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Understanding mass communication and media within a business - from creator to consumer.

From digital advertising and the internet to TV, popular film and news, the mass media is a significant force in modern culture, touching many aspects of our lives and influencing the ways in which we interact with the world around us.

Northumbria University is ranked top 20 in the UK for Communication & Media Studies (Times Good University Guide, Subject League Table 2023).

Mass Communication and Business is an innovative media-based top up course that provides an insight into the ways in which the mass media influences our perceptions, our choices and our feelings towards brands and businesses.

Studying areas such as advertising, buyer behaviour and organisational analysis, you will develop specialist knowledge of the concepts, theories, practices and methods that typify contemporary media, communication, cultural studies, and related business theory.

Building on your previous educational experience, the top up award aims to instil the specialist knowledge, skills and confidence you will need to take on complex communication problems and issues, particularly in relation to business.

The student satisfaction rate for this course is 93% (NSS 2022)

Understanding mass communication and media within a business - from creator to consumer.

From digital advertising and the internet to TV, popular film and news, the mass media is a significant force in modern culture, touching many aspects of our lives and influencing the ways in which we interact with the world around us.

Northumbria University is ranked top 20 in the UK for Communication & Media Studies (Times Good University Guide, Subject League Table 2023).

Mass Communication and Business is an innovative media-based top up course that provides an insight into the ways in which the mass media influences our perceptions, our choices and our feelings towards brands and businesses.

Studying areas such as advertising, buyer behaviour and organisational analysis, you will develop specialist knowledge of the concepts, theories, practices and methods that typify contemporary media, communication, cultural studies, and related business theory.

Building on your previous educational experience, the top up award aims to instil the specialist knowledge, skills and confidence you will need to take on complex communication problems and issues, particularly in relation to business.

The student satisfaction rate for this course is 93% (NSS 2022)

Course Information

UCAS Code
PN91

Level of Study
Undergraduate

Mode of Study
1 year full-time

Department
Arts

Location
City Campus, Northumbria University

City
Newcastle

Start
September 2023 or September 2024

Fee Information

Module Information

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Visit an Open Day to get an insight into what it's like to study Mass Communication and Business. Speak to staff and students from the course and get a tour of the facilities.

Entry Requirements 2023/24

Standard Entry

BTEC HND/Foundation degree, or equivalent

in a related subject.

If you have taken a BTEC HND programme, we will usually expect you to have performed to an average of Merit standard.

If you have taken a Foundation Degree, we will be looking for performance to Commendation level, or 60% average.

International Qualifications:

We welcome applicants with a range of qualifications which may not match those shown above.

If you have qualifications from outside the UK, find out what you need by visiting www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry

English Language Requirements:

International applicants should have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or an approved equivalent*).

*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades in our English Language section: www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications

Entry Requirements 2024/25

Standard Entry

BTEC HND/Foundation degree, or equivalent

in a related subject.

If you have taken a BTEC HND programme, we will usually expect you to have performed to an average of Merit standard.

If you have taken a Foundation Degree, we will be looking for performance to Commendation level, or 60% average.

International Qualifications:

We welcome applicants with a range of qualifications which may not match those shown above.

If you have qualifications from outside the UK, find out what you need by visiting www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry

English Language Requirements:

International applicants should have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or an approved equivalent*).

*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades in our English Language section: www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications

Fees and Funding 2023/24 Entry

UK Fee in Year 1: £9,250

* The maximum tuition fee that we are permitted to charge for UK students is set by government. Tuition fees may increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, these are subject to government regulations and in line with inflation.


EU Fee in Year 1: £17,500

International Fee in Year 1: £17,500


Please see the main Funding Pages for 23/24 scholarship information.



ADDITIONAL COSTS

There are no Additional Costs

Fees and Funding 2024/25 Entry

UK Fee in Year 1*: £9,250

* The maximum tuition fee that we are permitted to charge for UK students is set by government. Tuition fees may increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, these are subject to government regulations and in line with inflation.



EU Fee in Year 1: **TBC


International Fee in Year 1: TBC


Scholarships for 24/25 are currently being announced.  Please keep checking the main Funding Pages which will be updated throughout the cycle.

 


ADDITIONAL COSTS

TBC

If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

HR9691 -

Fostering Sustainable Futures (Core,20 Credits)

This module uses the guiding framework of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) to examine the contemporary challenges that face managers in their efforts to foster sustainable futures. Using advanced management theory, Critical Management Theory, also academics’ contemporary research you will examine and challenge the debates between contrasting arguments/perspectives across a range of present-day societal and organisational concerns that risk sustainable future lives. These concerns will include sustainability, gender, uses and misuses of power and control, the future of work, culture.

Upon completion of the module, you will have developed an in-depth understanding of:
• The contemporary challenges facing managers in their efforts to foster sustainable futures
• ‘Critical’ organisation theory and management practices and why these matter for you in your graduate career
• The recent trends in organising practices
• Theory and practices involved in working in multi-cultural organisations with an awareness of ethical considerations
• How to form your own construction of knowledge on organisations, managing people and their behaviour

More information

MK9617 -

Buyer Behaviour and Integrated Marketing Communications (Core,20 Credits)

This module brings together two important and closely related areas of study for marketing and business students, namely understanding how buyers behave and make decisions, and how to use this knowledge to effectively communicate with selected target markets.
The study of theoretical frameworks underpins the module, which is then applied to a variety of buyer and business contexts. Lectures are used to impart the theory and the seminars are a mix of practical and case study applications and academic material designed to encourage application of theory and critical thinking. The assessment provides you with the opportunity to utilise the theoretical frameworks in a hypothetical business scenario of your choice.

The module aims to:

• Introduce you to the related concepts of buyer behaviour and marketing communications. The structure of the module will first allow you to appreciate the value of analysing consumer behaviour and then use this information to develop appropriate and informed marketing communications campaigns.

• The teaching, learning and assessment strategies employed (largely focusing on a case study approach) encourage you to think critically and apply the knowledge gained into practical business scenarios.

More information

MP6021 -

Mass Communication Case Study (Core,20 Credits)

This module will provide a space to familiarize yourself with the case study as a tool for the investigation of social, economic, cultural and technological phenomena connected with the field of mass communication studies. Whether your interests lie in how people from ethnic minorities or standards of beauty are represented in the media, success stories in the market of mobile apps, use of social media for marketing purposes or how Twitter is used in discussion of popular television, this module will offer you a mix of knowledge, materials of reference and guidance to engage in choosing, planning, conducting and writing a case study for your assessment. A key component of the module will involve the study of iconic case studies such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Netflix and the BBC, through which you'll be able to identify the characteristics of well-designed study cases. The module will be a valuable experience to learn aspects of the research process you could apply for writing essays, under- and postgraduate dissertations, whilst providing you with skills you could apply in a variety of professions such as journalism, marketing, public relations, and policy-making. Part of the core knowledge and skills that you will be expected to develop for this module will involve you in familiarising yourself with the extensive array of Northumbria University’s digital resources. You will then be expected to use electronic repositories of data, reference, archive and multimedia materials, such as LexisNexis, WaybackMachine, Box of Broadcasts, and EBSCO, among others, to research the original content required to develop your own case study.

More information

MP6030 -

Advertising: Theories and Contexts (Core,20 Credits)

Drawing on the skills and knowledge you have developed at Levels 4 and 5, Advertising: Theories and Contexts will develop your understanding of advertising theory. The module is workshop based. In the workshops, the tutor will present a set of theoretical concerns based on a specific approach to advertising – such as branding, for example – explaining theoretical ideas, illustrating how they apply to specific examples of contemporary advertising, and drawing your attention to pertinent implications. You will then use the workshop space to find relevant examples of advertising that support or challenge the theoretical ideas, working with your peers and the tutor to reflect on contemporary advertising practice (what we learn about advertising practice from engaging with theory, the potential disjuncture between scholarly theory and practice, and so forth). The module is assessed by a 3000-word essay in which you will apply theoretical approach(es) covered in the module to a number of examples of contemporary advertising.

More information

MP6038 -

Digital Media and Society (Core,20 Credits)

This module is designed to give you a critical understanding of current debates over the development of new media and their relationship with society. You will be introduced to the key theories, issues and debates about the use, production, and distribution of digital media. You will become familiar with key issues and ideas in new media theory and in the interrelationships between digital media, technologies and societies. You will develop critical skills in analysing digital media and understanding their roles in the information society. The module will look at how these developments are related to social inequalities by asking crucial questions about the rise and persistence of the digital divide, raising the issues of inequalities in accessing, using and getting advantages from new media. The module will also analyse how social media are changing and reshaping our social world. Finally, the module will look at recent case studies and examples to understand how new media are permeating our society and everyday life, transforming the way in which we think and act in a digital society, affecting our perception of crucial social issues such as surveillance/privacy, online identities and activism.

More information

SM9636 -

Strategic Management for Sustainable Leadership (Core,20 Credits)

1. How strategic recommendations are likely to be evaluated by various stakeholder groups that place a different interpretation on the measurement of business success.
2. Understanding the concepts and frameworks of Endogenous Strategy that apply to a company’s Capabilities, Competences and Resources.
3. How to synthesise key concepts in the Resource-based View of Strategy (RBV) and apply them to companies in competitive markets.
4. How Sustained Competitive Advantage (SCA) can be achieved and maintained in an era of finite resources and increasing demand for sustainability.
5. How Innovation can be managed and applied to Products, Processes, Business Models and Sustainability.
6. How Sustainability can be incorporated into successful Strategy Formulation, Strategic Implementation, and Business Model Innovation.
7. How Leadership impacts upon strategic decision making.
8. Understanding how the concepts of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility can be applied to meet the challenges of Ethical Business Management in the future.
9. How to successfully write compelling and influential strategic briefing documents based around the structure adopted by this module.

More information

YA6001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

HR9691 -

Fostering Sustainable Futures (Core,20 Credits)

This module uses the guiding framework of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) to examine the contemporary challenges that face managers in their efforts to foster sustainable futures. Using advanced management theory, Critical Management Theory, also academics’ contemporary research you will examine and challenge the debates between contrasting arguments/perspectives across a range of present-day societal and organisational concerns that risk sustainable future lives. These concerns will include sustainability, gender, uses and misuses of power and control, the future of work, culture.

Upon completion of the module, you will have developed an in-depth understanding of:
• The contemporary challenges facing managers in their efforts to foster sustainable futures
• ‘Critical’ organisation theory and management practices and why these matter for you in your graduate career
• The recent trends in organising practices
• Theory and practices involved in working in multi-cultural organisations with an awareness of ethical considerations
• How to form your own construction of knowledge on organisations, managing people and their behaviour

More information

MK9617 -

Buyer Behaviour and Integrated Marketing Communications (Core,20 Credits)

This module brings together two important and closely related areas of study for marketing and business students, namely understanding how buyers behave and make decisions, and how to use this knowledge to effectively communicate with selected target markets.
The study of theoretical frameworks underpins the module, which is then applied to a variety of buyer and business contexts. Lectures are used to impart the theory and the seminars are a mix of practical and case study applications and academic material designed to encourage application of theory and critical thinking. The assessment provides you with the opportunity to utilise the theoretical frameworks in a hypothetical business scenario of your choice.

The module aims to:

• Introduce you to the related concepts of buyer behaviour and marketing communications. The structure of the module will first allow you to appreciate the value of analysing consumer behaviour and then use this information to develop appropriate and informed marketing communications campaigns.

• The teaching, learning and assessment strategies employed (largely focusing on a case study approach) encourage you to think critically and apply the knowledge gained into practical business scenarios.

More information

MP6021 -

Mass Communication Case Study (Core,20 Credits)

This module will provide a space to familiarize yourself with the case study as a tool for the investigation of social, economic, cultural and technological phenomena connected with the field of mass communication studies. Whether your interests lie in how people from ethnic minorities or standards of beauty are represented in the media, success stories in the market of mobile apps, use of social media for marketing purposes or how Twitter is used in discussion of popular television, this module will offer you a mix of knowledge, materials of reference and guidance to engage in choosing, planning, conducting and writing a case study for your assessment. A key component of the module will involve the study of iconic case studies such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Netflix and the BBC, through which you'll be able to identify the characteristics of well-designed study cases. The module will be a valuable experience to learn aspects of the research process you could apply for writing essays, under- and postgraduate dissertations, whilst providing you with skills you could apply in a variety of professions such as journalism, marketing, public relations, and policy-making. Part of the core knowledge and skills that you will be expected to develop for this module will involve you in familiarising yourself with the extensive array of Northumbria University’s digital resources. You will then be expected to use electronic repositories of data, reference, archive and multimedia materials, such as LexisNexis, WaybackMachine, Box of Broadcasts, and EBSCO, among others, to research the original content required to develop your own case study.

More information

MP6030 -

Advertising: Theories and Contexts (Core,20 Credits)

Drawing on the skills and knowledge you have developed at Levels 4 and 5, Advertising: Theories and Contexts will develop your understanding of advertising theory. The module is workshop based. In the workshops, the tutor will present a set of theoretical concerns based on a specific approach to advertising – such as branding, for example – explaining theoretical ideas, illustrating how they apply to specific examples of contemporary advertising, and drawing your attention to pertinent implications. You will then use the workshop space to find relevant examples of advertising that support or challenge the theoretical ideas, working with your peers and the tutor to reflect on contemporary advertising practice (what we learn about advertising practice from engaging with theory, the potential disjuncture between scholarly theory and practice, and so forth). The module is assessed by a 3000-word essay in which you will apply theoretical approach(es) covered in the module to a number of examples of contemporary advertising.

More information

MP6038 -

Digital Media and Society (Core,20 Credits)

This module is designed to give you a critical understanding of current debates over the development of new media and their relationship with society. You will be introduced to the key theories, issues and debates about the use, production, and distribution of digital media. You will become familiar with key issues and ideas in new media theory and in the interrelationships between digital media, technologies and societies. You will develop critical skills in analysing digital media and understanding their roles in the information society. The module will look at how these developments are related to social inequalities by asking crucial questions about the rise and persistence of the digital divide, raising the issues of inequalities in accessing, using and getting advantages from new media. The module will also analyse how social media are changing and reshaping our social world. Finally, the module will look at recent case studies and examples to understand how new media are permeating our society and everyday life, transforming the way in which we think and act in a digital society, affecting our perception of crucial social issues such as surveillance/privacy, online identities and activism.

More information

SM9636 -

Strategic Management for Sustainable Leadership (Core,20 Credits)

1. How strategic recommendations are likely to be evaluated by various stakeholder groups that place a different interpretation on the measurement of business success.
2. Understanding the concepts and frameworks of Endogenous Strategy that apply to a company’s Capabilities, Competences and Resources.
3. How to synthesise key concepts in the Resource-based View of Strategy (RBV) and apply them to companies in competitive markets.
4. How Sustained Competitive Advantage (SCA) can be achieved and maintained in an era of finite resources and increasing demand for sustainability.
5. How Innovation can be managed and applied to Products, Processes, Business Models and Sustainability.
6. How Sustainability can be incorporated into successful Strategy Formulation, Strategic Implementation, and Business Model Innovation.
7. How Leadership impacts upon strategic decision making.
8. Understanding how the concepts of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility can be applied to meet the challenges of Ethical Business Management in the future.
9. How to successfully write compelling and influential strategic briefing documents based around the structure adopted by this module.

More information

YA6001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

To start your application, simply select the month you would like to start your course.

Mass Communication and Business BA (Hons)

Home or EU applicants please apply through UCAS

International applicants please apply using the links below

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Any Questions?

Our Applicant Services team will be happy to help.  They can be contacted on 0191 406 0901 or by using our Contact Form.


All information is accurate at the time of sharing.

Full time Courses starting in 2023 are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but may include elements of online learning. We continue to monitor government and local authority guidance in relation to Covid-19 and we are ready and able to flex accordingly to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff.

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with additional restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors, potentially to a full online offer, should further restrictions be deemed necessary in future. Our online activity will be delivered through Blackboard Ultra, enabling collaboration, connection and engagement with materials and people.

 

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We continuously review and improve course content in consultation with our students and employers. To make sure we can inform you of any changes to your course register for updates on the course page.


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* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

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