Department of Media and Communication

MSc in Media and Communication Research

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Introduction

The MSc in Media and Communication Research 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 course provides: extensive training in social science research approaches and methods; critical engagement with the latest theory and research on media, culture and communication; an understanding of the history and development of communication research; focused training in the theories, debates, approaches, and methods necessary for analysing and understanding media and communication processes in their social, cultural, economic and political contexts.

Key areas

The MSc in Media and Communication Research 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:

• Key theories and debates in media, communication and cultural studies
• Methods and research approaches, tools, and skills for social science research
• Changing global media-scapes
• Media production, organisation and control
• Globalisation and commercialisation
• Key issues in quantitative and qualitative research design
• Data collection in social science research
• New communication technologies and their social, cultural and political implications
• Computer-assisted and web-based approaches to social science data management and analysis
• Advanced procedures for social science data analysis and interpretation
• Media organisations, ownership and control, and media professions
• News and communication processes
• Communication, audiences, and cultural identity
• Media, development and globalisation

Where does the MSc in Media and Communication Research lead?

The ability to design and carry out research is a transferable skill that is highly valued in the workplace and essential to further academic study. With its strong emphasis on training in research conceptualisation, planning and execution, the MSc in Media and Communication Research offers a gateway to a research-based career in a wide range of employment, a means of career advancement with a current employer, or an excellent foundation for study at doctoral level. Many of the Department's graduates go on to pursue a doctoral degree in communication and media or related areas. Other key career destinations include: government departments (e.g. publicity, education, health); teaching and research positions in higher education institutions; press, broadcast and digital media organisations; international news agencies; advertising and marketing organisations; public relations organisations; internet companies and non-governmental organisations.

Course Structure

The MSc in Media and Communication Research comprises a combination of core and optional modules, and a supervised dissertation on an approved topic.

Contemporary Issues in Media and Cultural Studies

Managing and Communicating Research

Research Methods and Management I

Knowledge and Methods in the Social Sciences (Part 1)

Knowledge and Methods in the Social Sciences (Part 2)

Analysing Media Outputs

Option 1 and 2*

Dissertation

*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
• News Management, Communication and Social Problems
• Technology, Culture and Power: Global Perspectives
• Advertising and Cultural Consumption
• Global Cinema
• The Digital Economy
• International Political Communication
• Media, Celebrity and Fandom

Teaching and support

Teaching is by a combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials. Each MSc 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 MSc in Media and Communication Research Assessment is by means of essays, annotated bibliographies, research assignments, group projects and an individually supervised dissertation of 12,000-15,000 words on an approved topic.

Resources and facilities

Since the establishment of the Department of Media and Communication (CMCR) 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 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.

Finance

Full information on current fees is available on request or from the University's on-line prospectus  (financial information page). 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 at the Department are supported/funded by a range of UK and international government and non-governmental agencies.

Non-UK/EU Nationals who need financial help for their studies should check the University's International Office web site for information on scholarships, bursaries and other funding opportunities.

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: Charlotte De Backer

Applications

How can I Apply?

The MSc in Media and Communication Research 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.