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Creative Media (Professional Placement Year)

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,B-B,C,C

Grades BBB-BCC preferred.

Access to HE Diploma

M:45

Typical offers for applicants with Access to HE will be the Access to HE Diploma or Access to HE Certificate (60 credits, 45 of which must be Level 3, at Merit or higher).

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

32

A minimum of 32 points are required.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDM-DMM

Extended Diploma grades from Distinction Distinction Merit (DDM) to Distinction Merit Merit (DMM) accepted in any subject.

T Level

M

Grade Merit preferred.

UCAS Tariff

104-120

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

You may also need to…

Attend an interview

Perform an audition

Present a portfolio

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time with year in industry | 2024

Subject

Media and communication studies

**On our Creative Media degree, you'll experiment, gain technical skills, understand the media and collaborate with industry to kickstart your career.**
- Taught by expert practitioners, industry professionals, media theorists, artists and filmmakers, with guest lectures by visiting speakers from across the creative industries.

- Work on live briefs, expand your skillset with new technologies, and personalise your experience by specialising in cutting-edge mediums.

- In your final year, join Artswork Media: a professional production company where you can collaborate directly with industry partners.

Creative Media at Bath Spa University is more than a typical media studies degree. Yes, you'll learn digital techniques, media knowledge and how to excel in the industry. It's also a practical, personalised experience, where much of what you work on is led by you.

Focus on what the industry wants and on your passions. Each of our modules emphasises creating practical projects using the mediums that interest you, and that express your views of the world around you.

Whether you want to be an exhibiting video artist, a marketing and social media guru, a freelancer with your own business or are simply passional about independent and proactive media-making, our experienced staff can guide you on the path to success.

We offer state-of-the-art equipment and will push you to engage with the most cutting-edge media practices. You'll gain experience in:

- digital and social media

- moving image content production

- post-production

- experimental media-making

- sound design

- podcasting

- animation

- graphic deign

- project management

- pitching

- user experience (UX) design

- audience research

- digital marketing.

On successful completion of the course, you'll be able to specialise in any of these areas.

We prioritise not only what you create but also why you create, with a focus on activism and personal expression as well as opportunities to research many aspects of the media ecosphere.

**More about the Professional Placement Year**
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where you undertake a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between your second and final years of undergraduate study. You can engage in up to 3 placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) yourself, with support from the Careers team.

Modules

Year one
Develop your skills, discover ways of evolving your creative practice and build your production and problem-solving abilities individually and in teams.

You’ll be exposed to critical media practices that engage with key social, political and environmental issues. You’ll develop skills in digital storytelling, digital content production, image manipulation and moving image production.

You’ll begin to develop your industry-standard production skills by working on a series of live client briefs for multi-platform content projects. You'll also learn independent project production skills by creating personal work supported by staff and led by your medium of choice and personal passions. 

Year two
Begin to specialise. Hone your skills on larger scale creative content projects, learn post-production and animation skills, work on experimental, socially engaged and critical media making projects, and build your contextual skills.

You’ll produce a range of creative projects including:

- multi-platform digital experiences
- podcasts
- animations
- short films
- interactive documentaries
- remixed media and digital campaigns.

Your responsibility will also grow, as you’ll be tasked with creating real- world media works for local activist groups, allowing you to synthesise your thematic knowledge with practical enterprise. 

Year three is your professional placement year.

Final year
Join Artswork Media, a student-led production house supported by tutors, media practitioners, alumni and industry mentors.

You’ll work on a variety of live client briefs, hone your individual creative practice, and develop your professional identity and portfolio.

Artswork Media provides a unique opportunity to transition from being a Creative Media student to becoming an industry professional.

You’ll also be free to follow your passions in a personal project, allowing you to synthesise all you’ve learnt in the past three years into one "calling card" piece of work that fully expresses your style, skills and employability.

Assessment methods

Creative Media assessments are all based around coursework. Throughout your time studying with us, you’ll work on a variety of independent and brief-led projects across different media.

You’ll produce digital and moving image artefacts, digital portfolios, and supporting documentation such as reflective reports and research journals which explain your process.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,905
per year
International
£16,905
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Bath Spa University

Department:

Bath School of Art, Film and Media

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

88%
Media and communication studies

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Media studies

Teaching and learning

91%
Staff make the subject interesting
89%
Staff are good at explaining things
85%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
93%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

70%
Library resources
74%
IT resources
90%
Course specific equipment and facilities
74%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

97%
UK students
3%
International students
58%
Male students
42%
Female students
97%
2:1 or above
6%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
C

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Media studies

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£17,971
med
Average annual salary
99%
high
Employed or in further education
35%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

23%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
18%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
17%
Other elementary services occupations

Only a small number of students study courses within this catch-all subject area, so there isn't a lot of information available on what graduates do when they finish - bear that in mind when you look at any stats. Marketing and PR were the most likely jobs for graduates from these courses, but it's sensible to go on open days and talk to tutors about what you might expect from the course, and what previous graduates did.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Media studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£16k

£16k

£21k

£21k

£24k

£24k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Explore these similar courses...

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UCAS Points: 120-132
Lower entry requirements
Bangor University | Bangor (Wales)
Modern Languages and Media Studies
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UCAS Points: 96-128
Nearby University
Cardiff University | Cardiff
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UCAS Points: 120-128
Same University
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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here