym, swimming pool, and climbing wall. You can get breakfast, lunch, or dinner in our on-campus restaurant or bar (in the newly built Enterprise Hub) on days you don’t feel like cooking. You can also use the common room to play pool, video games or just to hang out with friends. Our Learning Resources Centres are open 24/7, which means you can study whenever suits you best. Want to pop over to the other campus? You can take the free shuttle bus or walk there in just 15 minutes.
This course includes the options of:
- Work placement
- Study abroad
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Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Curriculum
What will I study?
Degree programmes are structured into levels, 4, 5, and 6. these correspond to your first, second and third/final year of study. below you can see what modules you’ll be studying in each.
Level 4
- Introduction to Media Communications II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Introduction to Journalism II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Journalism, Law and Ethics II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Global Media and Society II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Sound and Image Storytelling II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Visual Communication II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Becoming a Writer II 15 Credits II Optional
- Introduction to Film Criticism II 15 Credits II Optional
- Genre Fiction: Building Worlds II 15 Credits II Optional
- Language in the Media II 15 Credits II Optional
- Introduction to English Linguistics 1 II 15 Credits II Optional
- Genre, Style and Stars II 15 Credits II Optional
Level 5
- Radio Journalism II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Research Methods in Media Communications II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Mobile Media Design II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Magazine Design II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Video Feature II 15 Credits II Optional
- The Publishing Industry II 15 Credits II Optional
- New Media Branding II 15 Credits II Optional
- Employability Skills II 15 Credits II Optional
- How Journalism Changed the World: from Watergate to Social Media and Fake News II 15 Credits II Optional
Level 6
- Professional Practice Publishing Project II 30 Credits II Compulsory
- Music, Celebrity and Media II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Creating a PR Campaign II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Web Design for Media Professionals II 30 Credits II Compulsory
- Advertising II 15 Credits II Optional
- Corporate Communications II 15 Credits II Optional
- Representation and Identity in Contemporary Media II 15 Credits II Optional
Study abroad
An opportunity for an amazing experience, which will help make you stand out from the crowd. With more and more companies working internationally, the experience of living in another country can make a great impression on future employers.
This course offers you the opportunity to enhance your study and CV with a sandwich year abroad. The University has partnerships with over 150 universities around the world, including the USA, Canada, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, and closer to home in Europe.
If you study abroad between your second and third year of study, you’ll pay no tuition fee to the partner university and no tuition fee to us either. We’ll ask you to make your decision in your second year, so there is plenty of time to think about it.
Work placement
Graduate with invaluable work experience alongside your degree and stand out from the crowd.
This course offers you the opportunity to enhance your study and CV with a work placement sandwich year. It’s a chance to explore career possibilities, make valuable contacts and gain sought-after professional skills.
Our dedicated Careers and Employment team are here to help guide you through the process.
If you take up a work placement between your second and third year of study, at the University of Hertfordshire you’ll pay no tuition fee for this year. We’ll ask you to make your decision in your second year, so there is plenty of time to think about it.
What if I need support?
You will be allocated a personal tutor to monitor and advise on overall academic and personal development supplemented with drop-in skills sessions and specialist tutors to refine and polish your writing.
For help with study skills, including referencing, essay writing, and presentations, you will also have access to our Academic Support Services. You can attend workshops, 1-to-1 sessions, and online tutorials. Both our Learning Resources Centres run drop-in study skills sessions. We also have wellbeing and coaching services.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Media:
There are just under one million people employed in the UK media industry, according to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. Opportunities for employment can be found in:
- advertising
- marketing
- film
- interactive media
- radio
- television
Publishing:
In contrast, the publishing industry is smaller, with 148,000 people employed in the UK. There are a number of areas you can enter including:
- book publishing;
- web publishing
- education publishing
- journals and periodical publishing
- B2B publishing
- newspaper and magazine publishing
- social media publishing
Employability is central to everything we do. Our course opens up a huge range of social media or web-based careers, from working for established media companies and departments to set up your own online magazine, video production, or graphic design company. Our graduates also work in PR, marketing, and advertising, where their analytical and communication skills are highly valued.
Recent graduate entrepreneurs include Talha Ahad, CEO of The Centrum Media, Pakistan’s first digital news network, and Daniel Lau, head of advertising agency The Beat Creatives in Malaysia.
English Language Requirements
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