Studying Communications
The study of communications shows us how individuals, organisations, and cultures around the world interact with each other. It enables us to understand how and why ideas and media content have been generated, disseminated, and received, through successive waves of technological innovation from the steam-powered printing press, through the age of broadcast media, to the interactive social media platforms that underpin our contemporary world.
Dr Alexander R. E. Taylor
Director of Education: Communications
Undergraduate
As a student of Exeter Communications you will benefit from access to world leading teaching and study resources. We offer a range of degree programmes that will help you develop a deep and wide-ranging knowledge of media and communication. Many of our degree programmes also include opportunities for professional placements, field trips, and study abroad.
The BA Communications is our flagship programme. It runs as a single honours degree or as a combined degree with three selected disciplines:
- Communications and Modern Languages
- English and Communications
- Film & Television Studies and Communications
If students would like to combine the study of Communications with a different discipline, Flexible Combined Honours degrees enable you to combine two subjects where there is currently no existing Combined Honours degree at the University (e.g. ‘History and Communications’ or ‘Politics and Communications’). Students can also consider a Liberal Arts degree with a Major in Communications.
Postgraduate taught
Postgraduate study in Media and Communications at Exeter offers a diverse and vibrant learning experience, one that is underpinned by the research-led teaching of our talented staff. Our MA Media and Communications is designed to introduce students to advanced methods of analysis and a wide range of critical perspectives. The degree offers a great mix of theory, history and methods, and experiential learning through lectures, seminars, and workshops. Choosing to pursue your MA at Exeter will also allow you to access unique resources and be part of a globally diverse cohort.
Postgraduate research
We offer opportunities to conduct research in Media and Communications at both MPhil and doctoral (PhD) level within an intellectual ecosystem that is committed to helping you conduct research that is contextually rooted and socially valuable. We welcome exciting proposals for projects that will add knowledge to our discipline and have the potential to change minds.
Prospective students should identify potential supervisors according to their specific areas of expertise A PhD in Media and Communications from Exeter will ensure a rigorous grounding in theory and methods and will provide candidates with the necessary platform to at the forefront of their chosen field.
With proficiency in
The University believes that allowing students the opportunity to study modules from outside their course or programme of study can be of great benefit both academically and in enhancing employment skills. Through our modularity process, you can take up to 30 credits each year outside your main degree subject, subject to conditions.
There are some specific modules in selected subjects that you can take as part of the modularity process that, if passed, will allow you to have the words ‘with Proficiency in [Named Subject]’ added to your degree title. For example, if a student in Communications passed all the required modules for the ‘Proficiency in Leadership’ course, their degree title would read: ‘Communications with Proficiency in Leadership’ .
The selected subjects currently on offer include:
- Proficiency in Leadership
- Proficiency in Entrepreneurship
- Proficiency in Social Data Analysis (PADA)
- Proficiency in Language/Advanced Language
- Proficiency in Law
To have the proficiency added to your degree title, undergraduate students must successfully pass a minimum of 60 credits in the selected subject by completing the compulsory modules. The modules taken for the ‘with Proficiency in [Named Subject]’ pathway must be taken at two different levels (e.g. 30 credits taken during Year 2 and the final 30 credits taken during Year 3), and must be passed. Condoned modules will not count towards qualification for the 'with Proficiency' degree title.
Students satisfying these criteria must confirm with their Faculty in advance of final awarding that they wish for their award title to include the ‘with Proficiency in [Named Subject]’ wording.
Please note:
There are limited spaces on ‘Proficiency’ modules so it is not guaranteed that you will always be able to take your desired module.
Depending on your pathway, undertaking a Proficiency may not be possible. The number of credits available to you to select optional modules depends on your degree pathway. For example, combined honours students (e.g. BA English and Communications) usually have compulsory modules in both of their core disciplines, which can leave you with limited or no capacity to take an optional module. Students can only take 60 credits per term (120 credits per academic year) and no more. For example, if you have two 30 credit compulsory modules one term, you will have reached the 60 credit termly limit and will therefore have no capacity to select an optional module in addition.
