Looking for an exciting career? Care about how social justice relates to culture, power and representation? This course is your first step to a passion-led role in the media and cultural industries.

Gain insight into how media technology is rapidly changing the world and develop tools for analysing the power dynamics of major organisations and how they influence their audiences - skills that set you apart as a graduate in the media sector.

Thanks to your tutors’ connections, we offer one-off industry encounters. We’ll introduce you to:

TV producers

talent managers

news reporters

brand marketing professionals

These experts will ensure you have your finger on the pulse of what their sectors look like today and show you how to apply theory to industry practice.

Our alumni led Industry Expert Advisory Board are leaders in their fields. They keep the course at the cutting-edge of what employers look for in graduates. You’ll meet them in your third year at our annual speed networking session - a launchpad into your career as you are getting ready to send out applications.

Order a Prospectus

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Why Oxford Brookes University?

Build your portfolio

Get involved with media platforms like Brookes TV, Observe (our alumni magazine), CMC Scoop (our department magazine), the Creative Industries Research and Innovation Network, and Oxford University Media.

Top 10 in the UK

Communication, Media and Culture is ranked 8th in the Guardian Media and Film Studies subject league ranking 2025.

Influential industry board

Experts from top companies like Spotify and the BBC help us update the course and tell us what skills graduates need.

Unbeatable connections

You’ll be taught by expert tutors who remain active in sectors like journalism and politics.

Perfect balance

You’ll develop practical skills, powerful communication skills and strategic awareness to set you up for your first role – and the rest of your career.

Additional language modules

Our university-wide language programme is available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.

Study abroad

You may be able to go on a European or international study exchange while you are at Oxford Brookes. Although we will help as much as we can with your plans, ultimately you are responsible for organising and funding this study abroad.

Course structure

Learning and teaching

Assessment

From understanding the role of social media in everyday life to exposing bias, you will apply your critical thinking to the issues that matter to you - reflecting on your own lives, media usage, and relationship to culture and society. We’ll discuss the tools news organisations and politicians use to affect audiences and shape public opinion. A concern for social justice is deeply embedded in the subjects you will explore, including some of the most significant issues we face today like climate change, culture wars, and artificial intelligence.

Spend time in our broadcast studio where you’ll learn how to use technical kit - like reading news from the autocue, as well as learning how to make podcasts and build websites. You’ll also have the opportunity of practical work-integrated experience which can include a placement in industry.

Strategic awareness will be important throughout your career. That’s why we’ll use different case studies to put your critical thinking to the test and encourage you to look at problems like misogyny, racism and fake news through different lenses.

You'll learn through a mixture of:

lectures

workshops

group seminars

expert tutorials

online methods.

You’ll develop a close working relationship with your tutors. And you’ll get regular feedback on your learning, as well as support with the areas you’d like to focus on. Your tutors carry out internationally recognised research, which directly informs your learning.

You will be assessed 100% by coursework. This is to prepare you for the kind of work expected of a creative media and communication professional.

Alongside more traditional essays, your coursework will also include:

portfolios of creative and investigative work

news broadcasts

media and audience research reports

reflective journals, presentations

case studies

contributions to online forums

group work and more.

Our aim is to ensure that you develop your particular strengths and interests, as well as helping you to develop communication and research skills for the world beyond the University.

Study modules

Teaching for this course takes place face to face and you can expect around 7 hours of contact time per week. In addition to this, you should also anticipate a workload of 1,200 hours per year. Teaching usually takes place Monday to Friday, between 9.00am and 6.00pm.

Contact hours involve activities such as lectures, seminars, practicals, assessments, and academic advising sessions. These hours differ by year of study and typically increase significantly during placements or other types of work-based learning.

Select year

Optional Year Abroad

Final Year

Compulsory modules

Producing and Editing Text for Publication

Do you aim to be an excellent writer? Do you want to capture your readers’ attention, switch easily between genres, and write well for different audiences?

In this module, you’ll sharpen the tools you need for really good writing. You’ll learn the practical skills of authoring and editing needed to produce effective texts. Most importantly, you’ll put your skills into practice, creating a portfolio of written work in various genres, as well as editing other people’s writing.

Investigating Communication, Media, and Culture

In this module, you’ll gain the skills you need to become an independent learner and researcher. You’ll develop your ability in:

identifying typical research practices

interpreting the evidence produced by original research

critically evaluating the arguments in which research is presented.

You’ll also develop the skills in argumentation that you’ll need to explain your understanding, and the ability to present your evaluation in writing.

Understanding Communication

In this module, you’ll learn three approaches to the study of communication - process, semiotic and cultural. You’ll study elements of human communication and how theoretical models of communication can be applied to the real world. You’ll consider such issues as:

cultural differences in communication

how meaning is created

the role of the ‘self’ in communication

how we learn to communicate.

You’ll work as part of a small group to answer quizzes, produce a handout, understand concepts relevant to the study of communication and make a presentation.

Understanding Culture: Identity, Representation and Power

What do we mean when we talk about ‘culture’? How do human ideas, customs and behaviours become a way of life? In this module, we’ll investigate the key theories and concepts of culture. You’ll gain invaluable critical skills as you reflect on different aspects of culture. You’ll explore the impact of modern culture on individuals and society today.

You’ll explore cultural artefacts. We’ll discuss three key themes: identity, power and representation.

Understanding Media

The mass media are of profound importance to all of us living in today's instantaneous, globally connected, advertising-saturated societies. But what are the media? And how do they affect us? In this module you’ll examine key concepts and concerns in the study of the media. Analysing a wide range of contemporary examples, you’ll explore the ways in which the media are used for communication, consumption and control. From Derren Brown to Fleabag, from The Times to The Matrix, you’ll employ a range of theories and probes to learn more about the impact and significance of the media.

Understanding Digital Cultures

Are you interested in exploring how digital technologies are shaping our everyday lives within commercial, educational, social and entertainment contexts? In this module, you’ll explore the impact changing digital cultures have on our institutions, communication practices and consumption habits. You’ll examine aspects of digital cultures through some of the objects and practices that you yourself engage with. You’ll be given opportunities to reflect on issues of identity, relationships, privacy, truth, and power through researching aspects of your own digital life and experiences.

Optional modules

Theory of Knowledge

What does it mean to know something? Is knowledge different from mere belief? Is knowledge actually possible?

In this module, you’ll get to know the great thinkers of the past, and explore what they say about knowledge. You’ll explore the minds of:

Descartes

Berkeley

You also focus on key debates about knowledge today. You’ll gain fantastic analytical skills as you consider:

the meaning of perception

if we can know something through hearsay

if we can know the world beyond our minds

if there can be a scientific account of knowledge.

Media and Crime

How does the media police our morals as a society, and define our ideas of acceptable behaviour? In this module, you’ll gain the critical skills to analyse popular representations of crime in the media. You’ll examine news reports and other forms of mass-media. You’ll develop a knowledge of crime as a cultural construct.

Creative Writing (Introduction)

In this module, you’ll enhance your power and ability as a creative writer. You’ll attend workshops where you’ll learn through reading, writing, discussion and feedback. You’ll practise your own writing, explore the interplay of creativity and craft, and analyse how you work as a writer. You’ll join other students in exploring key approaches in poetry and prose, through:

practical writing exercises

discussing each other’s work

critically analysing the work of published writers

exploring key writing practices.

You’ll produce a portfolio of original creative writing, as well as a study of the aims and processes of your creative work. You’ll develop excellent writing habits, and the ability to reflect on your own writing practices. You’ll also understand the literary and cultural context of your own writing.

Digital Media and Youth Identities

You'll investigate the role of digital media in young people's identity practices across a range of practices and platforms. You'll look at changing ways in which commercial, political and social identities are researched and understood online. This includes how selfhood is expressed and communicated, perceptions of private and public identity, and issues of engagement and exclusion by gender, age, class and geopolitics. You’ll also consider adult perceptions and representations of digital worlds and their youthful inhabitants, and how far these match youth experiences.

Persuasive Communication

How can the skills in persuasive speaking (rhetorics) help us understand and solve cultural problems? In this module, you’ll gain invaluable speaking and writing skills for your future career. You’ll also understand key rhetorical practices and how they affect society. You’ll explore the rhetorical tools likely to produce social change. You’ll put these to use, crafting persuasive messages that are:

attractive

well-crafted

ethical.

You’ll become a skilled writer and speaker, able to take into account your audience, message and genre as you craft persuasive language.

Audiences, Users and Producers

On this module you’ll look at the role of the audience in mass communication, and how understanding of this shapes approaches to research. You’ll examine conceptualisations of media audiences from early media panics to contemporary ideas about users and 'prod-users 'online. In workshops you’ll consider a range of approaches to audience research, from 'creative play' methods to ways of understanding the audience in the digital age. As you develop your understanding of theory and method in audience research, you’ll be able to apply this to your own research.

Research Methods

In this module, you’ll develop your skills in research methods so that you are ready to carry out small-scale research projects at university and in the world of work. You’ll design and use various data collection methods, such as questionnaires and interviews, and gain practical experience of data analysis techniques (both quantitative and qualitative). You’ll look at important methodological issues such as sampling, reliability, validity and ethics. You’ll also learn how to carry out a literature review, a key skill for undertaking a dissertation in your final year.

Web Design

Designing a successful website requires specialist skills, knowledge and creativity. In this module, you’ll examine issues of design, layout, usability and accessibility, and find out how to create a site that’s both attractive and easy to navigate. You’ll be introduced to the fundamental practical elements of web design, including HTML and CSS, and create a site of your own design using established software. No previous experience of web design is needed.

Organisations and the Creative Industries

How do individuals relate and interact with each other in organisations? Do we lose a sense of our identity within corporations, or find ourselves through a sense of belonging to an organisation with a strong culture? In this module, you’ll analyse the importance of communication and cultural practices within organisations from both an individual and company perspective. You will examine organisations from a multi-disciplinary perspective with a view to appreciating the challenges of the modern workplace. You will acquire interpretive tools through which you can understand the complex dynamics within the media, creative, and cultural industries in which you are likely to work in the future.

Making News: Studio Broadcasting

What makes a story newsworthy? How can we spot fake news? In this module, you’ll explore key issues including questions of balance and bias, the style and format of TV news and the global news environment, including CNN and Al-Jazeera. You’ll link theoretical issues to practice through the analysis of TV news items, before working in a team to write, film and edit your own news bulletin.

Language, Culture and Globalisation

In this module, you’ll explore the relationship between language, culture and globalisation. You’ll gain key analytical skills as you observe how language operates in local and global contexts. You’ll look at language through a sociolinguistic approach - considering the relationship between language and society and how they affect each other. You’ll explore how English rose to become an international language, spoken in countries all over the world. You’ll explore a range of topics, including:

language and gender

language and politics

language and standardisation

globalisation discourses

linguistic imperialism (when we impose our language on speakers of another language).

Communication for Justice

In this module, you’ll get to grips with intercultural identity (connections between cultures) and intracultural identity (connections between people of the same culture). You’ll gain core ethnographic knowledge for your degree, meaning you’ll gain a strong awareness of how to study people and their cultures. You’ll dig into the philosophical foundations of critical theory. You’ll also gain strong self-awareness, as you analyse your own cultural traditions and norms. You’ll explore the dimensions of your own identity, and develop sensitivity to seeing the world as others see it.

Culture, Gender and Sexuality

What does it mean to say ‘woman’? Are binary conceptions of gender unhelpful? This module challenges you to question your ‘common sense’ understanding of terms such as gender and sexuality, and to think about how such terms are used in contemporary culture. You’ll draw on insights from many disciplines, including:

gender studies

critical theory

queer theory

feminist criticism.

Independent Study in Communication, Media and Culture

In this module, you undertake individual or group work on an appropriate topic. You’ll work on a clearly defined topic or undertake a work placement or project under supervision and with approval from the module leader. The independent study gives you the chance to reflect critically work-related learning project or explore connections between themes and questions you’ve encountered in other modules.

Work-related Learning Project

This module will enable you to access a work-related learning / placement opportunity in a relevant setting and where you’ll be able to apply your learned subject knowledge and/or developed skills and competencies, and this module will help you to progress and build your employability profile.

Year Abroad

This module offers the opportunity to study abroad, experience a new culture, and apply your skills in different contexts to enhance your employability. It will help you develop self-management, cross-cultural communication, and interpersonal skills.

You’ll receive support to secure a place at a partner institution abroad, where you can choose modules related to your degree or explore new areas that complement your studies.

Studying at an international university will help you enhance your interpersonal skills through cross-cultural communication with students and tutors, allowing you to build lasting relationships. You'll also improve your study skills by focusing on your chosen areas of interest, gaining valuable international experience that will strengthen your CV.

This year abroad module lasts for one academic year and is taken after the conclusion of your second year of study, once you’ve completed all your level 5 studies. Your year abroad is not credit-bearing.

Dissertation

In this module, you undertake independent research on a topic in Communication, Media and Culture that particularly fascinates you. You’ll have the support of an expert supervisor who will help you define a key issue and develop it into a dissertation.

Branded Communication: Collectivity and Identity

What does ‘identity’ mean in a market-driven society? To what extent do we live our lives through brands? What happens to the values of not-for-profit organisations when they adopt branding techniques developed for businesses?

These are the types of questions you’ll encounter in this module, which looks at how organisations manage their public images. You’ll examine the practices that support brand image, including advertising, PR and sponsorship, discussing their practical effectiveness and their social implications. You’ll also look at how globalisation has affected branded communication, and at the impacts of developments such as e-commerce and social media. Through this module you’ll develop knowledge that’s relevant in the workplace, but also leads towards a critical understanding of one of the forces that shapes our lives.

Citizen Journalism and Civic Engagement

In this module, you’ll learn about citizen journalism and civic engagement in online contexts. You’ll study the growth of participatory journalism and its changing relationship with the mainstream press. You’ll consider the role of citizen journalism in democratic processes and look at how it can encourage people to become more socially active and informed. As well as engaging with these questions, you’ll develop your skills in information-gathering, interviewing and writing as you work on your own, original piece of op-ed or investigative journalism in the form of a blog or podcast.

Media and Propaganda

Look at the controversial narratives woven within media ecosystems, encompassing newspapers, current affairs magazines, social media, and broadcast news. Trace the historical trajectory of propaganda from the tumultuous twentieth-century wars, such as the First and Second World Wars, to its contemporary manifestations in the digital age. You’ll also explore how media and propaganda have been harnessed to shape public opinion, rally support, and challenge power structures.

By the end of this module, you’ll build the ability to critically analyse the dual nature of social media and broadcast news as both agents of control and catalysts for social change. Alongside that, you’ll acquire the tools to assess historical and contemporary instances of propaganda in media, to then build a nuanced vocabulary to articulate your findings and insight.

Culture Wars: Power and Exclusion

This module allows you to engage in depth with compelling current issues in Communication, Media and Culture studies. You’ll take part in student-led discussions and seminar sessions, and develop your portfolio for the research part of this course. You’ll prepare a seminar presentation, giving you the chance to hone your skills in reviewing and evaluating a set of readings and in communicating your findings.

Subject to Culture 1: Individuality and Identity

We all like to think that we’re unique, with our own personality and identity, beliefs and ideas. But are we really all so different, or are we subject to a variety of cultural and social pressures that determine who we are?

Examining a range of objects and artefacts that you have chosen, you’ll consider new and challenging ways of thinking about your place in culture, and about how culture places itself in you. In this honours level module we’ll investigate how we’re all subject to culture.

Subject to Culture 2: Selfhood and Subjectivity

What is the influence of social and cultural practices on our actions? In this module you will examine your relationship with several elements of culture, both as an individual and as a member of society. You will analyse how cultural factors influence values, identities, and the sense of self, including how these manifest in our daily lives and in our interactions with others. You will have the opportunity to explore many themes and theories. You will discuss topics like:

subculture

disability

religion

surveillance

ancient Greek practices of self-mastery.

Ethnicity and the Media

You’ll examine the intersection of ethnicity, media representation and how media is produced, received and consumed - thinking critically about the notion of ethnicity and its many manifestations in the media. You’ll explore the long-standing association with othering practices across social, national, cultural and geographical contexts and how images of ethnicity in the media are characterised by a tendency to either marginalise and criminalise, or exoticize and romanticise ethnically-coded subjects. You'll draw from the insights of different disciplinary fields, including;

ethnic and race studies

media studies

cultural studies

critical theory.

Focussing on approaches and theories which explore both historical and contemporary understandings of ethnicity, providing you with the tools to analyse the different meanings and functions of ethnic identities in a variety of media contexts. You’ll also develop practical skills by engaging in creative audiovisual media production.

In this module, you undertake individual or group work on an appropriate topic. You’ll work on a clearly defined topic, under supervision and with approval from the module leader. The independent study gives you the chance to reflect critically on your learning, and to make connections between themes and questions you’ve encountered in other modules.

Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.

Media is constantly shaping today’s world. By the time you finish this course, you’ll be ready to experience the thrill and be part of working in the sector that shapes society like no other.

You’ll have a variety of opportunities to set you up for success. You’ll understand what makes you tick, whether that’s creating podcasts, or websites, or being in the TV studio. We also bring in industry experts who will share their career advice with you and help you get the best start.

Not only will you stand out to employers, but you’ll also be ready to be a leader in whatever career you choose.

You’ll graduate prepared for a variety of rewarding careers in:

branding

marketing and advertising

public relations

audience research

journalism

media broadcasting

education

publishing

fundraising

community development.

You’ll find previous graduates working at a range of leading organisations including:

MailOnline

Save the Children UK

Channel 5

Washington Post

tech startups

media consultancy and top level freelancers

museums, heritage and cultural organisations.

Joint honours options

You can also study this course as part of a joint honours degree. This course can be joined with:

English Literature

International Relations

Politics

Sociology

Anthropology

Related courses

Related course

Wherever possible we make our conditional offers using the UCAS Tariff. The combination of A-level grades listed here would be just one way of achieving the UCAS Tariff points for this course.

Standard offer

UCAS Tariff Points: 112

A Level: BBC

IB Points: 27

BTEC: DMM

Contextual offer

What is a contextual offer?

UCAS Tariff Points: 88

A Level: CCD

IB Points: 24

BTEC: MMM

Further offer details

For joint honours, normally the offer will lie between the offers quoted for each subject.

Applications are also welcomed for consideration from applicants with European qualifications, international qualifications or recognised foundation courses. For advice on eligibility please contact Admissions: admissions@brookes.ac.uk

Specific entry requirements

Please also see the University's general entry requirements.

English language requirements

Please see the University's standard English language requirements.

Pathways courses for international and EU students

If you do not meet the entry requirements for this degree, or if you would like more preparation before you start, you can take an international foundation course. Once you enrol, you will have a guaranteed pathway to this degree if you pass your foundation course with the required grades.

If you only need to meet the language requirements, you can take our pre-sessional English course. You will develop key language and study skills for academic success and you will not need to take an external language test to progress to your degree.

English requirements for visas

If you need a student visa to enter the UK you will need to meet the UK Visas and Immigration minimum language requirements as well as the University's requirements. Find out more about English language requirements.

Credit transfer

Many of our courses consider applications for entry part-way through the course for students who have credit from previous learning or relevant professional experience.

Find out more about transferring to Brookes. If you'd like to talk through your options, please contact our Admissions team.

Terms and conditions of enrolment

When you accept our offer, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment. You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.

International qualifications and equivalences

Choose country

Bangladesh

Hong Kong

Indonesia

Kazakhstan

Lithuania

Malaysia

Pakistan

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

South Africa

South Korea

Sri Lanka

Thailand

United Arab Emirates

United States of America

Zimbabwe

Other countries

Application process

Full time Home (UK) applicants

Apply through UCAS

Part time Home (UK) applicants

Apply direct to the University

International applicants

Full time international applicants can also apply through UCAS

Please see the fees note

Home (UK) full time

Home (UK) part time

£1,220 per single module

International full time

£1,255 per single module

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

financefees@brookes.ac.uk

Please note, tuition fees for Home students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Oxford Brookes University intends to maintain its fees for new and returning Home students at the maximum permitted level.

For further information please see our tuition fees FAQs.

Tuition fees for International students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students.

The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support.

How and when to pay

Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.

For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.

For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page

Additional costs

Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs

that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.

Compulsory costs

Amount (£)

All programming modules on the course are taught using free software.

Included in fees £0

We do recommend you buy a copy of Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, which you will use for your full three years of study.

Optional costs

It’s your responsibility to cover print / binding costs where coursework submission is required. Please note that a lot of the coursework is now submitted online.

From £30

You may choose to purchase books to support your studies. Many books on our reading lists are available via the Library, or can be purchased secondhand.

£20-60 per book

Accommodation fees in Brookes Letting (most do not include bills)

£107-301 per week

Accommodation fees in university halls (bills included, excluding laundry costs)

£139-248 per week

Graduation costs include tickets, gowning and photography. Gowns are not compulsory but typically students do hire robes, starting at £41.

Typically £0-200

Fines are payable on items returned late although we will give you 5 days to return an item before fines are payable. Find out more about how to borrow and return items.

£1 per book

Students are responsible for their own travel to and from university for classes with single bus fares in the UK currently capped at £3. Oxford Brookes has committed to offering heavily discounted bus travel for students for at least three years from July 2026 with further information on our Travel webpages.

Funding your studies

Financial support and scholarships

Featured funding opportunities available for this course.

Job interview attendance funds from the Journalists' Charity

£2,000 International Student Scholarship September entry

Oxford Brookes Bursary for students starting 2024-25 or earlier

Undergraduate maintenance loans for part-time UK students

Undergraduate maintenance loans for full-time UK students

Undergraduate tuition fee loans for UK students

Oxford Brookes Bursary for Students starting 2025/26 or later

20% Alumni Discount Scheme

All financial support and scholarships

View all funding opportunities for this course

Information from Discover Uni

Full-time study

Part-time study

Programme changes:

On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been

published on the website. For more information, please visit our

changes to programmes page.

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