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Media and Communications with Foundation Year (Integrated Degree)

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About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Media and communication studies

**This is a four-year degree at Goldsmiths. If you successfully achieve the progression requirements of the foundation year, you can continue with the full-time three-year BA (Hons) Media & Communications.**

**Why study the BA Media & Communications with Foundation Year (Integrated degree) at Goldsmiths**
- There are no formal entrance requirements, you just need to demonstrate a lively interest in the world of the media.

- You'll develop an understanding of media theory and media practice, and the confidence and skills necessary to progress to BA Media and Communications which brings together media practice and communications theory, covers a broad spectrum of critical perspectives on the media, and will introduce you to a range of contemporary media practices.

- You'll begin to develop production skills in TV and video, radio, video animation and photography

- You'll attend a study skills module as part of the Foundation year, to develop your academic writing and research skills.

- The Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies has been ranked 2nd in the UK for 'world-leading or internationally excellent' research (Research Excellence Framework, 2021) and 12th in the world (2nd in the UK) in the 2022 QS World Rankings for communication and media studies

Modules

Your foundation year counts as the 'Year 0' of the four-year Integrated Degree. It is structured into the following three areas:

Learning to Learn (Study Skills)
These two-hour weekly sessions are designed to help you develop the skills you will need to thrive in Undergraduate study. They cover aspects of academic practice such as writing for academic purposes; how to unpack an essay question; how to get organised; how to read and make notes; how to reference; how to cite your source material and how to compile a bibliography. They include access to an academic tutor who is available for one-to-one tutorial sessions.

An Introduction to Media and Cultural Theory
On this module, you will be introduced to the key traditions and foundational theories of media and cultural studies. These will help you develop an understanding of the relationship between media forms, institutions and our societies. You will also be encouraged to develop critical thinking skills, begin to understand the importance of the relationship between media theory and practice and demonstrate your growing skills in academic writing (with the help of the weekly 'Learning to Learn' sessions). Each week there is a lecture on a particular topic, accompanied by set reading, which you are asked to discuss in more detail in our weekly seminars.

The first part of this module introduces you to some of the important key thinkers in media theory and considers elements such as the relationship between media ownership and control; competing debates around resistance to dominant ideologies, the power of the audience and the arguable 'effects' of media; questions around the meaning of 'culture' and the history of cultural studies; and concepts concerned with the coding and decoding of media texts. These are designed to give you a sound basis for moving on to contemporary ideas about the media as you progress through the year.

The second part of the module considers the social and cultural dimensions of the media in more detail. We will discuss further the role of the ‘culture industries’, the relationship between culture and sociological categories of class, race, sexuality and gender, and look closely at the academic research that has been done in these areas. We will look at moral panics, the study of subcultures, feminist perspectives of soap operas, studies of celebrity, 'Ways of Seeing' and popular cultural representations of the City. Throughout, your own experiences and identities will be central to the concepts and ideas you are studying in these sessions.

Media practice
Media practice gives you the opportunity to create small-scale projects in TV and video, radio, stop motion animation and photography. You will have the opportunity to work through your ideas from conception to finished product, begin to develop production skills, and understand the importance of teamwork and the sharing of ideas.

You are taught in groups for TV and video, radio and stop motion animation and individually for photography. These 5-week ‘taster’ modules are taught by highly experienced tutors and technicians in studio settings, and utilise the same industry-standard facilities as the Undergraduate degrees.

The pass mark for this foundation year is 50%. However, students must achieve 60% in all sections of the programme to proceed onto the BA Media and Communications. Students achieving between 50%-60% will be awarded the Goldsmiths Foundation Certificate in Media and Communications.

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

Assessment methods

You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include coursework assignments such as extended essays, reports, presentations, practice-based projects or essays/logs, group projects and reflective essays, as well as seen and unseen written examinations.

The Uni


Course location:

Goldsmiths, University of London

Department:

Media, Communications and Cultural Studies

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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.

34%
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

73%
Staff make the subject interesting
64%
Staff are good at explaining things
63%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
49%
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

57%
Library resources
77%
IT resources
64%
Course specific equipment and facilities
15%
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?

60%
UK students
40%
International students
26%
Male students
74%
Female students
93%
2:1 or above
14%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
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.

£20,000
high
Average annual salary
87%
low
Employed or in further education
42%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

26%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
17%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
8%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers

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.

£19k

£19k

£25k

£25k

£26k

£26k

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.

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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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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?

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