Media and film at Sussex is ranked in the top 10 places to study in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2013 and the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2012, 11th in The Complete University Guide 2012-13 and in the top 15 in the UK in The Guardian University Guide 2013 and The Sunday Times University Guide 2012.
Rated joint 8th in the UK for research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 100 per cent of our research was rated as recognised internationally or higher, and 75 per cent rated as internationally excellent or higher, confirming our research reputation on the world stage.
Here at Sussex we look at how the media shape us and how we can shape the media. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of how the media work through a range of courses and creative and critical modules, using our state-of-the-art facilities including industry-standard digital production and edit suites, as well as smart new studios, workshops and viewing facilities.
Our single-honours degrees allow you choose options from within the School of Media, Film and Music and across the University, allowing you to shape the direction of your degree.
Our international body of students from a variety of European countries, the USA and Asia contributes to the rich mix of debate about world media and culture.
Our degrees offer you the opportunity to gain crosscultural experience while studying abroad.
We have close links with the creative industries and media production community, as well as with galleries and festivals, in London and Brighton. This gives our students excellent opportunities to find work placements, and voluntary and/or part-time paid jobs. For more information, refer to Careers.
The video below provides a valuable insight into the specialisms in the School of Media, Film and Music and why Sussex is a great place to study:
Media studies is a wide-ranging field of study that draws on subjects from across the humanities and the social sciences. You will be studying the media as texts, as forms of communication, and as mediators of modern life, power and experience. You will gain a rich understanding of newspapers, magazines, radio, television, cinema, online, mobile and social media in a variety of historical, contemporary, national and global contexts.
We aim to provide distinctive degrees of high intellectual quality, and to enable you to graduate with a wide range of academic, practical and personal skills that will prove valuable in your future career. Your degree will give you the analytical skills and knowledge to explore critical questions about how the media work and how the media shape the way we live, and provide you with a firm foundation for a successful future in a wide range of professions.
University of Sussex undergraduate student Michelle Brown talks about her BA in Media Studies:
Media practice is an innovative field combining the production of creative work across a number of media forms with critical analysis of the media in today's society.
You will be exposed to industry-standard applications in video editing, photographic manipulation, digital design, animation, script writing and sound. We also have a very large equipment store from which students can borrow a range of video and stills cameras, lighting kits, and a large number of other items for location-based production.
Our industry partners work closely with us to ensure we are preparing students to fill the need for multi-skilled media professionals to work in an ever-changing and expanding media industry. They also form a key part of our visiting artists and lecture series, which brings to campus industry professionals from a range of film, radio, photography, digital art and writing backgrounds.
Because of our location and reputation, we have close links with the creative industries and media production community, as well as with galleries and festivals in London and Brighton. This gives students greater opportunities to find work placements, voluntary and/or part-time paid jobs.
Final Year students talking about their experience of Media Practice at the University of Sussex
For places to study media and film in the UK, Sussex is ranked 10th in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2013, 11th in both The Complete University Guide 2013-14 and The Guardian University Guide 2012, and 15th in The Sunday Times University Guide 2012 – we are leading the debate about the future of film.
Our research, which pushes the boundaries of thinking about media and film, was rated joint 8th in the UK for research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 100 per cent of our research was rated as recognised internationally or higher, and 75 per cent rated as internationally excellent or higher.
At Sussex we investigate how film constructs its meanings and pleasures, and why it is important. This is your chance to gain a deeper understanding of how film works via a range of creative and critical courses, core modules and options.
Film Studies at Sussex is not just about film itself but about the rich history of visual representations that make meaning. From Hollywood to Bollywood, you will study the connections between cinema, society and technology that have shaped our attitudes and cultural beliefs, developing a critical depth that will change the way you think.
You will learn to ‘read’ film, critically analysing how meaning is made – and why. You will study how culture is represented and expressed in a diversity of film forms, from international and world cinemas to independent film, avant-garde and mainstream, starting with cinema’s most dominant influence, Hollywood.
You will also have the opportunity to benefit from the School of Media, Film and Music’s excellent production facilities. Throughout your degree you can select practice modules including sound, screen-writing and video.
University of Sussex undergraduate student Alex McIntyre talks about his BA in Film Studies:
Also refer to 'What to do with a degree in film studies' (The Guardian, 8 July 2011)
Our high-quality research pushes the boundaries in cultural thinking: cultural studies at Sussex was rated joint 8th in the UK for research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 100 per cent of our research was rated as recognised internationally or higher, and 75 per cent rated as internationally excellent or higher.
Our lecturers bring expertise and cutting-edge thinking from departments across the University. You will be taught by the most innovative, as well as the most rigorous, researchers in their fields.
You take Cultural Studies alongside another subject, which will develop your critical thinking, give you a new set of skills in a second area of knowledge and increase your potential in the workplace.
Sussex is distinctive in that we spend as much time examining popular culture as we do high culture and ordinary culture. We look at culture from a geographic and historical perspective.
At Sussex, we promote a political approach to cultural issues and put emphasis on developing critical thinking in particular on gender, nation, class and ethnicity.