Communication and Media Studies
Programme Director: Dr. Sabina Mihelj
International student exchange co-ordinator for CMS: Dr Frederick Attenborough.
Why study Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough?
Communication and Media Studies (CMS) at Loughborough offers a unique undergraduate programme. We believe that this is so for at least the following reasons.
- …because we have a long-standing reputation for providing high quality teaching. This teaching is also informed by the team’s cutting-edge research in the field of communication and media studies. Our reputation as a centre of excellence has also been externally verified. For instance, the CMS program here at Loughborough has recently been ranked 4th out of 88 in the most up to date list of 'top communication and media studies programs of UK universities, 2011'. This is a list compiled by The Complete University Guide and The Independent, a national UK newspaper. Importantly, too, we came 2nd out of the 88 programs when the all-important 'graduate prospects' ranking is considered.
- …because a distinguishing feature of CMS at Loughborough lies in the interdisciplinary connections that it allows both students and staff. It is an internationally-recognised, inter-disciplinary programme. The Department of Social Sciences is unique in British universities in its interdisciplinary combination of sociology with CMS, criminology and social policy and social psychology. We believe this offers a well-rounded undergraduate programme within which students are allowed a good deal of choice and flexibility in relation to how they put together their own individually tailored degrees. The Department offers degrees in each of these disciplines and also offer students opportunities to combine their CMS programme with selected modules offered by the other programmes. But note: although the CMS programme enables you to take modules from complementary social science disciplines as well as CMS, you do not have to do this – if you want to study only CMS then you are able to make that choice.
- …because the CMS team that prepares, develops and teaches the undergraduate degree is made up of enthusiastic and committed intellectuals. They are also leading figures in the field of communication and media studies at a national, but also at an international level. Importantly, too, everyone in the team teaches, from up-and-coming young lecturers to internationally established Professors. As you will see from the detailed biographies provided on this web-site, each member of the team is engaged in developing cutting-edge research in a variety of important and timely areas of study. These research interests shape and inflect the sorts of high-quality teaching that are on offer here in the CMS undergraduate programme. Again, the quality of this teaching has been externally verified: in the most recent national-level assessment of the quality of teaching in UK universities, the Department’s teaching scored 23 points out of a possible 24, making it one of the top rated Departments in terms of teaching in the country.
Why study Communication and Media Studies?
Communication and the media are central to the relationships between different people, organisations and nations. Media communication is widespread and takes a diverse range of forms from telephone chat lines and social networking sites through to advertising campaigns and the flow of international news. Questions about the way the media influence political, economic and cultural life have become a central feature of contemporary debate.
The increasing power and scope of the major multi-media companies is a pressing concern as are the rivalries between competing communications industries. Considerable interest is paid to the way in which these and other organisations' print and broadcast outlets represent (or misrepresent) different groups of people including women, ethnic minorities and others. Opinion is divided over the impact these mass media have had on our everyday lives. One notable focus of recent debate has been over the arrival of the so-called 'information society': scholars are actively considering how the new communications technologies will change the public's patterns of work and leisure.
The developments and debates introduced above raise countless other important questions to do with the state of society:
- Are children unduly influenced by television?
- Is it bad for democracy that a single proprietor can own and control a large number of national newspapers and national television services?
- Do journalists report issues in an objective manner?
- Does pornography degrade women and lead to sexual violence?
- Why has popular music been associated with tabloid newspaper led 'moral panics'?
- Will the spread of computers increase unemployment?
Nearly everyone has an opinion about these questions but few can clearly define the problems, evaluate the available arguments and evidence and then outline the major options for action.
The social sciences play a key role in enabling us to systematically understand the growth, development, organisation and social impact of the mass media. The degree at Loughborough is unique in that offers interdisciplinary training in those major social scientific theories and methods which are useful in analysing communications at any level from personal interaction to international relations. The aim of the degree is to equip you to understand how communication and media work. It is intended that this will provide you with critical insight as well as specialist knowledge which could be useful for a career that involves working in or with communications and the media.
We’re also on Facebook! ‘Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough University’
The CMS team have a general Facebook ‘page’ (as well as many other Facebook ‘groups’ that are used for specific modules on the programme). If you have a Facebook account yourself, and you wish to find out a bit more about what we do, and the really great student experience that we try to provide for our first, second and third year undergraduates, then this would a useful first port of call. You can find us at: Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough University.
This is a general site for all students, aimed at: providing links to interesting web-sites, videos, news stories, and so on; highlighting interesting and cutting edge research in the field of communication and media studies; and providing information on graduate employment schemes, and postgraduate research opportunities from the UK and abroad.