Media and Communications with Foundation Year (Integrated Degree)

This is a four-year degree at Goldsmiths. If you successfully achieve the progression requirements of the foundation year, you can continue with the full-time three-year BA (Hons) Media & Communications which brings together media practice and communications theory. It covers a broad spectrum of critical perspectives on the media and will introduce you to a range of contemporary media practices.

Why study the BA Media & Communications with Foundation Year (Integrated degree) at Goldsmiths

• There are no formal entrance requirements, you just need to demonstrate a lively interest in the world of the media - so it's an ideal choice if you're returning to education or don't have the qualifications to apply directly to the BA Media & Communications degree.

• You'll develop an understanding of media theory and media practice, and the confidence, skills and creative foundation to thrive at undergraduate level.

• You'll begin to develop production skills in TV and video, radio, video animation and photography, and create small-scale projects where you'll hone your technical and collaboration skills.

• The programme includes a study skills module, where you'll get to develop your academic writing and research skills.

• You'll be taught by highly experienced tutors and technicians in studio settings, using industry-standard facilities.

Your foundation year counts as the 'Year 0' of the four-year Integrated Degree. It is structured into the following three areas:

Learning to Learn (Study Skills)
These two-hour weekly sessions are designed to help you develop the skills you will need to thrive in Undergraduate study. They cover aspects of academic practice such as how to:
Write for academic purposes
Approach an essay question
Get organised
Read and make notes effectively
Cite your source material
Compile a bibliography

The sessions include access to an academic tutor who is available for one-to-one tutorial sessions.

An Introduction to Media and Cultural Theory
On this module, you will be introduced to the key traditions and foundational theories of media and cultural studies. These will help you develop an understanding of the relationship between media forms, institutions and our societies.

You will also be encouraged to develop critical thinking skills, begin to understand the importance of the relationship between media theory and practice and demonstrate your growing skills in academic writing (with the help of the weekly 'Learning to Learn' sessions). Each week there is a lecture on a particular topic, accompanied by set reading, which you are asked to discuss in more detail in our weekly seminars.

The first part of this module introduces you to some of the important key thinkers in media theory and considers elements such as:
The relationship between media ownership and control
Competing debates around resistance to dominant ideologies, the power of the audience, and the arguable 'effects' of media
Questions around the meaning of 'culture' and the history of cultural studies
Concepts concerned with the coding and decoding of media texts

These are designed to give you a sound basis for moving on to contemporary ideas about the media as you progress through the year.

The second part of the module considers the social and cultural dimensions of the media in more detail. We will discuss further:
The role of the ‘culture industries’
The relationship between culture and sociological categories of class, race, sexuality and gender
Moral panics
The study of subcultures
Feminist perspectives of soap operas
Studies of celebrity
Ways of seeing
Popular cultural representations of the city
Your own experiences and identities will be central to the concepts and ideas you are studying in these sessions.

Media practice
Media practice gives you the opportunity to create small-scale projects in TV and video, radio, stop motion animation and photography. You will have the opportunity to work through your ideas from conception to finished product, begin to develop production skills, and understand the importance of teamwork and the sharing of ideas.

You are taught in groups for TV and video, radio and stop motion animation and individually for photography. These 5-week ‘taster’ modules are taught by highly experienced tutors and technicians in studio settings, and utilise the industry-standard facilities.

The pass mark for this foundation year is 50%. However, students must achieve 60% in all sections of the programme to proceed onto the BA Media and Communications. Students achieving between 50%-60% will be awarded the Goldsmiths Foundation Certificate in Media and Communications.

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include coursework assignments such as extended essays, reports, presentations, practice-based projects or essays/logs, group projects and reflective essays, as well as seen and unseen written examinations.