What are the best UK universities to study media studies at?

Question

What are the best UK universities to study media studies at?

Answer 1

It depends what you want from your media studies course.

Very broadly there are 2/3 'types of course

One is purely theoretical, where you study the media as an academic discipline in much the same way you would study, say, history

The second is purely vocational - where you get to learn how to make broadcasts; video; photography; journalism etc

The third is a hybrid of the above two.

So simply looking at the lists won't necessarily help. The best way to judge is to go to lots of open days; look carefully at websites etc and asking a lot of questions.

Assuming you're interested in the second or third type of course; I'd be looking for the following factors:

What industry qualifications/experience do the tutors have? (they should be qualified journalists/published photographers etc). Don't go on a course where you're taught, for eg, Journalism by someone who's never been a professional journalist

Most media jobs these days go to people with postgraduate qualifications - and the best postgrad courses are very hard to get on to. So what % of people on the course you're considering get places on these postgrad courses or jobs in the media?

You might be shown glamorous TV studios etc at your open day. Don't be too heavily swayed by these. Be clear they are relevant to the courses you would actually be doing and that undergraduates actualy have access to them

Personally, I'd recommend the media studies programme at De Montfort University, which ticks all the above boxes for a hybrid type course

Answer 2

Do a course search on UCAS:

http://www.ucas.com