Communication and media studies degree course guide

Students tend to enjoy this course more than most, although be warned: media jobs are by no means guaranteed at the end of it.?Photo: Jim Ryce/Rex Features

"With telephone and TV it is not so much the message as the sender that is 'sent.'" Marshall McLuhan

What qualification do you leave with?

Most media-related programmes are awarded with BA degrees but volume of opportunities to study contemporary culture and mass communication with complimentary areas of study mean that there's a variety of courses available.

Standard degree length is three years.

What does it cover?

Cardiff University's BA in Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies gives students a background in mass communication, the major theories of journalism along with criticism of popular culture and conducting media research. Cardiff's reputation as a centre of excellence for journalism is underlined by its involvement in projects such research for our own columnist Peter Oborne's Channel 4 documentary about Islamophobia (see pamphlet) and its help with investigative reporter Nick Davies' must-read book Flat Earth News. The University of East Anglia runs a number of highly-rated courses which combine disciplines such as the BA in Politics and Media which studies the reporting and presentation of politics and could prepare students to be the next Jeremy Bowen. Such has been the expansion and diversification in media in recent decades that its possible to specialise in a many different disciplines and platforms. The University of Worcester's creative digital media programme prepares students for the increasing domination of online and IT-based media with its modules in web design, 3D animation and a mandatory course in digital film production.

What can you expect?

From the fame-hungry to the tech-savvy, the influence and popularity of all kinds of media makes defining a stereotypical student or generic department an impossible job.

What are the usual A-levels you need?

Requirements differ from institution to institution but students are often asked to bring a portfolio with them to interview and should be prepared to sound passionate about the media. Confidence and an entrepreneurial streak can be the most useful assets students can call on.

Career prospects

Unsurprisingly, as the media's role has grown in society so have the legions of people who want a media-related career. Though degrees are essential for many posts, it is rare that degrees alone will allow you to waltz into a post, so be prepared to show off your X factor at every opportunity.

Top places to study

The latest Complete University Guide (published in April 2011) rates Warwick, UEA, Nottingham Trent, Sheffield and Sussex as the top five universities for this subject according to an index based on student satisfaction, entry standards, an assessment of the quality of the university's research; and graduate prospects.

Liam Fox: media 'made a meal' of relationship with Adam Werritty

He said he wants to return to front line politics but conceded that a come-back may take time.

Dr Fox, who quit the Cabinet amid a furore over his links to his best man, refused to discuss the “gossip” and “rumour” about his relationship with his “very good friend”.

But the former minister suggested he had been right to include Mr Werritty in some high level meetings on international affairs and claimed that the media had made “a meal” of his association with his friend.

In his first interview since his resignation earlier this month, Dr Fox said he was looking forward to being able to speak his mind as the backbench Conservative MP for North Somerset.

“It will be interesting being on the backbenches. I will certainly be freer to say what I want,” he told BBC Radio Bristol.

“I would certainly like to get back to the front bench - how quickly is another matter," he said.

“What’s important is that under this government, ministers make a mistake, ministers admit the mistake and ministers resign.

“That’s really quite different from the sort of clinging onto office at all costs which we saw under the previous government.”

Such a “decisive and clean” approach was “very much David Cameron’s style”, Dr Fox observed.

Dr Fox resigned after what he described as a “maelstrom” of media scrutiny and public criticism over his links to his self-styled adviser, Mr Werritty.

Mr Werritty, who was best man at the former minister’s wedding, was with Dr Fox on 18 foreign trips and was present at meetings with senior military figures.

At the time of his resignation, Dr Fox admitted that he had allowed the distinctions between his professional life and personal loyalties to become “blurred”.

“He’s obviously a very good friend of mine. I have known him for many years,” he said. “We stay in touch. He regularly comes to see us.”

Dr Fox insisted that he had simply made “a careless mistake” in meeting a prospective defence supplier with Mr Werritty in Dubai, in the absence of a civil servant.

“I think it was just really a mistake not to have somebody there, but when we were sitting in a coffee lounge in a hotel, it’s hardly a high security meeting,” Dr Fox said.

“It’s very easy to be careless, but you pay a price for it.”

Dr Fox said he believed it had been “very pertinent” for Mr Werritty to attend “a couple of meetings on Sri Lanka”, because the pair had worked closely on resolving conflict in the country while the Conservatives were in opposition.

Dr Fox declined to say whether Mr Werritty had gained financially from their association, but said: “His funding is very clear. It’s all out there in the public and I think that there’s rather too much of a meal being made of some of this.”