BA (Hons) Media Studies with a Placement Year
Course options
Key Details
- Award
- Degree of Bachelor of Arts
- UCAS Course Code
- P30P
- Typical Offer
- BBB
- Contextual Offer
- BCC
- Course Length
- 4 years
- Course Start Date
- September 2024
Why you should choose us
Course Overview
Media shapes our lives, today more than ever before. It makes celebrity, fame and fortune. It’s also a force of persuasion and power—a place of information and misinformation. Your degree in Media Studies will help you to understand, interpret, and shape our complex world. Whether you are aiming for a career in the media and creative industries or not, this is a subject that will prepare you for the workplace of the twenty-first century. Whatever direction you choose in life, your studies will equip you with the knowledge, critical skills, technical insights, and experience you need to achieve your ambitions.
In your course, you'll explore a range of media supported all the way by our friendly and approachable, world-leading scholars and creative practitioners. You'll also engage with important concepts, theories, and approaches within the discipline. Throughout, you'll develop the skills involved in media production. This could be in film or TV production, podcasting, radio or other digital media forms.
Our dedicated resource for digital creativity, known as BLOC, offers state-of-the-art media technologies. This will support your learning and allow you to explore various media tools. You'll also will have the chance to gain real-world experience. Our internship scheme provides an opportunity to work and network with industry professionals. Previous students have interned at local media production companies as well as at the East Anglian Film Archive.
Across the degree, you'll also develop many transferable skills. These include advanced research skills, effective communication, teamwork, leadership, and self-management. These will equip you for a wide range of career opportunities in the media industries and beyond. In the past, our graduates have gone on to success as film industry executives, producers, media managers, creative directors, or to work in film heritage, for example. We look forward to welcoming you into our media program and helping you achieve your goals in this dynamic and exciting field.
In Media Studies with a Placement Year, you'll do a placement in Year 3, gaining real-world experience that connects your academic skills with employment while you gain new skills to complement your course.
Placement Year and Study Abroad
Want to graduate with professional experience? On this course, you’ll normally spend 9-12 months of your third year* in a placement, gaining invaluable work experience and employability skills in a relevant area of your choice. You’ll be expected to seek your own work placement, and will be supported in doing so by UEA’s Career Central Service and your School. Support for you to find your placement will start early in the first year and will be tailored to the particular needs you’ll have at various stages of the process.
The field in which you’ll do your placement will depend on your own interests, and some of the preparatory workshops will help you have a clearer idea of what these are, what your values are, and which career they may lead to. Media Studies graduates go into a wide range of sectors, and so placements can be done in fields such as heritage, business, the public sector, creative industries and many more. We will, however, require that the tasks you’ll conduct as part of your placement meet the required learning outcomes and are complex enough to help you develop a range of skills that you’ll be able to translate and use during the final year of your degree and your post-graduation career.
*Placements may be shorter on some occasions, or take place during different years of the degree, but this has to be agreed by the Placement Director and Learning and Teaching Services. Have a business idea? If you have an idea you think would make a great business, you may be able to turn your Placement Year into a ‘Year in Enterprise’*. Your idea (business plan, budget etc.), motivation and academic record would have to be assessed by our team. Should you be given the go-ahead, you could use the year to start your businesses in a structured and supportive environment, accessing numerous training courses and extensive mentoring.
*Note that if you’re studying with us on a Student Visa, you can’t currently undertake a Year in Enterprise due to Visa rules.
This version of the degree gives you the opportunity and support to greatly enhance your employability by securing and undertaking a year-long placement in the third year of your degree. Find out more about this exciting opportunity on our 'Placement Years in Arts and Humanities' page.
Study and Modules
Structure
In the first year, you’ll be introduced to major debates, theories and thinkers in media studies, providing you with the foundational knowledge needed to progress with confidence into the more specialist modules of years two and three. Modules in this first year introduce you to some of the core characteristics of the media industries, consider the material, social and institutional contexts in which media forms have been produced and explore the technologies and platforms driving digital media. As well as exploring audio-visual and audio formats ranging from television to podcasts, you’ll learn how to analyse and think about media representations. Alongside your journey through these subject areas, you’ll develop key skills needed to analyse a range of media forms and be encouraged to develop and apply your critical voice as a researcher and writer.
Compulsory Modules
Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
In addition to timetabled lecture and seminar slots, teaching staff hold dedicated office hours where students can seek advice and guidance on a one-to-one basis. You’ll also be assigned an academic adviser who can support you through your studies.
In your first year, you’ll acquire skills vital to independent learning and develop the analytical skills which you'll need throughout your course. You'll have access to dedicated sessions designed to help you make the most of UEA’s state-of-the-art library facilities. Through these sessions and your academic modules, you’ll develop skills in finding resources and critically assessing sources. You'll be given opportunities to practice essay writing and presentation skills as well as working in groups to develop the skills necessary for effective collaboration.
Assessment
Throughout the degree, you’ll be assessed in a variety of ways, from essays to presentations and group work. In the first year, assessment largely focusses on ensuring you have the key critical and analytical skills needed to work more independently in your second year.
Structure
In the second year, you’ll deepen your knowledge, with modules looking in greater detail at areas such as digital media, exploring different facets of the media industries or developing your research skills. At this stage in your degree, you have the freedom to begin to specialise in areas that excite you the most, perhaps exploring media practice through film or television studio production, investigating media’s role in society relation to identity. In this year you’ll also have the opportunity to complete an internship. Previous students have undertaken placements with local radio stations, television production companies and the East Anglian Film Archive among others.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Credits: 20)Optional B Modules
(Credits: 60)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
In your second year, you’ll develop as a self-motivated researcher and independent creative thinker. The second year offers a wider range of learning and teaching methods from teacher-led surveys to student-centred practice or scaffolded independent study.
Assessment
In addition to practical and critical skills assessments, by the end of your second year, your assessment will have prepared you for independent research.
Structure
Your third year will be spent on your placement, providing you with the opportunity to experience the world of work while applying some of the skills and knowledge you’ve developed during your first two years of study.
Compulsory Modules
Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
You’ll spend your third year on a placement. You'll be responsible for securing the placement, supported by UEA’s well-established connections throughout the UK and beyond. During your placement, you’ll be supported by a placement mentor, who will regularly monitor and review your progress with you, and you’ll have access to remote support from UEA, too, to make sure everything is going smoothly and that you’re getting the most of your experience.
Assessment
You’ll be asked to reflect on your placement by, for instance, offering a self-appraisal of what you have learnt and demonstrating your broader commercial awareness of your placement’s sector.
Structure
This year allows you to specialise further and develop your research skills in our dissertation module which includes a period of supervised independent study. You may also choose from optional modules that are taught by our world-leading academics and cover topics such as science fiction, gender, digital media, or adaptation, for example.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Credits: 30)Optional B Modules
(Credits: 60)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
In your final year, the focus is on realising your potential. You'll have the opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic of your choice under the supervision of one of our experts. The emphasis this year is on taking the skills you have learned and applying them to topics you are interested in.
Assessment
In the final year, you’ll also have the opportunity to work closely with an expert supervisor in completing a dissertation on a topic of your own devising.
Entry Requirements
- A Levels
- BBB. If you are taking an EPQ and three A-levels, we may offer you a one grade reduction on our advertised typical offer alongside an A in the EPQ.
- T Levels
- Obtain an overall Pass including a B in the core of the T Level and a Merit in the Occupational Specialism. Any subject is acceptable.
- BTEC
- Extended Diploma: DDM excluding BTEC Public Services, Uniformed Services and Business Administration. See below for accepted subjects and combinations.
- Contextual Offer
A Level – BCC
BTEC L3 Extended Diploma – DMM
UEA are committed to ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all, regardless of their background or experiences. One of the ways we do this is through our contextual admissions schemes.
- Scottish Highers
- AABBB
- Scottish Advanced Highers
- CCC. A combination of Advanced Highers and Highers may be acceptable.
- Irish Leaving Certificate
- 2 subjects at H2, 4 subjects at H3
- Access to HE Diploma
- Pass the Access to HE Diploma with Merit in 45 credits at Level 3
- International Baccalaureate
- 31 points.
- GCSE
You are required to have Mathematics and English Language at a minimum of Grade C or Grade 4 or above at GCSE.
- English Foreign Language
Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading):
- IELTS: 6.0 overall (minimum 5.5 in all components)
We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.
Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.
If you do not yet meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the English skills necessary for successful undergraduate study:
- Interviews
Most applicants will not be called for an interview and a decision will be made via UCAS Hub. However, for some applicants an interview will be requested. Where an interview is required, the Admissions Service will contact you directly to arrange a time.
- Deferred Entry
We welcome applications from students who have already taken or intend to take a gap year. We believe that a year between school and university can be of substantial benefit. You are advised to indicate your reason for wishing to defer entry on your UCAS application.
- Intakes
This course is open to UK and International applicants. The annual intake is in September each year.
Additional Information or Requirements
Extended Diploma: DDM.
Diploma: DD plus grade B at A-level.
Extended Certificate: D plus BB at A-level.
If you do not meet the academic requirements for direct entry, you may be interested in one of our Foundation Year programmes such as BA Film and Television Studies with a Foundation Year.
UEA are committed to ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all, regardless of their background or experiences. One of the ways we do this is through our contextual admissions schemes.
We welcome and value a wide range of alternative qualifications. If you have a qualification which is not listed here, or are taking a combination of qualifications, please contact us via Admissions Enquiries.
International Requirements
We accept many international qualifications for entry to this course. View our International Students pages for specific information about your country.
INTO University of East Anglia
If you do not meet the academic and/or English language requirements for direct entry our partner, INTO UEA offers progression on to this undergraduate degree upon successful completion of a preparation programme. Depending on your interests, and your qualifications you can take a variety of routes to this degree:
International Foundation in Business Economics Society and Culture
International Foundation in Humanities and Law
Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all undergraduate applicants.
Fees and Funding
Tuition Fees
View our information for Tuition Fees.
Scholarships and Bursaries
We are committed to ensuring that costs do not act as a barrier to those aspiring to come to a world leading university and have developed a funding package to reward those with excellent qualifications and assist those from lower income backgrounds. View our range of Scholarships for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.
Course Related Costs
Please see Additional Course Fees for details of other course-related costs.
How to Apply
Apply for this course through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS), using UCAS Hub.
UCAS Hub is a secure online application system that allows you to apply for full-time undergraduate courses at universities and colleges in the United Kingdom.
Your application does not have to be completed all at once. Register or sign in to UCAS to get started.
Once you submit your completed application, UCAS will process it and send it to your chosen universities and colleges.
The Institution code for the University of East Anglia is E14.
View our guide to applying through UCAS for useful tips, key dates and further information:
Employability
After the Course
You’ll graduate with the skills required to find work in the creative industries, both in the UK and elsewhere in the world. You could enter broadcasting, social media, public relations or a content agency. Alternatively, you could continue your academic passion with postgraduate study at UEA.
Careers
Examples of careers you could enter include:
- Social media
- Publicity officers
- Radio
- Television production
- Journalism
- Publishing (books, magazines, newspapers)
Discover more on our Careers webpages.