Department of Media and Communication

MA Mass Communications

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Introduction

The MA Mass Communications degree is a one-year full time taught course providing students with a comprehensive grounding in the theories, approaches and research necessary for studying, analysing, and understanding media and communication processes in both national and global contexts.

The MA Mass Communications course combines a firm overview of the history and development of communication research with a critical engagement with the latest theory and research on media, culture and communication. The course provides extensive training in communication research. Since the launch of the MA Mass Communications course over two decades ago, hundreds of students from over 70 different countries have successfully graduated from the course.

All teaching staff are active researchers and are amongst the leading scholars in the rapidly expanding field of communications.

The MA Mass Communications course will provide you with a critical knowledge of the historical development and key paradigm shifts in the study of media, culture and communication, and it will give you the background knowledge and research expertise necessary to confidently address issues such as:

• Media production, organisation and control
• Globalisation and commercialisation
• News in local, national and global context
• Media roles in the construction of social problems and issues
• Media and the political process
• New media, information and communication technologies and their social uses and implications
• Culture, communication and media
• Advertising, persuasive communication and media campaigns
• Ethnicity, gender and identity
• Management, training and professional ideology in media practice
• Communication policy and regulation
• Cross-national studies of media and communication systems
• Analysis of media texts, images and representation
• The implications of media for the knowledge, beliefs and behaviours of viewers, readers and other users
• The contribution of media to economic growth, nation-building and community development
• Media, communication and social control
• Media, popular culture and everyday life

Where does the MA in Mass Communications lead?

With its broadly based examination of the history, development, and theoretical diversity of approaches to the study of media and communication, and with its strong emphasis on training in research conceptualisation, planning and execution, the MA Mass Communications offers an excellent foundation for study at doctoral level. Indeed, many of our MA graduates go on to pursue a doctoral degree in communication and media or related areas. Other key career destinations include higher education institutions, press and broadcast organisations, international news agencies, government departments (e.g. publicity, education, health), advertising organisations, public relations organisations, and many others.

Course Structure

The MA Mass Communications course consists of five core modules, two option modules, and a dissertation based on individually supervised research.

All students take the following core modules:

Semester 1	Semester 2
Contemporary Issues in Media and Cultural Studies	Option 1 (see below)
The Study of Mass Media Audiences	Option 2 (see below)
Research Methods and Management I	Research Methods and Management II
Processes and Structures in Mass Communication	Dissertation

In semester 2 students choose two from the following range of options (the range of options on offer may vary from year to year):

The International Context of Mass Communication

Film as Mass Communication

Global Cinema

News Management, Communication and Social Problems

Technology, Culture and Power: Global Perspectives

Advertising and Cultural Consumption

The Digital Economy

International Political Communication

Media, Celebrity and Fandom

FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE MODULES.

Teaching and support

Teaching is by a combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials. Each MA student is assigned a personal tutor with whom the student can discuss matters of both an academic and non-academic nature. Each student is also assigned a dissertation supervisor in consultation with whom students develop their dissertation ideas, plan their work, and discuss the progress of their dissertation work.

Assessment

Assessment for the MA Mass Communications is by means of essays, research methods assignments, and a dissertation of between 15,000 and 18,000 words.

Resources and facilities

Since the establishment of the Department of Media and Communication (formerly the Centre for Mass Communication Research) in the 1960s, the University of Leicester Library has built up one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of media, communications and related literature anywhere in the country, with longstanding subscriptions to all the major media and communications journals and with literally hundreds of new book titles added every year. The library thus offers our students unique and comprehensive access not only to historical as well as contemporary research, theory and debate on media, culture, and communications, but also direct electronic access to essential bibliographic databases, abstracting and information services, including access to the increasingly important wealth of information available via the internet.

Students have access to copies of UK national newspapers and the Department maintains an archive of both newspapers and selected television news programmes. Students also have access to the Department's video facilities and to computing laboratories across the University.

Entry Requirements

Candidates should normally have at least a good second class honours degree in any discipline, though a Social Science degree would be particularly relevant, from an institution recognised by the University. Applicants who do not have a first degree, but who can demonstrate other relevant qualifications and/or experience may also be considered.

Where English is not the first language, students are required, prior to admission to the Department, to provide evidence of their proficiency in both written and spoken English. This should usually be a score of 6.5 in the British Council IELTS test or a score of 600 in the TOEFL. The University will also accept equivalent qualifications and further advice can be obtained from the Graduate Office. The University's English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU) offers full-time preparatory courses in English Language and Study Skills for overseas students. Our International Office can provide further help and guidance.

Finance

Full information on current fees is available on request or in the University of Leicester on-line Prospectus. Before, or at the time of registration, students must provide evidence of their ability to pay the appropriate course fee and to support themselves throughout the duration of the course.

The Department will normally support the application for funds and financial assistance of those students who have been accepted. From time to time a very limited number of University bursaries may be available. Currently, students in the Department are supported/funded by a range of UK and international government and non-governmental agencies.

Accommodation

The University endeavours to provide a single place in University owned self-catering accommodation for all new postgraduate students. A service is also offered to help students who wish to live in private accommodation. See University of Leicester's Accommodation Services.

Contact

Course Tutor: Anders Hansen

How can I Apply?

The MA Mass Communications course starts in September.

• To Request Course Information Pack

To Apply Online

• Click here to Apply Online

To Apply by Post

To request an application form by post please write to us at the address at the bottom of this web page. Alternatively, you can print the application form yourself - Postgraduate Application form in Acrobat PDF.

Send completed applications to:

The Graduate Office,
University of Leicester,
University Road,
Leicester, LE1 7RH.
United Kingdom.