Cultural Studies

Entry requirements

• A good honours degree (2.2 or above) and a significant interest in education and/or equivalent professional qualifications, experience and evidence of continuing professional development
• International students must hold a qualification equivalent to a UK first or second class honours degree

Please see the University website for full details

Months of entry

September

Course content

As a Cultural Studies MA student, you will explore an exciting range of themes that build on your existing cultural knowledge, experiences and background.

These themes span a broad range, from sustainability rituals, to black identity politics, to the future of AI and geopolitical propaganda. We are committed to interrogating established frameworks of knowledge through our attempts to understand cultural sites, artefacts, values and practices and their representations. We also offer the chance to gain hands-on experience with the recovery and, digital transcription and editing of historical cultural texts such as magazines.

You will undertake a special study of evolving cultural forms, including fashion, food, music and (digital) futures, analysing the way in which values emerge and artefacts change in response to social and cultural pressures. We are specifically interested in representations of power and resistance as well as cultures of crisis, including climate, existential, financial and political. Students will be encouraged to develop new specialist interests and research skills in the context of inter- and multi-disciplinary Cultural Studies which will culminate in an independent dissertation. Your dissertation will allow you to specialise in a subject of your own choosing, and work with individual guidance from an academic expert to produce a piece of ambitious cultural research.

This taught postgraduate programme is particularly suitable for anyone with an undergraduate degree in one of the following: Media, Film, Sociology, Politics, or History.

Key features

• Specialise in your chosen subject within the inter- and multidisciplinary environment of Cultural Studies
• Study the complexity and evolution of cultural values, artefacts, rituals and practices
• Learn to critically reflect upon and evaluate your own cultural background, norms and tastes
• Debate the relationship between culture, power and representation
• Examine the politics and cultural manifestations of resistance
• Develop your research skills to postgraduate standard, equipping you for professional research or application for doctoral study
• Gain relevant work experience while you study
• Join the thriving research culture of the Institute of Arts and Humanities and gain experience presenting your work at a postgraduate conference

Teaching

You will be taught through a combination of classroom modules and supervisor-supported independent study. Lectures are used to impart the core contextual knowledge essential to each component of the course. Analysis, problem solving skills, and the application of knowledge to your studies are all developed through interactive seminars and workshops.

Careers

As a graduate of Masters programmes in Cultural Studies you can work in a wide variety of careers, including:

• Media, including editing, production, copywriting, etc.
• Journalism, including print, broadcast, and digital media
• Teaching, at compulsory and post-compulsory levels
• Arts administration
• Charitable and voluntary sectors
• Civil Service
• Human Resources
• Retail management
• Doctoral research and academic careers

Information for international students

All International student for whom English is not their first language are required to achieve IELTS 6.5 or equivalency – with no less than 5.5 in any element.