Programme Specifications

Programme summary

1. Programme Aims

•  To enable students to gain a systematic and critical understanding of communications and development in a changing global context
• To foster students’ ability to critically analyse current research and advanced scholarship about globalisation, communications and development with a particular focus on the Global South
• To develop students’ skills and competencies in a comprehensive range of research methods and techniques relevant to the investigation of communication practices as well as development policies in different socio- technical contexts.
• To enable students to interpret, evaluate and apply advanced knowledge of communications and development in an innovative way
• To prepare students for employment in diverse professional environments through a combination of independent work and industry exposure.

2. Relevant subject benchmark statements and other external reference points used to inform programme outcomes:

•  UK Quality Code for Higher Education, The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, April 2012, especially Part A: Setting and maintaining academic standards:

â—¦   The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ), the QAA, August 2008

â—¦   Master’s Degree Characteristics, the QAA, March 2010

â—¦   The Higher Education Credit Framework for England, the QAA, August 2008

• The Quality Code, Part B: Assuring and enhancing academic quality

â—¦   Chapter B1: Programme Design, Development and Approval

â—¦  Chapter B3: Learning and Teaching

â—¦  Chapter B4: Enabling student development and  achievement

â—¦  Chapter B6: Assessment of students

• Benchmark Statement for Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies, the QAA,  2008

3. Programme Learning Outcomes

3.1 Knowledge and Understanding

On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to explain in a systematic, comprehensive and  critical way:

K1.       The major traditions, theories and frameworks of inquiry relevant to the analysis of global communications and development

K2.       The major arguments and issues in contemporary debates about the social, economic, political and historical character of global communications and development 

K3.       The global development and operation of communication infrastructures, tools, and media  practices 

K4.       The major arguments and issues in contemporary debates about the impact of the digital  age and information capitalism on the Global South 

K5.       The historical expansion of communications infrastructure, media systems and  practices, and the implications of technological developments for socio-political development 

K6.       The range of relevant research methods employed in the analysis of communications and development in global context 

K7        The ways in which study of a complementary subject deepens knowledge of the influence and operation of communications and cultural policy. 

K8.       The common and specific problems of communications that emerge within the less privileged places of global capitalism.

3.2 Skills and other attributes

a. Subject-specific cognitive skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to: 

C1.       Appraise the work of major thinkers, debates and intellectual paradigms within the fields of globalisation, communications, culture, socio-technical change and   development; 

C2.       Design and carry out appropriate research strategies to address the issues they   have selected  for sustained investigation in self-chosen projects; 

C3.       Cricially evaluate new and emerging trends in the fields of communication and development to interrogate both common sense understanding and received wisdom in relevant areas of inquiry; 

C4.       Discuss and evaluate historical transformations in global communications and their social, political, economic and cultural contexts and wield this understanding in analysing historical and structural patterns of socio-technical and political change; 

C5.       Critique research findings and the issues it raises reflexively.

b. Subject-specific practical skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able, with reference to globalisation, communications, media culture, to: 

P1.      Generate data using qualitative and / or quantitative techniques for the purpose of gaining further understanding of a topic according to appropriate methods; 

P2.      Independently organise, classify and critically evaluate information gathered in the course of their projects and assignments; 

P3.      Apply advanced concepts and theorises drawn from politics and communications studies  and associated disciplines to empirical evidence relevant to communication and development studies; 

P4.      Locate and interpret industry practices, data and policy  documents

c. Key transferable skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

T1.       Critically evaluate a range of academic and industry sources;

T2.       Communicate effectively to specialist and non-specialist audiences;

T3.       Analyse and use qualitative and quantitative research data;

T4.       Plan, organise and manage, with appropriate supervision, a significant self-directed project; 

T5.       Work flexibly, creatively and independently, displaying a high degree of self-direction and initiative.

4. Programme structure

Students must complete 8 X 15 crs modules and the Dissertation worth 60 crs for a total of 180 credits. Students will be required to complete 4 core modules Semester one and 4 optional modules in Semester two in addition to the Dissertation.

5. Criteria for Progression and Degree Award

In order to be eligible for the award, candidates must satisfy the requirements of Regulation  XXI. 

All modules available in the Special Assessment Period (SAP) unless specified in the Module Specification.

6. Relative Weighting of Parts of the Programme for the Purposes of Final Degree Classification

Not Applicable