Programme Specification
MA Media and Cultural Analysis (January 2021 intake)
Academic Year: 2020/21
This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if full advantage is taken of the learning opportunities that are provided.
This specification applies to delivery of the programme in the Academic Year indicated above. Prospective students reviewing this information for a later year of study should be aware that these details are subject to change as outlined in our .
This specification should be read in conjunction with:
- Reg. XXI (Postgraduate Awards) (see
- Module Specifications
- Summary
- Aims
- Learning outcomes
- Structure
- Progression & weighting
Programme summary
| Awarding body/institution | Â鶹ֱ²¥ University |
| Teaching institution (if different) | N/A |
| Owning school/department | School of Social Sciences and Humanities |
| Details of accreditation by a professional/statutory body | N/A |
| Final award | MA or PG Diploma or PG Certificate |
| Programme title | Media and Cultural Analysis (CXPT36) |
| Programme code | CXPT36 |
| Length of programme | One year |
| UCAS code | N/A |
| Admissions criteria | MA - |
| Date at which the programme specification was published | Thu, 12 Nov 2020 16:16:07 GMT |
1. Programme Aims
- To enable students to gain a systematic and critical awareness of current issues and debates in communication media studies and related disciplines.
- To develop students' skills and competencies in a comprehensive range of research methods and techniques relevant to the investigation of media communications and related disciplines.
- To enable students to interpret evaluate and apply advanced knowledge in the discpline in an innovative way.
- To prepare students for employment in diverse professional environments through a combination of independent work and industry exposure.
- To foster students' ability to critically analyse current research and advanced scholarship about the relationship between media and modernity.
- To foster students' ability to critically analyse current research and advanced scholarship about the politics of representation.
2. Relevant subject benchmark statements and other external reference points used to inform programme outcomes:
The Benchmark Statement for Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies.
3. Programme Learning Outcomes
3.1 Knowledge and Understanding
On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to demonstrate and apply knowledge and understanding in the following areas:
K1. The major traditions, theories and frameworks of inquiry relevant to the analysis of media, communications and associated disciplines.
K2. The historical expansion of communications media, the institutionalisation of media systems, various audiences uses of the media, and the implications of new media for cultural life.
K3. The range of relevant research methods employed in the analysis of media and culture.
K4. The major arguments and issues in contemporary debates in the analysis of media and cultural texts and audiences'.
K5. The ways media and communicative forms construct the shared meanings that comprise public cultures and subcultures and of the issues of representation these practices raise.
3.2 Skills and other attributes
a. Subject-specific cognitive skills:
On successful completion of the programme, students should be able, with reference to media communication and culture, to:
C1. Generate research data according to set procedures and methods.
C2. Independently organise, classify and critically evaluate information gathered in the course of their projects and assignments.
C3. Use advanced concepts and theories drawn from media, communications and associated disciplines to analyse relevant empirical evidence.
C4. Discuss their research and the issues it raises reflexively.
C5. Interpret media texts, representations and cultural identities.
b. Subject-specific practical skills:
On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to:
P1. Engage with major thinkers, debates and intellectual paradigms within the fields of media, communication and culture, productively employing the insights gained in their own work.
P2. Demonstrate their capacity to develop appropriate research strategies to address the issues they have selected for sustained investigation in self-chosen projects.
P3. Analyse new and emerging trends and interrogate both common sense understanding and received wisdom in relevant areas of inquiry.
P4. Discuss historical transformations in media, communication, and culture and wield this understanding in appraising current patterns of development, such as cultural globalisation and media convergence.
c. Key transferable skills:
On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to:
T1. Critically evaluate a range of academic and industry sources.
T2. Communicate effectively to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
T3. Deploy qualitative and quantitative research techniques.
T4. Plan, organise and manage, with appropriate supervision, a significant self-directed project.
T5. Work flexibly, creatively and independently, displayhing a high degree of self-direction and initiative.
T6. Demonstrate skills and abilities learned in relation to their own continuing professional development.
4. Programme structure
Semester 1, 2020/2021 (January/February 2021)
COMPULSORY MODULES (Total modular weight 15)
|
Code |
Module title |
Modular Weight |
Semester |
|
SSP503 |
Researching Communication 1: Media Users and Cultural Institutions |
15 |
1 |
Semester 2, 2020/2021 (February to June 2021) and Semester 1, 2021/2022 (October 2021 to January 2022)
COMPULSORY MODULES (Total modular weight 10)
|
Code |
Module title |
Modular Weight |
Semester |
|
CXP353 |
Key Debates in Media and Cultural Analysis |
10 |
2 + 1 |
Semester 2, 2020/2021 (February to June 2021)
COMPULSORY MODULES (Total modular weight 30)
|
Code |
Module title |
Modular Weight |
Semester |
|
CXP317 |
Researching Communication 2: Texts and Digital Platforms |
15 |
2 |
|
SSP303 |
The Politics of Representation |
15 |
2 |
OPTIONAL MODULES (combined modular weight 30)
Two optional modules must be taken from the list below.
|
Code |
Module title |
Modular weight |
Semester |
|
CXP307 |
Data, Power and Democracy |
15 |
2 |
|
CXP316 |
Media and Cultural Work: Inequality and Discrimination in the Creative Industries |
15 |
2 |
|
SSP319 |
Digital Cultures |
15 |
2 |
Semester 3, 2020/2021 (June to September 2021)
COMPULSORY MODULES (Total modular weight 50)
|
Code |
Module title |
Modular Weight |
Semester |
|
CXP399 |
Dissertation in Media and Cultural Analysis |
50 |
3 |
Semester 1, 2021/2022 (October 2021 to January 2022)
COMPULSORY MODULES (Total modular weight 15)
|
Code |
Module title |
Modular Weight |
Semester |
|
CXP301 |
Understanding Modern Media |
15 |
1 |
OPTIONAL MODULES (combined modular weight 30)
Two optional modules must be taken from the list below
|
Code |
Module title |
Modular weight |
Semester |
|
CXP304 |
Introduction to Strategic Communication |
15 |
1 |
|
CXP306 |
Social Media and Political Communication |
15 |
1 |
|
SSP318 |
Digital Economies |
15 |
1 |
|
CXP323 |
Marketing Politics |
15 |
1 |
|
CXP302 |
Media & Cultural Industries: Political Economy & Public Policy |
15 |
1 |
5. Criteria for Progression and Degree Award
In order to be eligible for the award, candidates must not only satisfy the requirements of Regulation XXI but are also required to obtain the following:
(i) PGCert – 60 credits from modules other than CXP399.
(ii) PGDip – 100 credits from modules other than CXP399 and not less than 40% in the remaining modules.
(iii) MSc – 150 credits and not less than 40% in the remaining modules.
With the exclusion of module CXP399 (Dissertation), provision will be made for candidates who have the right of re-assessment to undergo re-assessment in the University's Special Assessment Period (SAP).
6. Relative Weighting of Parts of the Programme for the Purposes of Final Degree Classification
This section relates to undergraduate degrees only.
