Media and English Literature with a Year in Industry

Our BA Media and English Literature programme will combine practical media skills along with the exploration of literature and writing. This combination opens a wide range of career opportunities. Based on our stunning Singleton Park campus, in parkland overlooking Swansea Bay on the edge of the Gower Peninsula, this four-year course offers a wide range of specialist modules giving you the option to choose pathways in creative media practice, professional writing and journalism, film studies, public relations, and media theory. You will study an extensive range of literature genres from the Middle Ages to the modern day, creative and professional writing, gender and culture, poetry, and national and global literatures. You will also explore theory and techniques relevant to modern media and digital practice, including radio and video production, journalism, public relations and marketing, media theory, media law and film.

Media at Swansea is ranked 8th in the UK for Student Satisfaction (Complete University Guide 2025), 8th in the UK for Student Experience (Times Good University Guide 2025) and English Literature at Swansea is ranked 11th in UK for Research Impact (REF2021), Top 20 in the UK for Teaching Satisfaction (Guardian University Guide 2025).

You will be taught by academic lecturers, international researchers, and experienced writers with established reputations whose works have been widely published, broadcast and performed. You will also benefit from the knowledge and expertise of industry professionals from PR and journalism, video production, and web and creative design, giving you an unrivalled mix of academic and industry experience, further supported by lectures and seminars by guest speakers.

We have fantastic facilities including our fully equipped film and TV studio and editing suite and are able to connect with Swansea’s strong literary heritage with involvement in the Dylan Thomas Centre and National Theatre of Wales.

Your third year will be spent as a Year in Industry, where you will gain valuable skills and experiences to further improve your student experience and enhance your career prospects.

Outside of your studies, students can get involved in a wide range of clubs and societies including the English and Creative Writing Society and the Media Studies Society.

Our Media and English Literature graduates are truly international and are employed not just in the UK but all around the world, pursuing careers in journalism, media, business, public relations and marketing, digital marketing, broadcasting, TV and radio, and publishing. Please visit our course page for more information:
https://www.swansea.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/culture-communication/media-comms-journalism-pr/ba-english-literature-media/

Students on this course will have access to our unique media pathways (Media Theory, Digital Media, Journalism, Film, Public Relations, Creative Practice), as well as our expansive selection of English Literature modules.

In Year 1, you will typically study areas including: Introduction to Media Communication, Film Studies, Delivering and Decoding the News, Principles of Mediation, Public Relations: Strategic Communications, Hollywood: A History of American Film, Monsters, Theories, Transformations, Approaches to Gender in English Literature and others.

In Year 2, you will typically study areas including: Theorising the Media, Film Production, Public Relations Theory in Action, Pop Culture and Alternative News Genres, Debating Texts: Theory in Literature, Revolution of the Word: Modernism, Exploring the Bloody Chamber: Medieval to Postmodern and others.
In Year 3, you will have the opportunity to engage in a Year in Industry placement.
Your final year will include an optional independent dissertation project. For the full programme structure and module breakdown, please visit our webpage at: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/culture-communication/media-comms-journalism-pr/ba-english-literature-media

Studying Media and English Literature 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-english-literature-media/