Media and Communication with a Foundation Year

In a world increasingly shaped by digital technologies, media literacy is essential, not only for understanding the world around us but for actively shaping it.

Our BA in Media and Communication offers a dynamic blend of critical theory, hands-on experience and forward thinking that will equip you with the skills to analyse, create, and innovate across journalism, public relations, digital media, and film.

The Foundation Year gives you an exciting introduction to higher education, setting you up with the skills, confidence, and knowledge that you’ll need to be successful on your undergraduate degree. It’s ideal if you need a little more support after further education or are returning to education after a gap.

This programme embeds critical thinking, media literacy, and research-led learning from the outset. You’ll benefit from expert-led teaching, that’s directly related to cutting-edge media research, delivered alongside real-world projects, authentic assessments and a suite of innovative practice modules that reflect industry practice.

Our BA in Media and Communication ensures you are both critically informed and practically skilled, ensuring you graduate with the essential skills to become an adaptable, reflective media professional ready to navigate and contribute to the fast-changing media landscape.

Through the study of concepts such as media history and identity, algorithmic bias and the digital political economy, you’ll gain a critical understanding of how media transforms societies and influences everyday life.

Based on our stunning Singleton Park campus, in parkland overlooking Swansea Bay on the edge of the Gower Peninsula;

We pride ourselves in preparing you for life beyond university. We are able to do this by using our connections to industry, and our emphasis on the particular interpersonal skills that our industry panel identify as key within their recruitment processes.

Course Modules

In Year 0, you will typically study areas including: Research Essay, Academic Writing and Skills Development, Introduction to Being Human, Critical Reflection and Problem Solving, Introduction to Research, Place, Memory & Identity in Literature, Film, Visual Art & Media.
In Year 1, you will typically study areas including: Introduction to Media Communication, Delivering and Decoding the News, Principles of Mediation and others.
In Year 2, you will typically study areas including: Theorising the Media, Introduction to Writing Fiction, Film Production, Misinformation, Fake News and Fact-Checking, Social Media Cultures and others.
In Year 3, you will typically study areas including: The Story of the USA on Film and Television, 1865-2008, Media and Identities, Dissertation Preparation, Documentary and Fiction Filmmaking, Reporting the 21st Century, Sports Public Relations, Media and Communication Internship and others.

Studying Media and Communications at Swansea University allows students to enhance their future employability prospects through assessments that replicate the kind of experiences you will face in the creative communications industries, often with the involvement of industry professionals to offer feedback and advice. Some examples of these are:

• Developing creative ideas for a multi-media project that is then pitched to a commissioning editor from the BBC
• Working with one of the University’s Sports Club to develop a communications strategy to raise the profile of the club among Freshers students
• Creating a multi-media rebranding project for a client
• Writing and/or recording a film review
• Interpreting a brief from a local organisation and working with that client to develop a digital PR strategy that is then pitched to the client
• Filming and editing a series of short 3-minute videos in a variety of styles optimised for distribution on social media
• Sourcing and writing a local news story as a part of the development of a digital journalism portfolio
• Developing an idea for a new lifestyle journalism publication, and pitching the idea to a publisher

For full breakdown of course structure and assessment please visit our course page: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/culture-communication/media-comms-journalism-pr/ba-journalism-media-communications or get in touch with us at study@swansea.ac.uk