Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies - 125JA

Introduction

This combined degree course provides students with an in-depth understanding of the field of Communication and Media Studies while also allowing them to pursue a wider liberal-arts education.

The Bachelor of Arts degree provides a flexible preparation for many areas of vocational and professional employment, as well as the broad perspective required for informed citizenship. A four-unit Liberal Arts Foundation sequence, with choices at individual unit level, combines with a choice of Arts majors to complete the requirements of an Arts degree. The remaining units mark the character of the degree as either arts-oriented or professional, and include an open choice of one full major. Foundation program units may become the basis for a continuing major or minor sequence.

The Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies provides an advanced study of the history, theory and methods of Communication and Media Studies with a special focus on political communication. It explores the way in which societies have evolved in conjunction with advances in communication technology and addresses the way communications media have profoundly transformed the way we live. This course develops an informed and critical understanding of how the media operate, the way they shape meanings and values, and the difference they are making to the social, economic and political worlds in which we live. It provides an in-depth understanding of political communication processes from a national capital perspective. Special attention is payed to the development of high level oral and written communication skills as well as to an appreciation of the power of visual communication forms.

The single degree of Bachelor of Arts may be taken out at the end of three years full-time study, subject to a variation in the study program for third year. Students considering taking out the single degree must seek course advice before the end of their second year of study.