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Media and Communication

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,B

Overall: BBB Applicants taking an A level science subject with the Science Practical Endorsement are required to pass the practical element. We do not include General Studies or Critical Thinking in our offers.

Access to HE Diploma

D:27,M:18

Overall: QAA recognised Access to Higher Education Diploma with 45 Level 3 credits overall including 27 at Distinction and 18 at Merit.

Extended Project

A

Applicants taking the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) will receive our standard A level offer, plus an alternate offer of one A level grade lower, subject to achieving an A grade in the EPQ. The one grade reduction will not apply to any required subjects.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE English Language at Grade C(4) and Mathematics at Grade C (4) (or equivalent).

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

32

Overall: 32 GCSE or Equivalent: English, HL4/SL4 (including MYP). Maths, HL4/SL4 (including MYP). Maths Studies, SL4.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDM

Overall: DDM

Scottish Advanced Higher

B,B,B

Overall: BBB GCSE or Equivalent: English Language: Scottish National 5 - C Maths: Scottish National 5 - C

Scottish Higher

A,B,B,B,B

Overall: ABBBB GCSE or Equivalent: English Language: Scottish National 5 - C Maths: Scottish National 5 - C

Overall: Pass overall with BBB from a combination of the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate and two A levels. Applicants taking an A level science subject with the Science Practical Endorsement are required to pass the practical element. We do not include General Studies or Critical Thinking in our offers.

UCAS Tariff

120-144

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Media and communication studies

Sociology

**Why choose this course**
Do you want an exciting and challenging look into how media and communication are embedded into society? Are you looking for a career where an understanding of media forms, media audiences, social media users, global media, public relations and advertising is required for the role? Then our BSc (Hons) Media and Communication course is just the course for you.

We help you to understand the impact contemporary communication has on society, government and business. We also teach you techniques to research different types of media, its audience, and its users.

You will be taught by research-active media and communications scholars, using the latest research on: media power, regulation, audiences, ‘big data’, digital platforms, international communication and much more.

Our research-led teaching, the transferable skills you will gain from your assessments and our focus on employability, will prepare you for a career in media and communications.

We are ranked 1st for media studies and this course received an overall satisfaction score of 100% in the National Student Survey 2022. We were shortlisted University of the Year in The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023.

**What you will study**
Our BSc (Hons) Media and Communication course will give you a comprehensive education in contemporary media and communications in global, digital societies.

Our modules on offer include:

-The Internet and Digital Societies
-Media Power and Regulations
-Media Audiences and Users
-Public Relations and Advertising
-‘Big Data’, Platforms, Emerging technologies
-Global Media and Communications
-Music, Media and Society.

We are one of the few media and communication degree courses in the UK that offers modules on ‘big data’. We aim to give you a dynamic grounding in social sciences which you can apply to careers in media and beyond.

Modules

To see the full range of modules for this course please visit our website – the link is under the Course contact details. You will also find full details of the programme, including programme structure, assessment methods, contact hours and Graduate prospects.

Extra funding

The University of Surrey offers a range of scholarships and bursaries to support our students, please visit https://www.surrey.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/scholarships-and-bursaries for more details.

The Uni


Course location:

Stag Hill

Department:

FASS - Department of Sociology

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

97%
Media and communication studies
93%
Sociology

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Media studies

Teaching and learning

94%
Staff make the subject interesting
98%
Staff are good at explaining things
91%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
78%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

79%
Library resources
92%
IT resources
89%
Course specific equipment and facilities
87%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

67%
UK students
33%
International students
27%
Male students
73%
Female students
84%
2:1 or above
7%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
C
B

Sociology

Teaching and learning

85%
Staff make the subject interesting
98%
Staff are good at explaining things
88%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
88%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

89%
Library resources
91%
IT resources
90%
Course specific equipment and facilities
90%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

93%
UK students
7%
International students
16%
Male students
84%
Female students
81%
2:1 or above
5%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Media studies

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£22,000
high
Average annual salary
100%
high
Employed or in further education
72%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

17%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
15%
Customer service occupations
13%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

Only a small number of students study courses within this catch-all subject area, so there isn't a lot of information available on what graduates do when they finish - bear that in mind when you look at any stats. Marketing and PR were the most likely jobs for graduates from these courses, but it's sensible to go on open days and talk to tutors about what you might expect from the course, and what previous graduates did.

Sociology

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£22,850
high
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education
39%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

16%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
14%
Protective service occupations
11%
Customer service occupations

We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Media studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£26k

£26k

£29k

£29k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Sociology

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£22k

£22k

£26k

£26k

£30k

£30k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here