Media, Journalism and Culture (BA)

Program Overview

Students explore the impact of journalism, media, and communications on politics, popular culture, and globalization. The program emphasizes research methods and transferable skills, preparing graduates for careers in communications, public relations, and journalism.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

• This program allows you to become a well-informed citizen in the media-saturated world.
• The program focuses on studying the various aspects of journalism, media, culture, and communications.
• Emphasis is on the impact of these aspects on society, politics, and popular culture in a time of globalization and social change.
• You will acquire job-specific skills like research methods and optionally, journalistic practice.
• You will also gain broader transferable skills valuable to various sectors.
• This degree program assumes that to understand modern society, we need to understand the central role of media and the cultural industries in that society.
• You can choose from a limited number of more practical modules, but the emphasis of the degree remains academic and analytical.

Outline:

Year One:

• Introduction to the contemporary and historical contexts of journalism, media and culture.
• Practicalities of writing, analysis, and research.
• Five core 20-credit modules taught mainly through lectures/seminars.

Year Two:

• Two core modules and four optional modules.
• More ambitious tasks introduced in seminars.
• Research skills and experiment with methodological procedures.

Year Three:

• Dissertation
• Elective modules
• Focus on areas of interest
• Range of teaching methods involved
• Complex assignments

Assessment:

• Formative assessment through proposals for research-based essays.
• Summative assessment of assignments and other projects.
• Clear marking criteria provided for each assessed work.
• Prompt feedback with work returned within four weeks.
• Explanatory feedback to help improve.
• Individual meetings to ensure feedback understanding.

Teaching:

• Supportive learning environment
• Assigned personal tutors from academic staff
• Multimedia and new media learning and production practices (optional)
• Regular meetings with personal tutors
• Learning Central website access to relevant multimedia materials
• Range of university support services

Careers:

• Graduates find employment in various communications and public relations roles.
• Skills include writing, analyzing diverse media, and clear communication.
• Business success often achieved due to strong argument structuring abilities.
• Some pursue journalism, often following Masters courses for practical training.

Other:

• Up to 40% of the course is available in Welsh.
• Contact the Admissions tutor for more information.
• Entry requirements

Fees for home status

We are currently awaiting confirmation on tuition fees for the 2025/26 academic year. The University reserves the right to increase tuition fees in the second and subsequent years of a course as permitted by law or Welsh Government policy. Where applicable we will notify you of any change in tuition fee by the end of June in the academic year before the one in which the fee will increase.

Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland

We are currently awaiting confirmation on tuition fees for the 2025/26 academic year. Learn more about the undergraduate fees for students from the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. We are currently awaiting confirmation on tuition fees for the 2025/26 academic year.

Accommodation

We have a range of residences to suit your needs and budget.

Living costs

We're based in one of the UK's most affordable cities. Find out more about living costs in Cardiff.