Why study this course?

The Media and Marketing BA (Hons) degree is designed to give you an outstanding experience and understanding of the media, marketing and advertising industries, including hands-on experience of video production, television production and photographic work. The degree with equip you with the practical knowledge and insight to forge your career in media taking personal responsibility for creative projects and for crafting the media message.

More about this course

The Media and Marketing BA (Hons) combines London Metropolitan University’s world-leading expertise in the media and media industries with this career-focused study of marketing and advertising. The media is ingrained in modern life with television, radio, print media, cinema and the internet as channels for information, education, politics art and entertainment. The degree explores how the media shapes the way we live and its influence on contemporary marketing and corporate communications.

You’ll learn about the principles of marketing including branding, product management, pricing strategies and advertising, and gain hands-on practice-based learning with our first-class media resources including video and television production, as well as classroom-based grounding in the media industries and corporate environments.

You’ll learn how to operate a camera, budget a marketing campaign and manage a creative team. Optional modules enable you to specialise in specific parts of the media or commercial industry, and your final project will enable you to demonstrate your skills and expertise to employers.

The course is also supported by trips and visits, guest lectures and various other activities.

You can get a taste for life at our School of Computing and Digital Media by taking a look at our showcase of recent student work.

Assessment

You’ll be assessed through a combination of different kinds of assessments, including coursework, reports, practice based work such as filming projects or poster presentation, and essays. There are a limited number of formal exams on the degree.

Fees and key information

Course type
Undergraduate
UCAS code N500
Entry requirements View
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Entry requirements

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

  • a minimum of grades BBC in three levels (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC National, OCR Diploma or Advanced Diploma)
  • English Language GCSE at grade C/grade 4 or above (or equivalent)

If you don't have traditional qualifications or can't meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Media and Communications (including foundation year) BSc (Hons).

Accreditation of Prior Learning

Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course at London Met. Find out more about applying for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).

English language requirements

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. This course requires you to meet our standard requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.

Modular structure

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2023/24 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 1 modules include:

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Monday morning

The module focuses on the role of genre in media production and consumption. Each delivery will explore two different genres, provide an introduction to the history of each, an overview of its conventions, a discussion of significant media texts within that genre, and opportunities for students to critically engage with genre texts. The module will address genre issues across a range of media forms, including film, television, radio, advertising, literature, mass publishing, and video games. The specific types of genre media addressed each year will change to reflect the changing media marketplace, and the changing critical tradition of media and cultural studies. Typical indicative genre forms covered by the module may include: science fiction, crime drama, heist movies, romantic comedies, situation comedies, soap operas, specific genres of documentary (such as biographical documentaries or science documentaries), the thriller, film noir and neo-noir, or martial arts movies. The module aims to:


● Facilitate the transition into undergraduate media, culture and communications studies and related disciplines by focussing on critical engagement with selective media texts;
● Introduce the range, diversity, and marketplace for genre based media texts;
● Provide an in-depth introduction to particular genre forms, such as soap opera or science fiction and genre conventions for those specific genre forms.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Tuesday morning
  • all year (January start) - Wednesday afternoon

This module provides an introduction to the history of the mass media, and to key theoretical arguments and debates that have emerged in response to the rise of mass media. It explores the development of press and publishing industries, photography, cinema, television, radio, the music industry and digital media by relating the technological changes to both their socio-cultural contexts and emerging theoretical perspectives. The module also provides grounding in key academic skills as part of the extended induction programme including research, academic reading, and presentation of learning.

The module aims to:

● Provide an introduction to the study of media and its various rationales and methodologies.
● Promote a critical understanding of the history, content and structures of the media industries and examine the social, political and economic factors which shape them.
● Develop an understanding of the development of debates and theoretical contexts related to the media and media technologies.
● Develop and encourage confidence in the use of appropriate learning, analytical and discursive skills in both oral and written argument. To help students acquire key bibliographic research skills.

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Monday morning
  • autumn semester - Wednesday morning
  • autumn semester - Tuesday afternoon
  • autumn semester - Friday morning

The module aims to provide an understanding of the theories of marketing and the practical application of the tactical tools of marketing in contemporary and technology driven organisations at local, national, regional and in a global context. In this module, students explore how different types of organisations deploy the marketing mix tools to implement their marketing strategy and to develop a competitive edge.


The module aims to:

● Provide an understanding of the theories involved in creating and delivering value to customers using the tactical tools of marketing.
● Explore the practical application of the marketing mix in product/services, public sector/non-profit sectors marketing.
● Develop students’ academic writing, application of knowledge and interpreting data skills.
● Develop students’ researching and analysing skills.

The module aims to provide an understanding of the marketing process in contemporary organisations and in the context of tangible goods and services. The service sector accounts for a significant proportion of GDP and employment in most developed economies and therefore it becomes essential for students to gain insight within the area. In this module, students are introduced to a range of marketing theories such as the marketing concept, consumer behaviour, business environmental analysis, marketing research, consumer insights applicable to tangible goods and services marketing.

The module aims to:
● Provide an understanding of the theoretical foundations and practical application of marketing
● Provide an appreciation of contemporary issues in marketing.
● Develop students’ academic writing, application of knowledge and data interpreting skills.
● Develop students’ researching and analysing skills.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Wednesday afternoon

This Level 4 module introduces students to debates around the use of social media in business contexts. The module contextualises the understanding of social media with reference to the history, theory and practice of social media in corporate contexts, as well as setting out social media practice. The module combines theory-based learning of the contexts and uses of social media with practice-based learning around the use of social media in specific employability-oriented contexts.

The module aims to

1. introduce students to a range of debates about the role of social media in society and in business;
2. encourage students to employ critical methods in the understanding of and analysis of social media,
3. allow students to learn from practice in developing a multi-modal social media campaign.

Year 2 modules include:

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Friday afternoon

This module provides a thorough overview of institutions, economics, technologies, texts, audiences and production practices, relating to television broadcasting and its contemporary online successors.

The aims of this module are to:

1. Introduce students to a range of a range of debates about the role of television in everyday life.
2. Encourage students to deploy critical methods of analysis from previous modules to television and develop these skills through examination of specific case studies.

8 Module description
In the current business environment, it is imperative that marketers keep pace with the dramatic and far-reaching changes fuelling digital transformation. This module is about appreciating the importance of the ever-evolving, dynamic digital marketing landscape. Within the digital marketing landscape you will be introduced to the digital marketing channels and their applications. You will be presented with theoretical frameworks and models, which are relevant to the analysis of the digital marketing practice. You will examine the development of supporting technologies for digital marketing and examines digital channels and their suitability for inclusion for effective integrated online and off line marketing programmes and campaigns. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), customer acquisition and retention, mobile marketing, email marketing, online PR, affiliate marketing, social media, video and multichannel marketing are all explored in detail. Additionally the importance of effective digital monitoring and measurement techniques that enable organisations to improve digital marketing effectiveness performance and planning will be explored Related legislation, regulation and codes of practice will also be examined
The module aims to –
• Develop students' understanding and knowledge of the issues in digital marketing.
• Provide students an understanding of the nature of digital marketing concepts and techniques, and the role of digital marketing in improving an organizations marketing effectiveness and planning.

The module builds on the acquisition of the following Skills
• Analysing data & problem solving
• Application of Knowledge and presenting Data
• Digital literacy and IT skills

The module will enable you to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the nature and importance of integrated marketing communications and the individual purpose and characteristics of its component tools.

This module builds on Level 4 marketing modules knowledge and aims to define and explore the marketing communications process and the role of an integrated marketing communication approach in both traditional and digital communication formats, in achieving marketing objectives. The changing environment and impact of technology are explained as background for synthesis of the communications process.

In addressing QAA skill benchmarks for business and management, the module specifically focuses on the following areas:

1) Ability to conduct research into business and management issues.
2) Developing skills including identifying, formulating and solving business communication challenges.

More broadly, the module aims to assist students in the acquisition of the following skills:

- Academic writing and reading
- Analysing data/research
- Critical thinking and being creative
- Communicating/presenting, orally and/or in writing
- Digital Literacy and IT skills
- Commercial awareness, including corporate social responsibility

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Tuesday afternoon

This module critically examines the history of media audience research focusing on theoretical, methodological and ethical questions. Students study different ways of conceptualising and researching the relationship between media and audiences. They learn to evaluate and apply key concepts, theories and methods in designing and conducting their own piece of audience research.

The module aims to equip students to:

● develop a critically understanding of different approaches to conceptualising media audiences and available research strategies
● examine and evaluate existing audience research, its history and context, and the methods that have informed it
● conduct a short piece of audience research

This module currently runs:
  • spring semester - Friday afternoon
  • spring semester - Friday morning

This module provides practice based learning experience of television studio production, introducing students to the stages involved in planning, scripting and rehearsing an as-live television programme and providing experience of different roles in the television production process including performance roles and behind-camera production roles. Students will be encourage to work collaboratively and reflectively.
The module aims to:

1. Enable students to gain experience of television studio production and develop skills in television studio practice
2. Enable students to develop a range of transferable skills in audio-visual production.
3. Encourage students to work collaboratively towards the production of an as-live television programme.
4. Encourage a critical, reflective and collaborative approach to practice based media work

The University has a policy that undergraduate students must, take a Work Based Learning (WBL) module i.e. a module which requires them to directly experience and operate in the real world of work and to reflect on that episode in order to identify skill and knowledge areas that they need to develop for their career.

This module challenges students to be creative in identifying a new business opportunity and in examining the viability of all aspects of the idea in the real-world context e.g.

  • Supporting an existing small business to understand how a business runs
  • Respond to small business’s client briefs
  • Testing potential customers’ views.

As a result of client brief and feedback, business concepts and/or ideas will develop over the duration of the module.

The QAA Benchmark on Business and Management (2019) emphasises the attribute of “entrepreneurship” and of “the value of real-world learning”. In terms of promoting work related skills, the module specifically focuses on practical techniques for responding to client briefs in evaluating and developing business ideas and so develops creative yet practical thinking.

In addition, it requires students to examine market potential and prepare a presentation of their findings assuming the role of a business consultant. The module requires a high level of self-reliance to explore the business idea based on a client brief. Students develop an understanding of the role of business start-ups, business growth and development.

These skills and techniques are of practical relevance to anyone considering developing a business, working for a Small or Medium sized Enterprise (SME) or taking on an intrapreneurial role within a larger organisation where the business environment is constantly evolving and producing new challenges and opportunities.

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Wednesday morning
  • autumn semester - Wednesday afternoon
  • autumn semester - Thursday morning
  • autumn semester - Thursday afternoon
  • autumn semester - Friday morning
  • autumn semester - Friday afternoon
  • spring semester - Wednesday morning
  • spring semester - Wednesday afternoon
  • spring semester - Thursday morning
  • spring semester - Thursday afternoon
  • spring semester - Friday morning
  • spring semester - Friday afternoon

This Work Based Learning module enables students to undertake a short period of professional activity either: part-time/vacation employment; work placement; not-for-profit sector volunteering or a professional/employer led project.

Work Based Learning modules are designed to enhance students’ personal and professional development and assist in preparing students for their future careers. The module aims to facilitate application and progression of knowledge and skills gained via the learner’s studies and wider life experience. Students will be introduced to a range of professional skills and techniques, including: reflective self-assessment; preparation for employment; being a critical employee and developing approaches for co-operative and collaborative working.

• Students will be contacted prior to the semester to provide support in securing work based activity in good time.
• It is a student's responsibility to apply for opportunities and to engage with the Work Based Learning team to assist them.
• The suitability of any opportunities will be assessed by the Module Team and all roles must meet the Health and Safety requirements for Higher Education Work Placements.
• Learners may be able to utilise existing employment, providing they can demonstrate it is personally developmental and involves a relevant level of responsibility.
• In addition, students may be able to complete the Work Based Learning hours during the summer prior to the academic year a student is taking the module.
• Tier 4 International students will be required to submit weekly timesheets for the hours undertaken for the work based learning activity to meet the requirements of their visa. These will need to be signed by their line manager/supervisor.

The module aims to enable students to:
• Effectively express and understand their current skills and abilities in relation to their career values and goals.
• Practically apply the knowledge gained through their course programme to a work environment.
• Gain an in-depth insight of a work environment
• Make a positive contribution to the employing organisation and demonstrate inclusive workplace practice.
• Recognise their personal and professional development learning and apply to their future goals.

This module provides a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding on brands, brand equity and strategic brand management. It outlines the concepts and framework of branding, which are crucial in designing, implementing marketing campaigns as well as activities to build, measure and manage brand equity. It provides students with the tools and techniques to improve long-term profitability via creating effective brand strategies.

Aims of the module:
• To explore the role of branding from a corporate and consumer perspective.
• To introduce students to the theory of branding.
• To develop students' understanding of the role played by marketing communications in the building and maintenance of brands.
• To develop students' skills particularly communication skills including writing, oral and interpersonal skills.

On completion of this module students should develop the following skills:
• Researching and Analysing Data
• Application of Knowledge and Presenting Data
• Critical Thinking and Writing
• Communicating/Presenting – orally and in writing, including inter-cultural communication
• Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Interpersonal, including collaborating/working with others, cross cultural awareness, having a positive attitude, negotiation and persuasion

This module currently runs:
  • spring semester - Thursday morning

This module examines the relationship between the media, crime and criminal justice. It examines the way crime and the law – and our understandings of them – are produced, reproduced and challenged in and through the contemporary media. The module considers how crime and criminals have been portrayed by the media over time, and assesses the different theoretical perspectives applied to media representations of crime and criminality. It examines the various ways the media actively work to construct crime as a news story, analysing the way the media sift and select crime stories, prioritizing some and excluding others, editing words and pictures and selecting particular tones and styles in their reports to create particular interpretations and viewpoints. The module also considers media portrayals of crime, criminals, victims and criminal justice agencies in a range of fictional and factual representations across TV, film and popular fiction. The social and cultural impact of these media representations is also discussed, with attention is given to the ways they may contribute to escalating fears of crime and how far they may contribute, themselves, to violence and criminal behaviour. Focusing on cultural, critical, and qualitative understandings of the relationships between crime and the media, the module draws on ideas and theories developed not only in the field of Criminology, but also the disciplines of in Sociology, Media, Communications and Cultural Studies.

This module aims to:

  1. Examine the relation between media portrayals of crime and their broader social, economic and political context.
  2. Examine historical shifts in the way the media represent crime and criminal behaviour.
  3. Familiarise students with theoretical debates about the media’s effects on crime and criminal behaviour.
  4. Examine the connections between media portrayals of crime and criminal justice policy.
This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Thursday afternoon

This module aims to provide students with a rigorous understanding of the history, theory and practices of documentary photography, and to enable them to develop key photographic skills pertinent to the practice of documentary photography. The module will introduce students to the history, theory and practice of contemporary documentary photography. The module is slanted towards practice, and provides an opportunity for students to develop photographic skills or enhance their existing photographic skills, as well as their understanding of documentary photography. The module will provide practical tuition in the skills of street photography, portraiture, photographing objects in motion, and narrative photography, and will encourage and support students in the conception and development of their own documentary photographic projects. The module will also provide historical and theoretical contexts for students’ developing photographic practices, enabling them to critically reflect on their own practice as documentary photographers.

This module currently runs:
  • spring semester - Wednesday morning

This module provides aims to develop students’ independent critical and analytical skills by exploring the relationship between situation comedy and the socio-cultural context of comedy production. The module will examine the history of situation comedy, and the development of the genre, focusing on both television and radio forms. The module will incorporate screenings of significant examples of British and US situation comedies, and analyse their relationship to the socio-cultural context of their production. The module will discuss key themes in the development of situation comedy including the representation of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, family, and modes of production including studio-based production, mockumentary, and documentary style. The module aims to:

1. Develop an understanding of the history and development of British and American situation comedy, including significant examples of situation comedy.
2. Enable students to understand and analyse the relationship between situation comedy and the socio-cultural context of its production
3. Encourage students to analyse the representations, ideologies and political ideas inherent in situation comedy.

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Thursday morning

There has never been a more exciting time to study social media strategies. Social media strategies now play out in every aspect of business, government and society today. This module offers a critical eye on social media strategies, identifying those that worked as intended and those that didn’t. Through looking at current examples of social media and social media strategies, you will learn what a strategy is and how best to deploy it for the particular agenda and goals of an organisation. Teaching methods include formal lectures, seminar discussion, student-presentations and online material. Students will be expected to attend formal lecturers and take notes, read from primary and secondary source material and comment on their readings. They are expected to creatively engage with social media content creation as it embeds within an overall strategy of a particular industry. This module aims to:
● Enable students to evaluate key approaches to understanding current social media and strategy.
● Encourage students to develop critical awareness of their everyday experience of social media.
● Establish links between theoretical, technological, social and ethical aspects of social media.

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Thursday morning

This module explores the important relationships between the media and young people’s cultural experiences and expressions. The media are a ubiquitous presence in the lives of contemporary youth - the television shows they watch, the music they listen to, the video games they play, and the websites they visit all play a major part in young people’s lives, offering them a stream of different experiences, ideas and knowledge. This module considers the broad body of interdisciplinary scholarship that analyses youth’s relationship with media, and the nature of media texts aimed at young people. Attention is given to the way the media represent youth and target young people as a specific market for goods and entertainment, and also to the development of particular media forms aimed at young audiences – for example, specific kinds of advertising, distinctive film genres and TV formats, and particular kinds of social networking websites. Consideration is also given to the possible influence of the media on youth’s behaviour, and to the ways young people actively engage with the media and make it meaningful in their lives. Here, particular attention is given to issues of gender, ethnicity, sexuality and social class, and the role they play in patterns of young people’s media usage and their practices of cultural expression.

This module aims to:

  1. Examine the historical development of media forms geared to the youth market.
  2. Critically consider key theoretical perspectives developed in relation to the analysis of young people’s engagement with the media.
  3. Examine the nature, significance and impact of media representations of young people.
  4. Familiarise students with theoretical debates about the media’s effects on young people’s behaviour.

Year 3 modules include:

This module currently runs:
  • spring semester - Monday morning

This module provides a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding on brands, brand equity and strategic brand management. It outlines the concepts and framework of branding, which are crucial in designing, implementing marketing campaigns as well as activities to build, measure and manage brand equity. It provides students with the tools and techniques to improve long-term profitability via creating effective brand strategies.

Aims of the module:

  • Explore the role of branding from a corporate and consumer perspective.
  • Examine the theory of branding.
  • Develop students' understanding of the role played by marketing communications in the building and maintenance of brands.
  • Develop students’ researching and analysing skills.
  • Develop students’ critical writing, application of knowledge and decision-making skills.
This module currently runs:
  • spring semester - Wednesday morning

This module encourages students to critically analyse the nature, value, and techniques of effective corporate relations.

The module also covers the analysis and evaluation of theories, models and issues relating to both corporate communications and that which informs its practice, namely corporate strategy. It encompasses both a global and a more “localised” perspective to the subject and is designed to help students to critically analyse and evaluate emerging issues and trends in contemporary corporate relations.

These include all the critical drivers and determinants of corporate communications including macro & micro environmental analysis, corporate strategy analysis as well as issues related to leadership and management, international corporate relations, corporate social responsibility, investor relations, internal communications, communications audits, public affairs issues and crises management.

Key to the module’s focus is the examination of corporate strategy and the inter-relationships between corporate strategy, leadership and corporate communications.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Monday afternoon

This module addresses the role of mediated representation and communication in the development and reproduction of cultural and social identities. Drawing on a range of recent critical theories, it considers a broad spectrum of symbolic forms from the fields of film, TV, magazines, popular literature and advertising, and relates them to the social construction of social identities including ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality. The module has a particular emphasis on anti-essentialist notions of identity, and on the influence of post-structuralism on identity and subjectivity. The module aims to:

● Encourage informed engagement with theories of the nature of cultural identity in contemporary societies.
● Facilitate the critical analysis of the relationship between cultural identities and the meanings of media texts and cultural practices.
● Provide a supportive environment for the development of competence in discussion and presentation

For most of the undergraduate students, this final document submitted for assessment represents the most extensive piece of written academic work that students will ever have attempted! The choice for topic largely rests with each student. It is important that the chosen topic should be feasible, interesting and stimulating. The project should conform to the specifications set out in this handbook and be submitted by the required deadline.
The aim of this module is to equip students with a thorough understanding of applied research methodology and to enable them to apply their knowledge in a practical way through the project. The key areas emphasised are research methods and methodology.
The module therefore has three main objectives:
1. To teach students how to work on a complex assignment that will be of value and interest to them and others, e.g. academia, businesses, over an extended period of time
2. To teach students how to collect information from a variety of sources, apply investigatory and analytical skills, present meaningful outcomes and draw relevant conclusions and recommendations
3. To teach students how to draw selectively and critically upon a body of knowledge, wisdom and information to produce new insights, ideas and perspectives.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Wednesday afternoon

This module is focused around the production of an engaged and lengthy piece of independent research and academic writing. It provides students the opportunity to specialise in one area of the curriculum in their Honours year. Students may choose to develop a structured dissertation describing an independent primary research project (Route A), or a semi-structured extended literature review based on an independent secondary research project (Route B). This module aims to:
● To enable students to conduct a piece of independent primary or secondary research.
● To encourage students to draw on their previous studies in synthesising their personal perspective on a topic related to Media and Communications, and to develop their individual academic interests.

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Wednesday morning

The focus of this module is the examination of Popular Music with respect to culture and society, as well as the identification of Popular Music as a commercial enterprise.

The module introduces key critical analyses of the nature and development of popular music as a cultural form. In doing so it explores the key social and cultural factors that shape our experience of music and the way we give it meaning within our lives, giving particular attention to issues such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality and social class.

Drawing on studies produced within a range of theoretical fields, the module includes discussion of the relationship between popular music and processes of globalisation, the construction of star personas and celebrity culture, and the nature of audiences, fans and subcultures.

By also examining examples of the historical development and the contemporary organisation of the music industry, the module encourages students to reflection upon the social production of popular music, and the impact of technological change on its creation and distribution.

Students will be introduced to the important ways in which digital technologies in particular currently impact upon Popular Music and its audiences. This includes the roles of digital distribution and streaming in Popular Music, along with the use of social media and the creation of global audiences.

This module aims to:

1. Critically consider key theoretical perspectives developed in relation to the analysis of popular musical forms and genres.
2. Examine historical shifts in the nature and operation of the popular music industry.
3. Examine the impact of new technologies on the production, circulation and consumption of popular music.
4. Familiarise students with theories regarding the social and cultural significance of popular music.

Marketing is an essential component of any organisation regardless of size and has application globally, helping an organisation to retain and recruit news customers and increase the scale of a business.

Marketing is focused on the customer and the value of the product offering to stimulate demand, while sales activities are designed to encourage customer purchase. Both functions need to be integrated within an organisation to improve business performance.

Global marketing helps an organisation to find and develop new market opportunities while maintaining its domestic market(s.)

This module is intended to allow students to focus and explore the key components and nature of marketing and sales in a global market.

The global events of 2019 demonstrate the key linkages and interdependence of markets and demonstrate the importance of designing, distribution and selling products/ services in markets around the world, while maintaining a home market.

The module aims to:

  • Provide an understanding of the role and importance of marketing and sales in a global setting.
  • Explore a range of strategic choices available to organisations when seeking to expand globally.
  • Provide an overview of marketing management in the ‘digital age’
  • Explore the relationship and interdependence of marketing and sales
  • Examine the impact of communication including digital applications to support product/service delivery in a global market.
This module currently runs:
  • spring semester - Wednesday afternoon

This module presents a critical review of key aspects of contemporary theory, research and practice in political communication and the mediatisation of politics. It considers how these may be challenged and transformed by new technologies and methods for shaping personalised messages. Using an inter-disciplinary perspective, the module examines key theoretical concepts pertaining to political communication as normally understood in the West, then goes on to pose normative and empirical questions on how they can be assessed outside those contexts.

The module aims to:

● explore social and political theory in the areas of power and policy-making;

● introduce students to key developments in political communications in the UK and internationally;

● introduce students to alternative political communication systems and comparative work;

● examine political communication issues at the global level and related debates about transnational communications, citizenship, identity, nation branding and soft power.

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Monday morning

This one-semester module aims to develop students’ appreciation for and understanding of research in relation to visual aspects of culture. The module provides students with methods and conceptual tools for approaching independent research into visual culture, including art, photography, film and television, and using for visual material as a research tool.

The module builds upon students prior knowledge of theories and debates relevant to visual works and materials, and it will encourage and facilitate the development of deeper engagement with, and understanding of this area of research. The module provides preparation for dissertation research involving visual culture using visual material within research.

The module has two distinct halves: first considering theories and methods relevant to the undertaking of research on visual culture, and second examining the use of visual material as research method in itself. As such, the module will both draw on traditional academic qualitative research methods insofar as they are applicable, and draw on the insights and methodologies offered by visual anthropology/sociology.

The module will facilitate the development of skills and knowledge pertinent to the design of independent research, including:
● understanding the essential relationship between research methods and the problems they are intended to address
● appreciation of the value of visual material in research
● understanding the gains and limitations of visual material


The practical and intellectual skills gained are all transferrable and highly relevant to future employment in a wide range of areas, and particularly within parts of the cultural industries specifically concerned with visual materials.

The service sector accounts for a significant proportion of GDP and employment in most developed economies and therefore it becomes essential for students to have an in-depth understanding of the subject of Services Marketing. In this module, students are introduced to a range of services marketing concepts, models, techniques and online activities applicable to service organisations.

The module aims to:
• Provide an understanding of the theoretical foundations and practical application of services marketing in the private and public sectors.
• Provide an understanding of contemporary issues in services marketing.
• Enhance the transferability of students’ knowledge in developing marketing competences across organisational, national and sector boundaries.
• Develop students’ academic writing, communication and interpersonal skills, including oral presentation.

On completion of this module students should develop the following skills:
• Researching and Analysing Data
• Application of Knowledge and Presenting Data
• Critical Thinking and Writing
• Communicating/Presenting – orally and in writing, including inter-cultural communication
• Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Interpersonal, including collaborating/working with others, cross cultural awareness, having a positive attitude, negotiation and persuasion

This module aims to introduce the students to a developing specialist new field associated with marketing. It provides the students with the opportunity to build on their knowledge about marketing to apply it to situations where the aim is to help address social problems. Students will learn how this developing new science makes use of several disciplines, in addition to marketing, to help improve the welfare of our societies. This field has been successfully applied to many social ills ranging from obesity, drinking and driving to discrimination and domestic violence.
Students will be first introduced to the history and concepts of social marketing and shown the procedures used by social marketers to address social problems. The students will be encouraged to develop their critical as well as applied abilities during their studies.
By the end of the module the students will not only be able to appreciate the benefits of social marketing but also learn very useful skills about how to apply it. The knowledge and skills of this module will combine with previous skills achieved by students in the course, to enable them to understand and apply their marketing skills to both commercial as well as social situations. It will also help develop a socially responsible attitude as well as enable them to consider pursuing this professionally rewarding specialist area for their career.

Where this course can take you

Our creative technologies and digital media graduates have gone on to exciting careers as content programmers, fashion copywriters, motion graphic designers, multimedia journalists and visual effects production assistants, radio presenters, studio runners and producers in companies such as D2 Interactive, TK MAXX, Motion Picture Company, Virtual Arts, Volant Media and We Are Capture.

Additional costs

Please note, in addition to the tuition fee there may be additional costs for things like equipment, materials, printing, textbooks, trips or professional body fees.

Additionally, there may be other activities that are not formally part of your course and not required to complete your course, but which you may find helpful (for example, optional field trips). The costs of these are additional to your tuition fee and the fees set out above and will be notified when the activity is being arranged.

Discover Uni – key statistics about this course

Discover Uni is an official source of information about university and college courses across the UK. The widget below draws data from the corresponding course on the Discover Uni website, which is compiled from national surveys and data collected from universities and colleges. If a course is taught both full-time and part-time, information for each mode of study will be displayed here.

How to apply

If you're a UK applicant wanting to study full-time starting in September, you must apply via UCAS unless otherwise specified. If you're an international applicant wanting to study full-time, you can choose to apply via UCAS or directly to the University.

If you're applying for part-time study, you should apply directly to the University. If you require a Student visa, please be aware that you will not be able to study as a part-time student at undergraduate level.



When to apply

The University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) accepts applications for full-time courses starting in September from one year before the start of the course. Our UCAS institution code is L68.

If you will be applying direct to the University you are advised to apply as early as possible as we will only be able to consider your application if there are places available on the course.

To find out when teaching for this degree will begin, as well as welcome week and any induction activities, view our academic term dates.