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BA (Hons)
Media Studies

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Key Information

Campus

Brayford Pool

Typical Offer

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Duration

3 years

Part-time

6 years

UCAS Code

P300

Academic Year

Course Overview

BA (Hons) Media Studies enables students to explore the transformative role of 21st Century media in today's digital society, and develop critical and creative skills relevant to this new world.

Media studies has never been more relevant or stimulating. Digital, networked media now form a ubiquitous and inextricable part of our everyday lives, holding an unprecedented power to drive opinions, debates, and movements. We live, work, play, and communicate with each other in a world saturated by media.

This programme engages critically and speculatively with the full depth and breadth of 21st Century media. This includes everyday devices like smartphones and computers (and the various platforms accessible by them, including social media and games), through to more traditional media such as film and television (and the ways in which they have been transformed by digital processes like streaming).

Today, these technologies are so entangled with our economic, social, cultural, psychological, technical, and environmental realms that basic skills now include not only reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also knowledge of, and competency in, media and communication.

The Lincoln School of Film, Media and Journalism is home to a creative community of ambitious students, experienced staff and researchers, and inspiring visiting speakers.

Why Choose Lincoln

Specialist facilities and equipment for practical work

Learn from research-active, industry-engaged staff

Active research community

Free access to Adobe Creative Cloud software

A wide range of optional modules to shape your study

YouTube video for Why Choose Lincoln

How You Study

Media Studies at Lincoln blends the study of media theory with practical application. It places an emphasis on critical thinking and creativity. Teaching and learning activities can include written and audio-visual essays, contributions to group blogs, participation in student symposia, and a portfolio of practice-based work.

The first-year modules introduce seminal perspectives and new directions in media studies, where students can develop an understanding of the field's changing priorities and the new skills these advances demand. This is taken further in the second year, with modules focusing on the themes of visuality and aesthetics, digital and auditory cultures, and the logics and practices of gaming.

In the third year, students are able to embark on a major independent research project. They can develop a creative portfolio, and engage in advanced studies of the political and philosophical contexts of contemporary media. At the end of this final year, all students across The Lincoln School of Film and Media can celebrate with a major degree show of their work.

Teaching and learning activities on this programme can include written and audiovisual essays, contributions to group blogs, participation in student symposia, screenings, reading groups, and a portfolio of practice-based work.

Modules

              † Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.

              Contemporary Media Practice: 1 2025-26MDS1005MLevel 42025-26This module will introduce a range of core creative design and visual communication skills. Students will be required to demonstrate an understanding of these core skills by producing a portfolio of work that engages with topical issues and debates in visual digital cultures.CoreContemporary Media Practice: 2 2025-26MDS1006MLevel 42025-26In an era of democratized technology, distribution platforms and funding streams, contemporary media practitioners have opportunities to fund, produce and exhibit their work like no generation before them. This power must, though, be employed creatively - technological devolution demands multi-skilled practitioners. Accordingly, this module will introduce some core technical skills and practices that will enable students to engage creatively with the media culture of the 21st century. Here, the emphasis will be on principles of cinematography, editing, and sound design. Students will be required to demonstrate an understanding of these technical practices by producing a portfolio of work that responds to issues and debates surround contemporary media culture.CoreIntroduction to Digital Cultures 2025-26MDS1007MLevel 42025-26This module introduces students to a critical discussion of digital cultures and their social, political, historical, economic and material contexts. Divided into four sections, this module will extend and deepen student’s understandings of the digital worlds they inhabit. ‘Digital (pre)histories’ introduces students to technical paradigms and technological developments that have been key to the formation of contemporary digital culture. ‘Digital materialities’ explores the material basis of our seemingly ‘immaterial’ digital worlds and its geo-political implications. ‘Digital politics and labour’ considers the role of the digital in the world of work, as well as the digital as work. The final segment, ‘Digital identities and societies’ considers the way in which identity and social life are thought of with and through the digital.CoreMedia Reading Group: 1 2025-26MDS1001MLevel 42025-26This module provides students with an introduction to some of the major works in critical theory credited with influencing the development of Media Studies as a discipline. In doing so, it supports students in developing academic skills in the close reading of primary sources and the writing of critical responses based on such readings – skills that will underpin student work throughout the BA Media Studies programme. However, rather than cleave entirely to a familiar canon, this module begins to problematize the accepted boundaries of what constitutes ‘media’ and remains reflexive in its engagement with established theories, concepts and debates. Students will explore the radical and experimental traditions of Media Studies in order to begin to map links between such energies and the media culture of the present.CoreMedia Reading Group: 2 2025-26MDS1002MLevel 42025-26Set in the context of a recurrent tension between ‘old’ and ‘new’ in digital culture, this module begins with the question of the digital, rather than approaching it in accordance with a familiar historical narrative. Here, students will develop the skills and methods introduced in Media Reading Group: 1, engaging in close reading and discussion of selected texts deemed to have made significant contribution to Media Studies in the 21st century. Students will be asked to consider what particular critical insight these texts might offer to our present circumstances, and how the theories, concepts and debates raised by these works might respond to the radical and experimental energies of the discipline.CoreMediated Truths 2025-26MDS1009MLevel 42025-26Following on from Media Theorizes Itself and Introduction to Digital Cultures, this module examines the contemporary media landscape as a site upon which truth is constructed, knowledge formed, and power entrenched. Asking how media studies might respond to the explosion of social media, participatory media, online video, etc., and in particular how this upsurge in ‘post-broadcast media’ has brought to the fore the very question of what ‘truth’ is, and how it might determined, the module seeks to interrogate how norms, values, power structures, and inequalities are both reflected and reproduced across a wide variety of media texts, considering the tangled web of lies, secrets, myths, conspiracies, and affects that saturate media content, and the ways in which these complicate traditional modes of textual analysis.CoreScreenwriting 2025-26FIL1011Level 42025-26This module introduces skills involved in writing for short fiction films. Students will write two short screenplays. Throughout the module students will develop an understanding of professional ways of working as a creative and enhance their critical and practical capabilities in relation to screenwriting.CoreAuditory Culture 2026-27AUP2005MLevel 52026-27This module sets out to explore some of the ways in which we make, sense, and transform ourselves and our worlds through our sonic and auditory cultures. We will focus on a number of important phenomena in our consideration of sonic practices, ways of hearing and contemporary scholarship on the auditory dimensions of media. Designed to engage both Media Studies and Sound and Music Production students in their respective fields, we will move from discussions of sound in relation to the affective capacities of the body through discussion of audition in relation to space and place (focused through the concept of the ‘soundscape’). We will consider discussions of sound and technology and explore concepts and phenomena of ‘noise’ and ‘silence’ in sonic and musical experience. This module encourages collaborative research in the spirit of ‘Student as Producer’, the organizing principle of teaching and learning in the university.CoreContemporary Media Practice: 3 2026-27MDS2003MLevel 52026-27The convergence of traditional media processes, coupled with the ubiquity of mobile and networked technology, has brought forth a dynamic participatory culture that blurs established distinctions between production and consumption. Building on the experience of Contemporary Media Practice 1 and 2, in this module students will explore how these emerging forms of media practice can respond to some of the key critical debates in digital culture. Specifically, the module will see students working both individually and in partnership with others on a series of trans-media projects that in some way address key social, political and cultural concerns of the 21st century.CoreCritical Making 2026-27MED2274MLevel 52026-27This module aims to bridge the divide between theory and practice by positioning research-informed media production as a mode of critical inquiry. Students will be encouraged to engage with contemporary issues in society, orienting their critical and creative practice around a shared theme, event, or provocation. Students will be encouraged to work collaboratively across a range of media, with the direction of their research and practice emerging in response to these themes. Students can reflect on their experiences and shared knowledge of contemporary media, providing an opportunity to situate relevant scholarly debates in the development and conceptualisation of their media-art projects.CoreGames Cultures 2026-27MDS2009MLevel 52026-27Play is a ubiquitous activity, and games (in all their forms) have a long history and an influence that stretches beyond the game-space itself. In recent times, computers (and other trends within media and society) have lead to an exponential growth in the cultural, social and commercial importance of games, which have likewise become more sophisticated, becoming an important media form which has affected other media and culture generally. This critical studies theory module will aim to consider, evaluate and analyse the phenomena of games and game cultures in the 21st century.CoreResearching and Writing 2026-27MDS2007MLevel 52026-27This module teaches students how to research, plan, and write an undergraduate dissertation. Each session is dedicated to one stage of the planning, researching, and writing stage. We will look at how to formulate a research question, and how to narrow it down to a suitable project; we will explore research methods, focusing on the function on methodology in the context of a research; then, we will concentrate on the structure of a dissertation, and the particular features of all of its components. At the end of the module students will be aware of what is expected from their final dissertations, and will be equipped with the necessary tools to approach this task.CoreTechnologies, Bodies and Identities 2026-27MDS2008MLevel 52026-27This module explores the relationship between technologies, bodies, and identities in contemporary digital societies. Based on an understanding of the body as a site of power and resistance, it is concerned with the intersection of class, race, and gender, as affective and political experiences that contribute to the formation and negotiation of identities. Away from a simplistic notion of the body as a "natural given", we think through the body to challenge our understanding of culture and to access a series of key debates in media studies. This module seeks to interrogate the embodied and affective relationships that we have with and through new technologies, and to highlight their political and economic implications.CoreArt Cinemas 2026-27FTV2285Level 52026-27OptionalContemporary Media Practice: 3 (Placement Option) 2026-27MDS2004MLevel 52026-27Building on the skills introduced in Contemporary Media Practice 1 and 2, in this module, students will experiment with emerging forms of media practice in response to some of the key critical debates in digital culture. Throughout the module students will work both individually and in partnership with others on a series of digital media projects that address the key social, political, and cultural concerns of the 21st Century.OptionalHorror in Popular Culture 2026-27FTV2282MLevel 52026-27The module aims to introduce you to a range of conceptual and theoretical approaches to the study of horror in popular culture. It explores the history of the genre and selected subgenres as well as contemporary manifestations, both supernatural, and realist horror. The module looks at the horror genre in terms of various social, cultural and national contexts. Students can study psychoanalytical approaches to these fictions as well as approaches such as affect theory which attempt to go beyond psychoanalysis. Through lectures, screenings and discussions, students are encouraged to apply these approaches to the analysis of selected media texts and subgenres.OptionalIndustry Placement 2026-27FIL2010MLevel 52026-27This module aims to encourage students to consider the options open to them upon graduation and prepare for life after university. Students have the opportunity to reach into the wider community to develop their skills for future employment. The module aims to enable students to closely examine how a range of film production companies function on a day to day basis and relate their experience to their studies.OptionalMedia Arts 2026-27MDS2005MLevel 52026-27OptionalMedia Study Period Abroad 2026-27MED2016MLevel 52026-27The Minnesota State University Moorhead USA Exchange Programme is an optional module. As part of the three-year course, some students may study for the duration of the first term of the second year at Minnesota State University, Moorhead, USA. During the term abroad, students share classes and modules with local students. Not only can students live and socialise in another culture, providing opportunities to study their respective countries, they may also have an opportunity to examine US media industry practice through optional internships for exchange students. The Moorhead-Fargo twin cities may also offer practical opportunities for students to engage with USA production companies including NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, and Prairie Public TV, all of whom have local bases.OptionalPractices of Listening 2026-27AUP2003MLevel 52026-27A broad look at audio-culture from the twentieth century to the present, offering challenge and insight to Film & TV specialists. Vision is often privileged, resulting in a relative paucity of language for discussing sound. This problem is addressed, looking at texts from key theorists and practitioners, considering sound not in addition to vision, but independently, in music, radio, art and daily life.OptionalSociety, Aesthetics and Digital Media 2026-27MED2035MLevel 52026-27OptionalTransformations in Television Consumption 2026-27FTV2277MLevel 52026-27In this module students will explore how the consumption of televisual content has evolved and been transformed in the era of streaming platforms, catch up TV, interactivity, personalisation, and audience fragmentation.OptionalContemporary Media Practice: 4 2027-28MDS3006MLevel 62027-28This module addresses the inherent promise and challenge of designing for digital contexts and concerns (in all their social, economic, and cultural complexity). Rather than prescribing particular areas of study, students will be encouraged to take ownership of their creative practice by determining their own themes. The module reinforces a research-engaged ethos to help inform the conceptual development of student projects, culminating in a substantial body of work completed to a professional standard.CoreMedia Speculations 2027-28MDS3005MLevel 62027-28Philosophical approaches have begun to contribute to the transformation of Media Studies. In this, we are not dealing simply with the crystallization and institution of a specialist philosophy of media, but rather the bringing together of the two disciplines into a mutually reinvigorating speculative encounter which allows a more expansive, more inclusive and more adventurous rethinking of both. This module, reflecting on the various ‘turns’ in theory in recent years – vital, affective, material, speculative, nonhuman - provides an opportunity to explore concepts and ideas which have emerged from within the ferment of this encounter from a range of exciting thinkers and theoretical perspectives.CoreMedia Studies Dissertation 2027-28MDS3003MLevel 62027-28The dissertation is the culmination of each student’s undergraduate investigation into the theories and debates surrounding practices of contemporary mediation. It takes the form of an extended essay.CorePower, Media, and Control 2027-28MDS3004MLevel 62027-28Is the founding principle of the internet freedom, as so many once thought, or is it, in fact, control? This module looks at the politics of digital culture and the new capitalism of networked information technologies. Power, it can be argued, has increasingly come to lie in code, in protocols and algorithm. A new logic of control, simultaneously operating in both centralized and dispersed modes, has replaced hierarchical systems of power. What are the implications of networks as the core organizational structure for contemporary media, culture and life?CoreBio-Media 2027-28MDS3007MLevel 62027-28This module provides an opportunity to explore the entanglements of human bodies with media devices and processes. With and through media technologies, we transform the body and our understanding of bodily life. Today, this has become so obvious that the distinction between ourselves, machines and other species has been rendered problematic. Some insist on the need to defend the body against the encroachment of media and cybernetic systems. But perhaps the body has always already been mediated? Seizing upon this problematic, theorists, artists and media practitioners have converged upon a preoccupation with speculation upon the present and future condition of the mediatized human body.OptionalEco-Media 2027-28MDS3001MLevel 62027-28This is an ecologically minded module, one that explores media and mediation in the context of contemporary environmental concerns. It foregrounds a variety of geo-centred attempts to rethink the materiality of media and emphasizes the radical consequences of such endeavours. Working collaboratively to produce audiovisual essays, students will explore how the material reality of mediation exposes us to spaces and times beyond human perception.OptionalHeroes and Villains in Film 2027-28FTV3017MLevel 62027-28OptionalMedia Archaeologies 2027-28MDS3009MLevel 62027-28When studying contemporary media, the rapid pace of technological change can pose a problem for those of us hoping to find some clarity or surety within a dense and often overwhelming media landscape. To study the media of today effectively, therefore, we must also look to the media of the past. In this module, we will accordingly unearth various examples of forgotten, neglected, or underappreciated pre-twentieth century media, discovering how concepts, problems, and debates that still define the discourse surrounding media design and usage today have their origins in much older technological systems, whilst simultaneously challenging the assumptions that have underpinned traditional histories of media.OptionalMedia Literacy and Employability 2027-28MDS3010MLevel 62027-28OptionalTelevision Crime Drama 2027-28FTV3013MLevel 62027-28Optional

              What You Need to Know

              We want you to have all the information you need to make an informed decision on where and what you want to study. In addition to the information provided on this course page, our What You Need to Know page offers explanations on key topics including programme validation/revalidation, additional costs, contact hours, and our return to face-to-face teaching.

              We're famous!

              Take a look at some of the locations around Lincoln that have been featured in mainstream film and television.

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              How you are assessed

              Students on this course are assessed through written and audiovisual essays, dissertation, reports, reflexive journal, lecture diary, creative production, presentations, critical evaluations, and blogs.

              Facilities

              Critical studies are supported by the extensive print and online resources available at the University’s Great Central Warehouse Library. For practical work students have the opportunity to make use of the School's industry-standard facilities, such as television and radio studios, video editing suites, audio editing suites, a sound dubbing theatre, green screen room, writers’ room, colour finishing facilities, and a photography studio.

              Media Studies at Lincoln offers a crucial perspective on media in the 21st Century. It allows you to be creative in your critical thinking, with a nice balance of theoretical and practical work. The modules really feel linked together with a clear progression throughout the 3 years. I absolutely loved all three years!

              Ashley Lilley

              BA (Hons) Media Studies

              Industry Links

              Academic staff within the School are current media practitioners and many are engaged with professional bodies such as the Royal Television Society; the British Society of Cinematographers; and the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies. Honorary Doctorates include the digital social entrepreneur Tom Roope.

              Media Studies students currently have free access to Adobe Creative Cloud software for the duration of their studies via our media and design labs. There are often opportunities for Media Studies students to collaborate with industry partners or work on live client briefs, either as part of their studies or by participating in extra-curricular projects. Students are supported in gaining valuable work experience alongside their studies by promoting internships, paid freelance opportunities, industry talks, presentations, and workshops from our visiting lecturers. We also hosts an annual 'Industry Week', designed to support professional practices across all our courses. 

              Research

              The Lincoln School of Film, Media and Journalism is home to a number of research projects that investigate, explore, and experiment with media as a fundamental means of expression and communication for different groups within society.

              Researchers within the School conduct internationally-recognised research in a variety of topics. These include visual and digital culture, sonic studies, and media philosophy. The co_LAB group, which coordinates the creative practice component of the course, is involved in ongoing collaboration with partners in various European universities.

              What Can I Do with a Media Studies Degree?

              Opportunities for graduates may include creative or management roles in broadcasting and other media industries, social media management, media journalism, publishing, and education. Others may choose to continue their studies at postgraduate level.

              Entry Requirements 2025-26

              United Kingdom

              104 UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels or equivalent qualifications.

              BTEC Extended Diploma: Distinction, Merit, Merit.

              T Level: Merit

              Access to Higher Education Diploma: 45 Level 3 credits with a minimum of 104 UCAS Tariff points.

              International Baccalaureate: 28 points overall.

              GCSE's: Minimum of three at grade 4 or above, which must include English. Equivalent Level 2 qualifications may be considered.


              The University accepts a wide range of qualifications as the basis for entry and do accept a combination of qualifications which may include A Levels, BTECs, EPQ etc.

              We may also consider applicants with extensive and relevant work experience and will give special individual consideration to those who do not meet the standard entry qualifications.

              International

              Non UK Qualifications:

              If you have studied outside of the UK, and are unsure whether your qualification meets the above requirements, please visit our country pages https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/internationalstudents/entryrequirementsandyourcountry/ for information on equivalent qualifications.

              EU and Overseas students will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. For information regarding other English language qualifications we accept, please visit the English Requirements page https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/internationalstudents/englishlanguagerequirementsandsupport/englishlanguagerequirements/

              If you do not meet the above IELTS requirements, you may be able to take part in one of our Pre-sessional English and Academic Study Skills courses.

              https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/internationalstudents/englishlanguagerequirementsandsupport/pre-sessionalenglishandacademicstudyskills/

              For applicants who do not meet our standard entry requirements, our Arts Foundation Year can provide an alternative route of entry onto our full degree programmes:
              https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/course/afyafyub/

              If you would like further information about entry requirements, or would like to discuss whether the qualifications you are currently studying are acceptable, please contact the Admissions team on 01522 886097, or email admissions@lincoln.ac.uk

              Contextual Offers

              At Lincoln, we recognise that not everybody has had the same advice and support to help them get to higher education. Contextual offers are one of the ways we remove the barriers to higher education, ensuring that we have fair access for all students regardless of background and personal experiences. For more information, including eligibility criteria, visit our Offer Guide pages. If you are applying to a course that has any subject specific requirements, these will still need to be achieved as part of the standard entry criteria.

              What We Look for in Your Application

              We do not specify A level subjects but seek evidence of media-related critical awareness and/or creativity such as qualifications in Media, English, Sociology, Philosophy, Politics, Film Studies, Art, Design, or Theatre Studies.

              We particularly value personal statements that demonstrate relevant experience, a broad range of interests and a real passion for thinking critically about media in the 21st Century.

              Fees and Scholarships

              Going to university is a life-changing step and it's important to understand the costs involved and the funding options available before you start. A full breakdown of the fees associated with this programme can be found on our course fees pages.

              Course Fees

              For eligible undergraduate students going to university for the first time, scholarships and bursaries are available to help cover costs. To help support students from outside of the UK, we are also delighted to offer a number of international scholarships which range from £1,000 up to the value of 50 per cent of tuition fees. For full details and information about eligibility, visit our scholarships and bursaries pages.

              Find out More at an Open Day

              The best way to find out what it is really like to live and learn at Lincoln is to join us for one of our Open Days. Visiting us in person is important and will help you to get a real feel for what it might be like to study here.

              Three students walking together on campus in the sunshine

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              The University intends to provide its courses as outlined in these pages, although the University may make changes in accordance with the Student Admissions Terms and Conditions.