Overview
It’s an exciting time to be studying Global Journalism and Media at Coventry as Coventry gears up to be the City of Culture 2021.
The Global Journalism and Media BA offers a focused approach to professional communications in a global context. We provide you with a thorough grounding in a range of key communication skills as required in media journalism and public relations and allied industries, in addition to an in-depth analysis of the landscape these professions now occupy. The course empowers you to be ambitious, informed, efficient practitioners who can add value to the communication needs of industries both in the UK and around the world. As such, this course seeks to prepare students for a wide range of professional opportunities globally.
Why Coventry University?
An award-winning university, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching, and resources and support designed to help them succeed. These range from our modern library and computing facilities to dedicated careers advice and our impressive Students’ Union activities.
To ensure an optimised and continual student experience, the university may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via emerging online technologies and methods across all courses.
Global ready
An international outlook, with global opportunitiesEmployability
Career-ready graduates, with the skills to succeedTeaching Excellence
Taught by lecturers who are experts in their fieldCourse essentials
A degree which offers you more, at no extra costRelated Links

Building Redevelopment
We are currently in the process of a major redevelopment of our Faculty of Arts and Humanities buildings. The building will be open to the public as well as students, and will feature an expansive gallery space.

Creative Community Hub
We hope that you are all staying safe in these uncertain times. Creative activities can really help fill the days, while we are spending more time at home and we have some ideas to keep you busy.

Virtual experience
Visit our online degree show where we have brought together the work of over 500 students.
Course information
Alongside the core skills of writing and designing a message, digital agility is a key part of Journalism and Media practice in the 21st century. Similarly, the global platforms enabled by technological innovation has elevated it to a world-wide level.
The Global Journalism and Media BA provides in-depth exploration of core traditional Journalism and Media skills and values, alongside a critical and comparative interrogation of the meaning of these internationally and the development of key competencies in the delivery of those skills.
Course content will begin with the cultural context of Global Journalism and Media processes in order to help you develop your understanding of how communication works and how you can develop your own skills. The course will then work to help you develop specific and specialist skills across print, digital and broadcast by employing a variety of simulated exercises and case study opportunities in order to develop a real-world understanding of the communications industries. In the final year, you have opportunities to explore specialist fields of communication in order to best prepare you for your future career.
2nd
for Journalism, Publishing and Public Relations
Guardian University Guide 2021
Course specification
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Modules
We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.
In more detail...
Coventry is ranked as one of the top 15 universities in the UK. Here, you’ll be taught by Journalism and Media professionals with experience of working for national media outlets and news corporations, Hollywood bureau chiefs, print and digital journalists with global experience and broadcast media experts. You’ll have the opportunity to apply for industry placements (subject to additional costs and availability, as well as meeting any applicable visa requirements) and hear regularly from high-level guest lecturers.
This course has a number of attractive features:
- The opportunity to study at a university which has been ranked 13th UK University (Guardian 2019) and 6th for student experience (Times 2018) as well being awarded the highly-coveted Gold Award for teaching (TEF 2017).
- Embedded employability – whether that’s utilising our links with employers nationally, where students have gone on internships at the New York Times, social media content agencies, in marketing and public relations, video editing in New York and Sky; or via the option to take a year out of your studies to achieve either professional or international enhancement by spending a year abroad or in a year-long professional placement (subject to additional costs, application, availability and meeting any applicable visa requirements).
- You will have opportunities to attend field trips to places like Amsterdam, visiting professional media outlets and field trips to relevant companies (subject to additional costs, availability and meeting any applicable visa requirements).
- You will have access to professional broadcast equipment via our dedicated Media Loan Shop and studios. Extensive specialist resources include a wireless suite of newsrooms, TV studio, video editing suite and radio studio. Practice in experimental techniques such as VR and Augmented Reality.
- Coming to study in a hugely diverse city which has been awarded the title of City of Culture 2021, meaning huge local investment and the chance to capitalise on the vibrant range of opportunities which this status will present in the run up, during and after the event, epitomised in the ten-year Cultural Strategy for Coventry.
This BA in Global Journalism and Media will provide you with a thorough grounding in a range of key communication skills as required in media, journalism and public relations, in addition to in-depth analysis of the landscape these professions now occupy. In common with the BA in Journalism, this course seeks to empower you to be an ambitious, informed and efficient practitioner who can add value to the communication needs of industries both within and without the media.
As a primarily vocational course with a critical and analytical layer, BA Global Journalism and Media mixes theory and practice in an integrated format that allows you to immediately apply what you have learned, obtain feedback from both peers and lecturers, and then re-apply those skills in new ways. These strands are complemented by the use of reflective essays for assessment. This promotes a sophisticated integration of theory and practice which equips students with the life-long learning skills necessary to manage their own continual professional development needs beyond university.
Course assessment modes, both formative and summative, are designed to be useful and have a positive impact for you as they can be utilised for employment opportunities and/or further study.
The assessments also promote a range of skills and competencies by the form of presentation demanded of students, this includes the traditional academic essay which necessitates a sophisticated engagement with academic writing, but also the practice of reflective writing, writing for professional communication, public speaking and simulated management tasks.
By successfully completing the BA Global Journalism and Media course, you will have achieved the following Course Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the historical, philosophical, cultural, commercial and social practices (practitioners, theorists, practices) that have shaped, and continue to shape, global journalism and media practices.
- Demonstrate sophisticated research skills to locate, collate, organise and utilise data from a variety of sources in order to critically analyse and understand the range of contemporary global communication forms and practice(s).
- Demonstrate the ability to work with regards to policy and regulatory frameworks, adhering to professionally-defined codes of practice and industry standards, in the production of a range of products for a range of audiences.
- Work independently and collaboratively on a range of projects in a variety of professional roles, demonstrating teamwork, negotiation, organisational and decision-making skills.
- Develop a range of technical and creative skills that will enable them to inhabit a wide-range of roles in the contemporary media communication and Journalism industries.
- Demonstrate intellectual curiosity, creativity and the potential for continuing creative and professional development in an international arena.
- Develop professional competencies in relation to corporate media and communications and strategic management, relevant to the global journalism and media industry.
This degree is underpinned by an ethos of the reflective practitioner; theory and practice are brought together in a critical engagement with social, cultural and professional processes, contextualised by an understanding of the varying environments in which media and journalism practitioners operate. By the end of the course, you will be expected to be able to find your own place within this global professional landscape, operating at a proficient level across a broad range of critical and practical competencies.
In a typical teaching week, you will have approximately 15 ‘contact’ hours of teaching. This generally breaks down as:
- Personal tutorial/small group teaching: 2 hours of tutorials each week.
- Medium group teaching: 10 hours of practical classes, workshops or seminars each week.
- Large group teaching: 3 hours of lectures each week.
The contact hours may be made up of a combination of face-to-face teaching, individual and group tutorials, and online classes and tutorials
Intercultural and international engagement is an important and foregrounded component of the BA Global Journalism and Media course, which will provide an international perspective on the practice of communication through: encouraging and facilitating (by assessment and support) the participation of international students in the course, through case studies and online international learning projects, by international field trips and the opportunity to undertake a Study Abroad year. The diverse course team composition with a number of staff with international backgrounds reinforces this international and intercultural commitment within the course.
Please note that all international field trips and study abroad or placement opportunities may be subject to additional fees, application, availability and/or meeting any applicable visa requirements.
Global ready
Did you know we help more students travel internationally than any other UK university according to data from the experts in higher education data and analysis, HESA?
In 2018/19, we provided a total of 5,469 experiences abroad that lasted at least five days.
Much of this travel is made possible through our Global Leaders Programme, which enables students to prepare for the challenges of the global employment market, as well as strengthening and developing their broader personal and professional skills.
Explore our international experiences1st for
international experiences
Sending more students overseas than any other UK uni 2016/17
5,469
Student experiences
The number of student trips abroad for at least 5 days in 2018/19
12,000
and counting
The number of students we’ve helped travel internationally since 2016
12
global programmes
As well as trips, we offer other opportunities like language courses
Entry Requirements
Tuition Fees
We pride ourselves on offering competitive tuition fees which we review on an annual basis and offer a wide range of scholarships to support students with their studies. Course fees are calculated on the basis of what it costs to teach each course and we aim for total financial transparency.
For more information, please visit our Finance pages.
Course essentials at no extra cost
We're committed to communicating study costs clearly to make sure you're not faced with having to make any unexpected payments.
This is why our ‘Flying Start’ package provides you with a few course essentials. Your full-time fee for an undergraduate degree will cover the following:
UK field trips
Any mandatory site visits and trips within the United Kingdom.Key material
This can include core textbooks, software and equipment.Laser prints
1,000 A4 sides of black and white laser printing credits per year.Optional year
Pay no tuition fees for optional work placements or study abroad trips.EU student fees
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year remain eligible for the same fees as home students and the same financial support. Financial support comes from Student Finance England, and covers undergraduate and postgraduate study for the duration of their course, providing they meet the residency requirement.
For tuition fee loans
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year must have resided in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three years prior to the start of their course. The purpose of that three year residency should not have been mainly for the purpose of receiving full time education.
For maintenance loans
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year must have resided in the UK and Islands for the five years prior to the start of their course. The purpose of that five year residency should not have been mainly for the purpose of receiving full time education.
Career prospects
Graduate Immigration Route visa
Based on current information from the UK Government, international students whose study extends beyond summer 2021 may be eligible for a visa under the UK Government’s Graduate Immigration Route, which will enable students to stay and work, or look for work, in the UK at any skill level for up to two (2) years. Check the most up to date guidance available to check your eligibility and any updates from the UK Government before making an application or enrolment decision.
Employability is embedded into the course in the following ways:
- By the pedagogic approach of reflective practice which promotes critical engagement and continual professional development alongside skills development.
- By opportunities to collaborate with peers and with employers both in the UK and internationally via real-life scenarios.
- By opportunities to complete work experience as part of the module structure and as a sandwich year.
Our Add+Vantage scheme also seeks to enhance students’ skills and competencies for employment.
Disclaimer
By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the 2020/21 Contract can be found here. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.
The tuition fee for the course that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For UK and EU students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation. Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, EU students should be aware that there may be a change to UK laws following the UK’s exit, this may change their student status, their eligibility to study part time, and/or their eligibility for student finance. We will act in accordance with the UK’s laws in force in relation to student tuition fees and finance from time to time.
For International students the tuition fee that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For international students, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation.