Overseas students must demonstrate clearly the nature of their education and qualifications in written application and prove themselves to have already attained a high standard of competence in English before embarking upon the programme. Theoretical developments in the field are traced as complex responses to historical change since the nineteenth century. Through close attention to a number of debates concerning, for instance, knowledge and power, identity and difference, post modernism, late modernity and post modernity, cultural globalism and localisation, students are introduced to advanced issues of theory. M01COM is compulsory for all students on the programme except for students following the Applied Communications routeway who can take M01CDI instead. Special emphasis is placed upon reflexive use and evaluation of data, methodological synthesis and innovatory applications.
Students select their own topics in negotiation with individually allocated tutors.
The topic must come within the terms of Applied Communication, Cultural Policy or Media and Culture. It focuses on the role and functions associated with communications rather than on specific sectors of the communication industries though it addresses professional discourses such as journalism, marketing public relations and advertising. As well as looking at such areas as organisational communications, corporate affairs campaigns and public and political campaigns it is also concerned with the communicational activities of pressure groups, lobbyists and activist organisations. Through a linked set of themes, which change from time to time, key modes of analysis and objects of study are treated in depth, thus enabling students to extend their knowledge of media culture with reference to the complexity of academic trends and real world developments. The module aims, where possible, to deal with current media issues and cultural events as they occur.