Bachelor of Arts (Media & Communications) and Bachelor of Laws

The Media and Communications Program is an exciting Bachelor of Arts stream designed to provide students with optimal access to the globally expanding world of media and new communication technologies and to future postgraduate study and research.

The program is deliberately interdisciplinary in nature and offers a distinctive blend of academic study and media-relevant practice delivered by internationally recognized scholars and experienced industry professionals. By this means students can determine pathways to a wide range of media-related careers and opportunities and/or prepare a foundation for later postgraduate study and advanced research. Possible careers in Media and Communications today include print, broadcasting and on-line journalism, advertising and public relations, publishing and editing, corporate and government communications, as well as diverse opportunities in the entertainment and information industries more generally.

Our courses represent the latest thinking and research in the international field of scholarship and students select core and optional subjects from a wide range of subjects according to their own interests and career trajectories. Subjects offered include, amongst many others, Net Communications; Media Futures and New Technologies; Politics, Communication, Media; Marketing Communications; Professional Writing; Advanced Writing; Writing Journalism; Asia-Pacific Media Systems; Global Media Cultures, Understanding Australian Media; and Media Law.

Hands-on media industry experience and project-based research is also available through our popular internships and the final research project. We study Media and Communications as interrelated global-local processes comprising media institutions and communication technologies, media representations and texts, and media audiences and processes of reception, and we situate these in relation to social, political and cultural contexts and historical dynamics of change. Students are encouraged to develop their critical understanding of the changing nature and role(s) of Media and Communications in today's 'mediatised' societies as well as develop practical skills and research aptitudes of use to them in their future careers within today's rapidly changing global media environment.

The Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) has as its objectives that graduates:

• are enabled to develop a comprehensive overview of the media's place in today's society, economy and culture, with an emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region;

• are provided with the fundamental written communication skills required by successful journalists and other media professionals;

• are helped to achieve an understanding of new communication technologies and their impact on the fast-changing global media environment;

• are trained to think across media, a skill we see as increasingly important for the next generation of media professionals and media researchers;

• are helped to appreciate the value of an international and interdisciplinary approach to the study of Media and Communications;

• are offered the opportunity to gain industry experience in the form of internships;

• are offered opportunities to develop research skills and engage in applied analysis of media within different subjects and through the presentation of a final research project.

Students must complete a minimum of 200 arts (Media and Communications) points which must include:

• 50 points of first-year Media and Communications (two compulsory and two optional subjects); and

• 75 points of second-year Media and Communications (three core and three optional subjects); and

• 75 points of third-year Media and Communications (three core and three optional subjects or one core and one optional subject as well as 100-310 Media and Communications Internship and 100-311 Media & Communications Research Project).

Students must also complete a minimum 300 law points.

For information on the Bachelor of Laws Structure, see the handbook entry for course code 505.

Level two subjects Students should complete the level one requirements of their degree before enrolling in a level two subject. Students must complete at least 50 points of level one (four subjects) in order to enrol in a level two or two/three subject. Level two subjects are not available to students enrolled in fourth-year honours, postgraduate certificates, postgraduate diplomas, or masters programs. Level two subjects cannot be credited to level one or three of the BA or BA combined degrees.

Level three subjects Students should complete the level two requirements of their degree before enrolling in a level three subject. Students must complete at least 25 points of level two (usually two subjects) in order to enrol in a level three subject. Level three subjects are not available to students enrolled in fourth-year honours, postgraduate certificates, postgraduate diplomas, or masters programs. Level three subjects cannot be credited to level one or two of the BA or BA combined degrees.

Level four subjects are not available to students enrolled in undergraduate degrees, concurrent certificates, concurrent diplomas, graduate certificates, graduate diplomas or one-year masters programs. Level five subjects are not available to students enrolled in undergraduate degrees, concurrent certificates, concurrent diplomas, graduate certificates, or graduate diplomas.

Subject level rules apply to students in combined Arts degrees.

First Year Compulsory Subjects

First Year Optional Subjects

First-year Media and Communications students must select two of the following optional first-year subjects:

Second-year Compulsory Subjects

Second-year Media and Communications students in the enriched major stream must select three of the following compulsory second-year subjects:

Second-year Media and Communications students in the double major stream must select two of the following compulsory second-year subjects:

Third-year Compulsory Subjects

Third-year media and communications students in the enriched major stream must select four of the following compulsory third-year subjects:

Third-year media and communications students in the double major stream must select two of the following compulsory third-year subjects:

Second/third-year Optional Subjects

For a complete list of the optional subjects at second and third year, please look at the Media & Communications (105 MC) handbook entry.

Arts students are encouraged to pursue their academic interests and professional aspirations by taking a variety of subjects in a range of different areas of study. All arts subjects provide students with transferable generic skills that prepare them for further study and the workplace.

As a result of attendance at scheduled classes, participation in planned activities and discussion groups, and timely completion of essays and assignments, arts graduates should acquire transferable generic skills in the following areas:

• research

  through competent use of the library, electronic databases, and other information sources, and the definition of areas of inquiry and methods of research;

• critical thinking and analysis

  through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument;

• thinking in theoretical terms

  through lectures, tutorial discussion, essay writing and engagement in the methodologies of the humanities and social sciences;

• thinking creatively

  through essay writing, creative writing, tutorial discussions and presentations, conceptualising theoretical problems, forming judgements and arguments from conflicting evidence and by critical analysis;

• understanding of social, ethical and cultural context

  through the contextualisation of judgements, developing a critical self-awareness, being open to new ideas and possibilities and by constructing an argument;

• communicating knowledge intelligibly and economically

  through essay writing and tutorial and seminar discussion;

• written communication

  through essay preparation and assignment writing;

• public speaking

  through tutorial and seminar discussion and class presentations;

• attention to detail

  through essay preparation and writing, and examination revision;

• time management and planning

  through managing and organising workloads for recommended reading, essay and assignment completion and examination revision;

• teamwork

  through joint projects and group discussions.