Program Overview

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Creative Media MA

Overview

Our Creative Practice MA is open to professionals and graduates who aspire to meet the evolving demands of contemporary creative practice. You will gain strong theoretical and cultural contextual knowledge and will hone your conceptual thinking and innovation. This course will enhance your career prospects in the creative industries and enable you to become an effective and confident practitioner.

Key Features

• A stimulating opportunity to work alongside practitioners from a variety of disciplines
• A broad-ranging course that expands your creative horizons
• Strong theoretical, experimental and professional practice strands
• A community in the Institute of Arts and Humanities, of teaching staff and technicians who all have a professional track record in their field

Entry Requirements

• A first or second-class Honours Degree in a relevant, cognate discipline
• Professional qualifications in an appropriate area
• Relevant professional experience

All applicants will be invited to attend an interview and will be asked to provide a portfolio.

The IELTS score for international applicants is 6.5 (with no less 5.5 in each component). Other English Language qualifications will be considered.

Portfolio Requirements

We accept a wide variety of media (both digital and traditional) as part of your portfolio submission. Options include:

• Graphic Design
• Photography
• Illustration
• Film or animation
• Painting
• Printmaking
• Sound design or music composition
• Motion graphics
• Game design concepts

How to Submit Your Portfolio

Please email us your portfolio in a digital format (for example using a file-sharing site such as a drop box or as a web link) at the time of application. We will contact you to arrange an informal interview once we have received your full application. For international and EU students, this could be arranged using Skype.

Course Content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice.

Semester 1

• Creative Identity: A practical project module, based on research, in which you explore your identity as a practitioner through a project of your own devising
• Professional Practice: A module that expands your engagement with professional practice and the opportunity to work alongside a media professional

Semester 2

• Creative Concept: Having established your identity, you are given the opportunity to build on this self-awareness in a sustained practical project based on sound and relevant research
• Portfolio: During this course, you will create a substantial portfolio of work to showcase your technical and creative talents

Semester 3 (summer)

• Independent Project: You will have prepared for this module in Creative Concept. It is the culmination of your experience on the course - a major practical project of your own devising that showcases your abilities and skills and which is underpinned with a theoretical critical statement.

Study Options

It is possible to study towards a Masters award (five modules) or either of the interim awards:

• Postgraduate Certificate – To gain a Postgraduate Certificate, students must successfully complete two modules.
• Postgraduate Diploma – After completing the Postgraduate Certificate, it is possible to complete a further two modules to achieve the award of Postgraduate Diploma.
• Masters – Having completed four modules, the student may proceed to the Masters by completing the Independent Project over the summer.

Teaching and Assessment

You are taught through a combination of lectures, interactive presentations of your work, tutorials, and workshops that are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion, tutorial guidance, and small group activities in workshops.

Contact Time

In a typical week, you will have around eight contact hours of teaching through two module sessions. This represents two half days per week in each semester. Lecturers will give further support by email if a student requests this.

Independent Self-Study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 16 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, and preparing coursework assignments and presentations.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or 'formative' assignments.

Each module has one formal or 'summative' assessment that is graded and counts towards the final module grade. Assessment methods include practical projects, essays, and reports. The summer Independent Project is the equivalent of the dissertation and is a self-directed investigation, originated by the student, in the form of a major practical project supported by a 5,000-word critical evaluation.

Feedback

Students will receive detailed feedback on all module assignments. Feedback is intended to support learning, and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Careers

If you are a media practitioner, you can find employment in design, film, television, or photography studios. If your field is in fine art, you could find employment in galleries, curation, or public and private commissions. Many of our graduates proceed to freelance careers. Others find vocation as teachers and lecturers.

We have designed this exciting course such that you may participate in any area that represents your practice. You might be a designer, filmmaker, illustrator, painter, photographer, printmaker, animator, or practicing in any other creative field. One of the distinct aspects of our programme is that you will be working and studying alongside graduates in a range of disciplines: this is an unusual, and very stimulating, inspiring factor of the course. You will benefit from contribution and support from student colleagues from diverse disciplines that will broaden your outlook and vision.

Graduates of the current programme have been successfully placed in studios specializing in design, video editing, film production, and photography. Many are now pursuing freelance practice.

Meet the Team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners with industry experience, demonstrators, and technical officers.

Postgraduate students may also voluntarily contribute to some undergraduate sessions. Teaching is informed by the extensive industry experience of the lecturers, together with on-going practice and research. Permanent staff lecturing on the programme have higher education teaching qualifications and are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.

Fees and Funding

Full-time Tuition Fees

• UK and EU students: The standard tuition fee for full-time home and EU students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 is £9,450 per year.
• International students: The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 is £17,900 per year.

Part-time Tuition Fees

• UK and EU students: The standard tuition fees for part-time home and EU students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes/PGCert/PGDip courses in the academic year 2025/26 are £788 per 15-credit module, £1,575 per 30-credit module, £2,363 per 45-credit module, and £3,150 per 60 credit module.
• International students: The standard tuition fees for part-time international students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 are £1,492 per 15-credit module, £2,983 per 30-credit module, £4,475 per 45-credit module, and £5,967 per 60 credit module.

Postgraduate Loans

The Government will provide a loan of up to £12,471 if your course starts on or after 1 August 2024 per eligible student for postgraduate Masters study. It will be at your own discretion whether the loan is used towards fees, maintenance, or other costs.