UDMEPURE - BA Media and Public Relations

The BA Media and Public Relations combines the study of the media and public relation to enable students to develop their employability profile and career options in public relations, media relations and corporate communications roles.

The media are central to the experience of modern life: television, radio, print media, cinema, social media and the Internet all operate as channels for information, education, politics, art and entertainment. They are also channels central to the professional practices of public relations, media relations, and corporate communications. Understanding the media is critical to understanding how to use the media as a part of public and media relations strategies. This course explores the relationship between the media, and public relations practice developing a critical and vocationally focussed approach that combined practical and theoretical study.

Through studying the BA Media and Public Relations students will develop a critical understanding of the difference the media make to the social, political, and economic worlds we inhabit, as well as the ways in which they shape our symbolic world: the world of perceptions, meanings and values.
Students will also learn about the principles of public relations, media relations and corporate communications, including embedding public relations practice in new media technologies.

The course is taught using a combination of traditional, and innovative teaching methods, fostering problem-based and inquiry-based learning, and reflective engagement. This active learning is supported by a combination of lectures, workshops, seminars, tutorials, specially prepared online resources, work placement and field trips. Development of employability and professional practice is integrated into the curriculum. Students are encouraged to reflect on their learning process, preparing for knowledge creation, life-long learning and leadership.

A blended learning strategy is employed to enhance the learning experience, facilitate communication between students and tutors and develop collaboration among students. The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) will be used as a platform to support online activities, facilitate formative assessment and related feedback, as well as a tool to integrate useful online learning materials provided by research institutions, academic publications, professional organisations and other relevant sources.

In addition, students will be able to develop practical skills including photography, video production, and audio production. Student will also be developing transferable skills that will be of value in a variety of academic and employment contexts, with various modules helping to develop a range of critical abilities, a creative and imaginative approach to problem solving, and skills of analysis and presentation.

The BA Media & Public Relations aims to prepare students to live and work in contemporary society by enabling them to develop competencies to forge successful careers in the media, public relations, media relations, corporate communications and related roles. It aims to do these things by:

1. Introducing students to a range of appropriate theoretical, methodological and practical frameworks for understanding the media, their production, consumption, and symbolic meanings, and the relationship between these and the professional practice of public relations, media relations, and corporate communications.
   
2. Encouraging students to develop mastery in the critical analysis of media texts, institutions, and audiences including their historical contexts by successfully applying their learning in a range of ways including work related learning and independent project work, in particular through applying that learning to the analysis, understanding and practice of public relations, corporate communications, and media relations in the development of reflective professional practice.
   
3. Expanding the intellectual and imaginative capacities of students through the development of a reflective understanding of the changing nature of media and public relations roles in society, by emphasising their responsibilities for reflecting on and questioning the diverse ideas, values and practices which underlie these changes.
   
4. Enabling students to develop practical and transferable skills including but not limited media production, report writing, product pitching, presenting, project work and time management. Enabling students to take responsibility for defining their future career profiles through the choices that they make in their studies.
   
5. Providing a supportive and nurturing educational environment where students are encouraged to pursue their intellectual, professional, or creative development and encouraged to form peer support networks as part of the wider learning community.

The following learning outcomes incorporate and depend on systematic understanding of the key aspects of the knowledge base of Media and Public Relations, including a coherent and detailed knowledge of some specialist areas in depth.

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within Media and Public Relations;
  
• devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of Media and Public Relations;
  
• describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in Media and Public Relations, recognising the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge;
  
• manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to Media and Public Relations;
  
• apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects;
  
• critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem;
  
• communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;
  
• exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts;
  
• undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature

Please check the latest Course Handbook for further information

The course combines a range of media and public relations modules and, through its distinctive curriculum, aims to analyse the media and communications sectors and teach public relations principles and practices.

Core modules require students to engage with both theory and practice in the fields of media and public relations, and option module choices enable students to extend their expertise in specific areas of interest within these fields. The dissertation or project module enables students to develop an in-depth understanding of a sector of their choice.

The course makes use of formative and summative assessment strategies. Self-assessment and reflection on the process of learning are part of the modules’ assessment strategies.
Assessment tools for each module are determined by the aims of the module and its learning outcomes. Students are expected to produce a mixture of written, visual and oral work and are required to demonstrate working within a team, working with different media and with multidisciplinary concepts.

Students are required to choose between fifteen credit work based learning or entrepreneurial alternative core modules at Level 5. Students will have an opportunity to engage with work experience and prepare a reflective piece of assessment associated with this placement. In addition, students have the opportunity to be part of the Study Abroad programme which involves an exchange with universities in the United States. Further, our students can engage with the Erasmus study programme and spend a semester at a university in another European country.

See Course Structure

Reflective learning and personal development planning are core dimensions of this course. A variety of learning, teaching and assessment methodologies are deployed in order to assist the student in her self-reflected personal development and in acquiring the tools to engage in living as a citizen and pursuing economic activity in contemporary societies.

In the course of their study, students are asked to engage with theory and practice in a way that is grounded and concrete as well as dealing with abstract concepts. Reflective learning will vary across modules but will involve at all times engagement with peers and tutors in dealing with both formative and summative feedback on essays and reports; practice-based modules all offer the opportunity for reflection on abstract theory and critical analysis of academic literature and policies; theoretical modules present opportunities to engage with abstract theory and test this against concrete examples. Reflective learning is also integral to the practice-based creative work that is integrated into the curriculum.

PDP is integrated within the curriculum through the Learning through Work and Creating a Winning Business modules, which encourages students to reflect on their future career aspirations, and the ways of using their learning to achieve those aspirations.

The BA Media and Public Relations course is designed to prepare students for media-related employment in the corporate or third sectors, in positions related to public relations, marketing, corporate communications, or media relations. Graduates often progress on to Masters Level study in the UK and other European countries, including pan European Masters Programmes, in a variety of field including Media, Communications and Public Relations programmes.

Graduates of this degree typically enter careers in media-related roles in the corporate and third sectors, including media relations work, public relations work, marketing work and media management roles. Students often pursue further study opportunities at master's level specialising in either media or marketing roles.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum of grades BBC in three levels (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC National, OCR Diploma or Advanced Diploma)
• English Language GCSE at grade C/grade 4 or above (or equivalent)

If you don't have traditional qualifications or can't meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Media and Communications (including foundation year) BSc (Hons).

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Tier 4 student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.