Courses and structure

Over the period of the degree you take courses to the value of 360 credits, 120 credits in each year.

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Year 1

Media Theory

In the first year, the theory element introduces you to the study of verbal and visual languages, and encourages you to assess changes in the media. You'll be acquainted with debates surrounding the term 'culture', and will look at how experiences of gender, age and race affect our understanding of the concept. You'll also examine various media texts, and take a course that will address theories of society and approaches to the modern state as they relate to media. 

You take the following compulsory 15 credit core courses:

• Media History and Politics
• Culture and Cultural Studies
• Key Debates and Concepts in Media
• Representation and Textual Analysis
• Introduction to Media and Technologies

Media Practice

In practice, you take an induction course that introduces you to some of the practice options offered by the Department – currently television (with the possibility of film fiction specialisation in years two and three), radio, journalism, animation, illustration, photography, and creative writing (script and short story). There is also a specialisation in interactive media in years two and three. You then choose two practice options.

You take the following compulsory core courses:

• Induction to Media Practice (15 credits) [you choose five from seven media practice areas]
• Media Production Option 1 (30 credits) [options one and two are chosen from seven media practice areas] Find out more about the practice options.

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Year 2

Media Theory

In the second year you take theory courses covering a range of approaches to the study of communications and the media. You'll look at theories of postmodernity, identity and globalisation; be introduced to differing psychological perspectives on the analysis of culture and communications; consider cultural theory; and investigate concepts of audience. 

You take the following compulsory 15 credit courses:

• Intellectual Foundations of Social Theory
• Communications Psychology and Experience
• Culture Society and the Individual
• Media Economy and Society

Media Practice

Practice courses introduce you to media production in a different area to the one you studied in year one; you'll apply production skills in the creation of small-scale projects, and develop critical skills through the analysis of examples and of work produced in each area. You then choose a practice area in which to specialise.

You take:

• Media Production Option 2
• Media Production Specialisation (30 credits)

Find out more about the practice options.

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Year 3

Media Theory

You can choose any combination of options or dissertation to the value of 60 credits. Options offered recently are:

• Political Economy of the Mass Media
• Structure of Contemporary Political Communications
• Media Audiences and Media Geographies
• Media Ethnicity and Nation
• Music as Communication and Creative Practice
• Contemporary Cultural Practice
• Explorations in World Cinema
• Screen Cultures
• Embodiment and Experience
• Cinema and Society
• After New Media

Media Practice

You undertake the research, planning and production of a major project or a portfolio of work in the practice area in which you specialised in Year 2 (60 credits). Find out more about the practice options.

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Assessment

Coursework, extended essays, reports, practical work, and seen and unseen written examinations.

Learning and teaching

On this degree you'll attend lectures and seminars where you'll hear about ideas and concepts related to specific topics, and where you'll be encouraged to discuss and debate the issues raised. This will enhance your academic knowledge of the subject, and will improve your communication skills. You'll also go to workshops and tutorials that will develop practical skills in media production.

But this is just a small proportion of what we expect you to do on the degree. For each hour of taught learning, we expect you to complete another 5-6 hours of independent study. This typically involves carrying out required and additional reading, preparing topics for discussion, or producing essays or project work.

This emphasis on independent learning is very important at Goldsmiths. We don't just want you to accept what we tell you without question. We want you to be inspired to read more, to develop your own ideas, and to find the evidence that will back them up. Independent study requires excellent motivation and time management skills. These skills will stay with you for life, and are the kind of transferable skills that are highly sought after by employers. 

Learning and teaching on this degree will take place through:

• Lectures
• Seminars
• Workshops
• Tutorials
• Independent learning
• Presentations
• Assessments

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Find out more about these learning and teaching approaches.

Skills and careers

Skills

Some of the skills you'll develop during a Media and Communications degree include:

• critical and analytical skills
• proficiency in assessing evidence and in expressing ideas clearly
• ability to bring together insights from a range of subjects
• IT skills
• communications skills
• journalistic and creative writing skills

Careers

Alumni from the Department have gone on to careers in television, radio, the press, publishing, film-making, advertising, marketing and public relations, web design, teaching and research, advertising, arts and administration, business and industry, European Union private sector management and personnel work, and many more both in the media industries and elsewhere.

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• Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths

About the Department of Media & Communications

The Department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths is one of the UK’s leaders in the field of media theory and media practice. This reputation teamed with a thriving student community makes Goldsmiths a lively and challenging place to study Media and Communications.

Why choose Media and Communications at Goldsmiths?

We’re at the forefront of critical debates. Ranked within the top four departments in the country in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, we’re proud to be leading the field in terms of our teaching and research and proud to be known for producing the ‘thinking graduate’.

We’re dynamic and creative. From EastLondonLines – the first 24/7 news website to be run by our students – to a calendar of events with world-renowned writers and practitioners, at Goldsmiths you’ll be part of some powerful conversations and encouraged to see and do things differently.

We’re inside the media. Because industry professionals teach practice on our programmes, you’ll get an insight into fields such as TV, film, journalism, radio and animation and develop skills you can take straight into your career. You’ll also be part of a department that’s setting the standard – we’re home to the Goldsmiths Skillset Media Academy endorsed by Skillset, the UK's body for monitoring media industry skills and training

Facilities

The Department has up-to-date facilities in all of its media areas, and aims to provide practice facilities that emulate current industry use. These include:

• digital and analogue acquisition for time-based media and photography
• radio and TV Studios
• photography studios
• digital video and audio editing
• ENPS facility
• animation and image manipulation software and hardware
• traditional darkrooms
• computer rooms for student production

New Academic Building

Opened in September 2010 and located at the top of the College Green, the New Academic Building is the new centre for the Department of Media and Communications. The new facilities maximise students’ ability to develop their skills through modern technological and purpose built accommodation and equipment. The new building houses a large lecture theatre, meeting spaces and a café with outside seating.

Find out more about Goldsmiths

• Student life
• Campus life
• Facilities
• Open days

Graduate and student profiles