BA

Media and English Literature

BA Media and English Literature Code P3Q3 Attend an Open Day Attend an Open Day

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Key Facts

P3Q3

  • UCAS Tariff

    120 - 104

  • Course duration

    3 years

Available for September start 2025

Further details on entry requirements

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The BA in Media and English Literature at Aberystwyth University enables you to discover a broad range of literary texts and cultures with a superb choice from the early medieval period to the present day. In addition, the Media component of this course will provide you the opportunity to widen your knowledge and explore who controls and owns our media, how content is produced and what kind of impact the media has on the audiences. The Media and English Literature degree scheme will provide you with a solid foundation to develop your powers of expression, hone your critical thinking and establish specialist knowledge and research skills- all grounded in a detail and broad understanding of literary history and cultural context.

Course Overview

Why study BA Media and English Literature at Aberystwyth University? 

The course 

• Taught by two departments (the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies and the Department of English and Creative Writing) you will have an opportunity to study in great detail the following: advertising, news analysis, website design, digital culture, surveillance society, gender and the media, media history and policy together with creative practices experience in multi-platform production and experimental media. 

• The English Literature component of this course will enable you to engage with a variety of approaches to literature and cultural history, combining critical thinking with scholarship. During the duration of this course, the various core and optional modules will give you an insight into literary theory, philosophical and conceptual ideas that inform, challenge and problematise the ways we read. 

• The various core and optional modules available to you during the duration of this course will give you a deeper understanding of sociology, psychology, cultural studies, history, philosophy, linguistics and marketing. 

 Facilities

 • At Aberystwyth University, our students benefit from our strategic closeness to the National Library of Wales. The National Library is a copyright library which houses every book that has been published in the United Kingdom. In addition, it also home to National Sound and Screen Archive in Wales which will become a valuable resource to your research projects in your final years.  

• On the University campus, our facilities include the Hugh Owen Library which is open 24/7, the Students’ Union, the Sports Centre and the Arts Centre which has close and deep links with the departments of Theatre, Film and Television Studies and the department of English and Creative Writing. The multitude of facilities on Penglais campus ensures that your student experience is memorable and exceptional.  

• The Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies has strong links with external media industries, these include the BBC Wales which houses it regional office in the heart of the Department, Boom Cymru, Avanti, Arad Goch and the Mid-Wales Arts Centre. The Department itself is modern, vibrant and has all the latest teaching facilities that media student requires, this includes a brand-new PC lab designed to assimilate the digital media industry, digital production and editing suits, a viewing cinema, television studies and modern learning spaces.  

• The Department English and Creative Writing provides you with every opportunity to develop and become a flourishing writer. Their links with New Welsh Review, Wales’ foremost literary magazine enables students to contribute to their monthly and annual publications. In addition, all final year students take part in a writing retreat at a country house in Mid-Wales. The writing retreat is an amazing opportunity to spend time with fellow students and staff, developing your final year projects and dissertations, in a splendid rural setting.

Our Staff

All academic staff at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies are research active and/or involved in Knowledge Transfer projects and have either relevant academic qualifications at doctoral level or equivalent professional experience and expertise.

All academic staff in the Department of English and Creative Writing are active scholars and experts in their fields. They are either qualified to PhD level or have commensurate experience. Our Lecturers either hold or are working towards a Higher Education teaching qualification and the majority of academic staff also hold the status of Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Modules September start - 2025

Please note: The modules listed below are those currently intended for delivery during the next academic year and may be subject to change. They are included here to give an indication of how the course is structured.

* Also available partially or entirely through the medium of Welsh

Careers

What opportunities are there for me?

Many of our graduates have found career paths which include:
• Broadcasting media;
• Floor managers;
• Camera operators;
• Producers and directors;
• Marketing;
• Media Planning;
• Education;
• Public relations.

What will I get from my degree?

Employability is at the heart of our teaching. We encourage our students by:
• Inviting guest speakers to our campus;

• Obtaining work experience with the BBC, Fiction Factory and Boom Pictures;

On completion of this degree, our students become:

• Effective communicators;
• Able to work independently and as part of a team;
• Experience in industrial equipment such as three camera high definition digital television studios, over 40 high definition digital video cameras and digital and video projection facilities.

What work experience opportunities exist whilst studying? 

Discover more about the various employment opportunities that our Aberystwyth University Careers team offer.

Enhance your employability prospects with GO Wales and YES (Year in Employment Scheme) managed by our Careers department. 

Teaching & Learning

What will I learn?

The breakdown below will provide you with an illustration of what you may study during the three-year degree scheme.

In your first year you may explore:

• Relationship between media forms, media institutions and society;
• Some key figures from literary history (from Shakespeare to the Brontë’s);
• New techniques for analysing literary techniques;
• Poetry, prose, drama, American Literature, adaptations, classical literature, contemporary writing, medial texts and much more;
• The links between established media theory and contemporary approaches to new media;
• The links between classic and contemporary debates in communication;
• The research relating to modes of communication between radio, press, advertising, mobile phone technologies and the internet;
• Key concepts and techniques of media production, directing, cinematography, editing.

In your second you may discover: 

• Specific histories, traditions and roles to each medium;
• A range of selected core texts from the medieval period through to the twenty-first century;
• A number of specialist topics chosen by you (these might focus on a specific genre (such as crime fiction), historical period (such as the Victorian era), or theme (such as “place”).
• Television production;
• Television history;
• A variety of ways and theoretical approaches to textual analysis;
• Experimental media production;
• Website design;
• Surveillance technologies;
• Journalism;
• Advertising;
• Scriptwriting.

In your final year you may have the opportunity to: 

• Produce, direct, edit a short video which can be experimental, documentary or narrative fiction;
• Literary theory and the application of theoretical perspectives to literary analysis;
• Extended writing and independent research in your final year dissertation project (on a topic chosen and defined by you);
• Your own specialisms drawn from a diverse range of option modules taught by researchers in those fields. Our option modules include topics such as Elizabethan drama, the ghost story, the early English novel, queer fiction, children’s literature, Romanticism, and much more.
• In your final year you will have the opportunity to take part in a writing retreat at a country house in mid Wales - an amazing opportunity to spend time with fellow students and staff, developing your final year projects and dissertations, in a splendid rural setting.
• The best work will be entered for the Royal Television Society Student Video Awards.

How will I be taught?

Our programme is taught by lecture- workshops allowing for the best interaction and active engagement. In addition, we deliver this programme through seminars, group-based project work, screenings and technical demonstrations

You will be assessed through:

• Group-devised productions;
• Individual film and video projects;
• Research projects;
• Practical analyses;
• Production diaries;
• Creative scriptwriting;
• Formal essays;
• Examinations.

Further information

You will be assigned a personal tutor throughout your degree course, who will help you with any problems or queries, whether these are academic-related or personal issues. You should feel free to contact them at any time for help and advice.

You will also have the opportunity to complete a Personal Development Plan (PDP) at Aberystwyth. This is a structured process of self-appraisal, reflection, and planning, which will enable you to chart your personal, academic and professional development throughout your time at university. By recording your academic performance and highlighting the skills you already have and those you will need for future employability, the PDP portfolio will equip you with the necessary tools to plan effectively, develop successful approaches to study, and consider your future career options and aspirations.

Typical Entry Requirements

UCAS Tariff 120 - 104

A Levels BBB-BCC

GCSE requirements (minimum grade C/4):
English or Welsh

BTEC National Diploma:
DDM-DMM

International Baccalaureate:
30-28

European Baccalaureate:
75%-65%

English Language Requirements:
See our Undergraduate English Language Requirements for this course. Pre-sessional English Programmes are also available for students who do not meet our English Language Requirements.

Country Specific Entry Requirements:
International students whose qualification is not listed on this page, can check our Country Specific Entry Requirements for further information.

The University welcomes undergraduate applications from students studying the Access to Higher Education Diploma or T-level qualifications, provided that relevant subject content and learning outcomes are met. We are not able to accept Access to Higher Education Diplomas or T-levels as a general qualification for every undergraduate degree course.
Our inclusive admissions policy values breadth as well as depth of study. Applicants are selected on their own individual merits and offers can vary. If you would like to check the eligibility of your qualifications before submitting an application, please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office for advice and guidance.

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