Loughborough University
Leicestershire, UK
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Loughborough University

Programme Specifications

Programme Specification

MA Media and Cultural Analysis

Academic Year: 2018/19

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 Terms and Conditions of Study.

This specification should be read in conjunction with:

  • Summary
  • Aims
  • Learning outcomes
  • Structure
  • Progression & weighting

Programme summary

Awarding body/institution Loughborough University
Teaching institution (if different) N/A
Owning school/department School of Social Sciences - pre 2019
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 (SSPT36)
Programme code SSPT36
Length of programme One year
UCAS code N/A
Admissions criteria

MA - http://www.lboro.ac.uk/SSPT36

Date at which the programme specification was published Thu, 11 Oct 2018 15:59:27 BST

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

MEDIA AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS (SSPT36):

 

 

COMPULSORY MODULES (Total modular weight 135)

Code

  Module title

Modular Weight

Semester

SSP301

Understanding Modern Media

15

1

SSP302

Media & Cultural Industries

15

1

SSP303

The Politics of Representation

15

2

SSP317

Researching Communication 2: Texts and Digital Platforms

15

2

SSP503

Researching Communication 1: Media Users and Cultural Institutions

15

1

SSP353

Key Debates in Media and Cultural Analysis

10

1+2

SSP399

Dissertation

50

1+2

MA students must also attend SSA306, a media landscapes module.

 

OPTIONAL MODULES (combined modular weight 45)

One optional module must come from semester 1 and two must come from semester 2.

Code

  Module title

Modular weight

Semester

SSP314

Global Communications

15

2

SSP316

Media and Cultural Work: Inequality and Discrimination in the Creative Industries

15

2

SSP318

Digital Economies

15

1

SSP319

Digital Cultures

15

2

SSP323

Marketing Politics

15

1

SSP324

Cultural Memory and the Heritage Industries

15

2

 

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 SSP399.

(ii) PGDip – 100 credits from modules other than SSP399 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 SSP399 (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.

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