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Close up of a student editing a film on a screen

Media and English Literature BA(Hons)

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  • Course
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  • Careers
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Intro

This degree combines the study of contemporary and historical media and literary texts.

You will deepen your understanding of the complex relationships between society, cultures, literature and the media. Through theoretical and practical study, you will enhance and broaden your skillset.

You will become adept at critical analysis but also gain insight into media production and writing for different genres. In media, you will explore topics including photography, documentary making, journalism and scriptwriting.

In English literature you will study core texts, consider relevant theories and debates, learn in depth about genres and styles and develop an advanced awareness of cultural contexts.

There is the opportunity to spend your third year abroad as part of the Erasmus programme.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer

UCAS code PQ33 

Full-time 3 years
With year abroad 4 years

Our next open day for this course will take place in the summer. Register your interest now and we will let you know when you can book your place.

Register your interest

Apply now with UCAS for 2019 entry

Course content

Why study with us?

  • You’ll study at our Falmer campus with its modern facilities and easy access to vibrant Brighton with its well-established arts, media and social scene.

  • By studying this joint honours course, you will combine different but related subject areas, simultaneously exploring the classic and the contemporary in context. 

  • You’ll acquire a core grounding in both media and English literature, but can tailor your degree to your interests according to the modules you choose. You can take more practice-based options such as documentary making for a more creative edge or focus on theoretical study for a more analytical degree.

  • You will be able to use skills acquired through this course and enhance your individual professional and personal development by taking advantage of volunteer placements with local community projects and city schools and becoming involved with local events.

  • You have the opportunity to undertake a year abroad in year three, extending your degree to four years. We have Erasmus agreements in place with universities across Spain, Belgium, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Austria.

  • You can submit work to our online journal brightONLINE, join subject-related student societies such as the Literature Society and Brighton University Drama Society (BUDS), and take part in a collaborative anthology and a graduate show.

  • Our experienced course tutors are well placed to guide you through this course; they have a strong record of research and publications and several members of our team have won the university’s Teaching Excellence awards in recent years.
Humanities student

Computer lab

Year 1 

In year 1, you will study the principal concepts and approaches to the study of the media in both theoretical and practical ways. These core media modules illustrate the complexities around representation, narrative and communication. The core literature modules will enable you to engage with a variety of genres and approaches, and to unravel meaning with a variety of critical and theoretical tools and approaches.

Modules

  • Digital Storytelling: Theory and practice
  • Representation: Understanding how media works
  • Narrative and Narratives
  • Narrative and Screen Media
  • Drama in Society
  • Literature and Theory

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through our applicant portal.

 

Seminar room

Year 2 

In year 2, you take a broadly period-based approach to the study of media and literature. You will study the history and theory of film, followed by a module examining digital media and culture. The second year also provides an essential grounding in understanding literature in context, from the sixteenth century to the present. The focus of several year 2 modules is also on enabling independent study and research in preparation for the skills required in your final year dissertation or creative project.

Modules

  • Cinema and Society
  • The Nineteenth Century in Literature
  • Digital Media and Culture
  • British Literature and Twentieth-century History

Options*

Two from:

  • Studying Travel Writing
  • Queer Writing
  • Twentieth-century Literary Experiments
  • Introduction to Journalism
  • Narrative, Conflict and Power
  • Reading the Graphic Novel
  • Documentary Filmmaking: Theory and Practice
  • Spoken and Written Language
  • Mind and Language
  • Linguistics and Grammar: Concepts and Analyses
  • Literature and Art History
  • Regional Englishes
  • Television Studio Production

Lecture

  • Creative Writing: Process and craft
  • Studying Travel Writing
  • Spoken and Written Language
  • Reading the Graphic Novel
  • Writing for Stage, Radio and Screen
  • Media in Practice
  • American Literature 1850–1945
  • Literature in Practice
  • Photography

You can also choose option modules from across our humanities and arts subjects. 

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

 

Optional year abroad 

Students have the opportunity to spend a year abroad at the end of their second year, undertaking a study period at a partner university within the ERASMUS exchange programme.

Final year

In year 3, besides your dissertation, you have the choice of a wide range of options, from popular culture to postcolonial literature, and from personal documentary to television news production.

Modules

  • Dissertation

Options*

Three from:

  • Pragmatics, Meaning and Truth
  • Language, Philosophy, Mind
  • Non-truth-conditional Semantics
  • Russian Literature and Culture
  • Literature and the World Wars
  • Conflict, Migration, Borders
  • Women’s Writing and Feminist Theory
  • Restoration Dramas
  • Gothic: Texts and Contexts
  • Victorian Sexualities
  • Brighton Rocks: The city in literature and film
  • Writing the Contemporary
  • Post-war American Literature
  • Postcolonial Literatures
  • European Literatures and Film
  • Adaptations
  • (Re)Viewing Shakespeare
  • Literature and Philosophy
  • Apocalypse, Utopia, Dystopia
  • Culture Wars: Revisiting the great divide
  • Community Placement: Theory in practice
  • Creative Writing Project
  • English Language Teaching
  • Popular Culture
  • From Script to Screen
  • Media, Ethics and Conflict
  • Approaches to the Study of Meaning
  • Language, Culture and Ideology
  • Language of Gender and Sexuality
  • Images of War
  • The Camera I: Personal documentary

You can also choose option modules from across our humanities and arts subjects. 

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

 

Watch Media and English Literature students talking about their experiences of the Community Placement module.

Humanities students

Seminar

Staff profile 

Patricia McManus Course leader

Patricia's teaching crosses contemporary media theory and mass-mediated forms of narrative, with particular interests in feminist, Marxist and post-Marxist theoretical traditions.

Her research has primarily examined the history of the novel, particular the interaction with film and of television drama in terms of story-telling practices.

Student work

Student film-making

Our student film-makers have the opportunity to show their work on Brighton's popular Big Beach screen over the summer months.

You'll find samples of work from this course on our arts Vimeo page.

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Our latest news

Come to a free literary salon event!

Come to a free literary salon event!

Join high-profile writers including Paris Lees, Araminta Hall and Damian Barr and as they share anecdotes and advice at the University’s new literary salon series (1, 11, 25 March and 29 April).

Meet the new Head for the School of Humanities

Meet the new Head for the School of Humanities

Watch a film of Professor Steven Maddison talking about his new appointment at the University of Brighton.

Tracing Brighton’s forgotten slave-owners

Tracing Brighton’s forgotten slave-owners

Research by University of Brighton academics has revealed that Brighton and Hove residents received significant financial compensation after the end of British colonial slavery in the Caribbean.

World experts on populism and democracy to gather in Brighton

World experts on populism and democracy to gather in Brighton

World-leading academics from 43 countries will come together at the University of Brighton later this month (23-29 Jan) for the landmark Radical Futures conference which looks at the rise of populism and the future of democracy.

Read more from our blog

Careers

Our graduates are working in television, film and publishing industries, as well as related fields including journalism, public relations and the public and voluntary sectors.

The creative, intellectual and transferable skills gained by any arts and humanities students are relevant to the rapidly changing demands of work and life in a globalised world.

Careers advice and training are built into the student experience at the University of Brighton, with targeted workshops in years 1 and 2 and an annual employability event, offering meetings with local and national employers, advice sessions, presentations by ex-graduates, and more formal speaker events. Our alumni are also keen to offer advice and support to current undergraduates.

Ross Adamson

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

A-levels or BTEC
Entry requirements are in the range of A-level BCC–CCC (104–96 UCAS Tariff points), or BTEC Extended Diploma DMM–MMM. Our conditional offers typically fall within this range.

A-levels must include English literature or a combined English language and literature.

We will generally make you an offer if your predicted grades are at the top of this range. If your predicted grades are towards the lower end of this range we may still make you an offer if you have a good GCSE (or equivalent) profile or relevant non-academic achievements.

International Baccalaureate
27 points.

Access to HE Diploma
Pass with 60 credits overall. Humanities, history or politics courses preferred. At least 45 credits at level 3.

GCSE (minimum grade C or grade 4)
At least English language and maths.

Foundation degree/HND/HNC
May enable you to start the course in year 2.

Studied before or got relevant experience?
A qualification, HE credits or relevant experience may count towards your course at Brighton, and could mean that you do not have to take some elements of the course or can start in year 2 or 3. 

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.0 overall, minimum of 6.0 in all four skills.

International equivalencies

International equivalencies by country
 
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visit our language institute

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For degree preparation courses.

Fees

Fees

UK/EU (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 14,460 GBP

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2019–20.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location

Location

About Brighton

The University of Brighton is at the heart of our city's reputation as a welcoming, forward-thinking place which leads the way when it comes to the arts, music, sustainability and creative technology. Brighton is home to a thriving creative community and a digital sector worth £1bn a year to the local economy, as much as tourism.

Many of the work-based learning opportunities offered on our courses such as placements and guest lectures are provided by businesses and organisations based in the city.

You can also get involved with city festivals and events such as the Brighton Festival, the Fringe, Brighton Digital Festival, Brighton Science Festival, the London to Brighton bike ride, and the Great Escape festival of new music to name but a few. Other annual highlights include Pride, the Brighton Marathon, and Burning the Clocks which marks the winter solstice.

You'll find living in Brighton enriches your learning experience and by the end of your course you will still be finding new things to explore and inspire you.

Brighton North Laine
Brighton Beach sunset

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Set in the South Downs, our Falmer campus is around four miles from Brighton city centre. 7,000 students are based here taking subjects including criminology, English, education, nursing and medicine, paramedic science, psychology and sociology. Brighton and Hove Albion's Amex stadium and beautiful Stanmer Park are right next door.

Specialist learning facilities at Falmer include the curriculum centre used by teaching and education students, which houses over 30,000 teaching resources and clinical skills and simulation suites used by health students. Psychology students learn in our applied cognition and flexible creative method labs.

Falmer campus has two halls of residence on site, as well as a library, restaurant, cafes, and a students' union shop and bar.

The campus sports centre has a fitness suite, activity studios and a sports hall. There is also a floodlit astroturf football pitch, netball and tennis courts.

Cycle lanes link Falmer with our other campuses and the city centre and there is a BTN BikeShare hub on site. There are regular bus services to the city centre and other campuses. Falmer train station is right next to campus and a nine minute journey to central Brighton.

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Newly refurbished atrium in the Checkland Building

Accommodation

Brighton: Falmer

All eligible 2019-entry students are guaranteed an offer of university-managed accommodation.

Halls of residence
We have halls of residence across Brighton in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

  • You'll be prioritised for accommodation in the halls that are linked to your teaching base, subject to availability.
  • Falmer campus is linked to the halls on Falmer campus and at Varley Park.
    • Paddock Field and Great Wilkins halls are on Falmer campus and offer a range of room types and catering options
    • Varley Park offers a mix of room and catering options. Varley Park is around two miles from Moulsecoomb campus and four miles from the city centre. Public transport in the city is excellent, and there's a shuttle bus between our Brighton campuses during term time.
    • Find out more about our halls at Falmer and Varley Park.

Unihomes and unilets
Unihomes and unilets are student houses that we let to our students on behalf of private landlords. This option can work particularly well when you're balancing learning with placements and other commitments. We have unihomes and unilet properties across the city.

Find out more about our accommodation and confirm your eligibility.

Private renting
There's plenty of support if you opt for private rented accommodation. This is an option which offers choice and flexibility – enabling you to choose where you live and who with. We manage our own studenthomes database of properties. This lists accommodation offered by landlords who have signed up to our code of standards. Every summer we provide online events and resources, as well as other advice services, for students looking for a place to live and people to share with.

Outside views at Falmer accommodation

Outside views at Falmer accommodation

Extensive facilities at Falmer sports centre

Extensive facilities at Falmer sports centre

Students dining at Westlain

Students dining at Westlain

Maps

house Accommodation
campus University building

Falmer campus

Stay in touch

Stay up to date

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Our next open day for this course will take place in the summer. Register your interest now and we will let you know when you can book your place.

Register your interest

Ask a question about this course

If you have a question about this course, our enquiries team will be happy to help.

01273 644644

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 to find out about student and staff news, and events.

Statistics

These charts give an indication of how much time you will spend on different activities at each level of the course, and an indication of the balance of assessment by coursework, and written and practical exams. For courses with option modules, actual proportions will depend on the modules you choose.

Find out more about how the academic year and degree courses are organised, and about learning and assessment activities you might get to grips with at Brighton. More specific information about this course is detailed in the programme specification (linked above). You can find out also about the range of support we offer to help you adjust to university life.

Overall workload

Assessments

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats enable you to compare information when choosing a UK university course. All UK universities publish Unistats data on their website.

Programme specification

The programme specification is the approved description of each course. They are updated following course changes, and give a detailed breakdown of the content and structure of the course.

Programme specification

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‹ ›

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