Master of Arts in Social Media and Digital Communication

at University of Westminster - Harrow Campus United Kingdom

The Photography Arts MA offers a dynamic mix of photography practice and research to support your development as an artist. Students learn to navigate the rapidly changing field of contemporary photography, while preparing themselves for diverse career paths. Each student develops two distinct bodies of work to exhibition and/or publication standard, as well as deepening their research and writing. Your progress through the course is supported with one-to-one meetings with a personal tutor, as well as lectures, seminars, tutorials and critique sessions. You will be empowered with visual, critical and practical skills that culminate in the Masters Project, exhibited in a central London degree show.

Students are fully supported by our internationally renowned photography staff and inspired by an exciting range of prominent visiting photographic artists and thinkers. Situated in Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design, you will have access to extensive photographic facilities and a wealth of inter-disciplinary expertise. You will be part of a world-famous centre for photography research.

The Illustration BA aims to provide an intellectual and creative space for students to explore and build skills in a range of traditional, digital and emerging image making technologies. Industry modules enable students to develop transferable professional skills that support creative agility, resilience and adaptability for rapidly evolving professional opportunities.

This course offers a flexible, interdisciplinary and multimedia approach to the study and practice of contemporary illustration and is developed through a range of industry-focused projects and self-defined contexts.

A supportive studio environment and learning community nurture your individual development and distinctive voice as both an illustrator and creative practitioner in the wider field of visual communication.

Studio-based projects, national and international competitions and live industry projects provide context and creative challenge, fostering experimentation and visual inquiry. You will have the creative space to explore and examine a range of processes and practices in both traditional and emerging technologies.

Media professionals and media firms are united in their need to acquire the commercial, strategic and managerial skills to prosper in an industry undergoing constant fundamental change. This course is designed to address these needs, developing entrepreneurial leaders equipped to deal with the complex and novel challenges presented by new technologies, consumer behaviour, and evolving business models.

The course will enable you to identify and analyse strategic and operational problems and opportunities, understand, quantify and access national and international media markets, and use foresight and planning techniques to understand and respond to change. As well as being able to manage complex media projects, you will also have the skills to engage in strategic direction setting, deploy business-planning skills, and excel in leadership and implementation.

The course is delivered by academic staff with lengthy experience of advising and managing media organisations. Teaching methods are based around practical problems and include in-class exercises and individuals and group projects and assessment. Assignments will enable you to develop and apply your skills in creative project development and business planning.

Our Fashion Design BA has an exceptional reputation for being aligned with the international fashion industry and enabling you to have outstanding opportunities to engage with the industry throughout your course. 

We specialise in enabling you to become a highly original and individual creative designer, capable of working at the highest levels of the international fashion industry. We were the first undergraduate course to show at London Fashion Week, and able to show in February 2020, prior to the national lockdown.

Throughout our course, the emphasis is on the development of your personal design philosophy. Our course offers a comprehensive design education for dedicated and ambitious individuals looking for a specialist career in the international fashion industry. You'll also gain the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

Our students gain an enormous amount of specific and transferable knowledge from working within the fashion industry, whether these are in the context of ‘live’ design projects at university or out on extended periods of work placement.

Internships on both the three-year and sandwich course take place in partnership with leading international fashion companies, and have previously included: A Cold Wall, Alexander McQueen, Ashley Williams, Balmain, Burberry, Chalayan, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Charlotte Knowles, Christopher Kane, Cottweiller, Craig Green, Eckhaus Latta, Erdem, Eudon Choi, Gareth Pugh, Givenchy, Haider Ackermann, Halpern, JW Anderson, Kenzo, Kilgour, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Maison Margiela, Marine Serre, Marques Almeida, Molly Goddard, Nazir Nasar, Norse Projects, Peter Pilotto, Phoebe English, Preen, Raf Simons, Richard Quinn, Roksanda, Self Portrait, Simone Rocha, Stefan Cooke, Supriya Lele, Thom Browne, Underage, Viktor & Rolf, and Walter van Bierendonck. 

Embedded into the course structure are several opportunities to engage with the international fashion industry through set live briefs with companies. Previous companies have included FENTY, The Gap, CLOSED denim, Epson, Topshop, H&M, ISKO Denim, Max Mara, Abercrombie and ASOS. 

Course graduates include London Fashion Week designers Katie Ann McGuigan, Roberta Einer, Liam Hodges and Ashley Williams, as well as Jutta Kraus, Creative Director of Bernhard Willhelm; Stuart Vevers, Creative Director of Coach; Christopher Bailey; and Katie Hillier.

Our previous Fashion Design BA graduates have gained employment at companies including Versace, Rick Owens, Celine, Loewe, Alexander McQueen, Maison Margiela, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Carven, Tom Ford, Gucci, Versace, Ferragamo, Kenzo, H&M, Preen, MaxMara, Anya Hindmarch, Burberry, J.W. Anderson, Norse Projects, Acne, Jacquemus, Paul Smith and adidas.

This well-established Masters is the world-leading course in audio production, highly regarded both nationally and internationally. It is accredited by JAMES (consortium of music, entertainment and media industry organisations in the support of education and promotion of excellence). The course is designed to meet and exceed professional standards and will enable you to reach the highest level in the creative use of audio, and explore how creative ideas and new technologies can be combined, enhanced and redefined.

As the major media education site in Europe, the University's Harrow Campus includes 14 professional recording studios (three surround studios), a new teaching recording studio, Music Lab and an array of TV, post-production, radio, film and multimedia facilities built and equipped to the highest standards.

This innovative course develops your creative abilities in audio across music production, sound design, radio, TV, film and multimedia, all supported by a robust understanding of the technologies involved. You will be able to explore and expand as a creative artist while achieving control and experience of a professional audio environment.

Our Digital Media course will show you how to create and share your message professionally across any digital platform so you can truly connect with your audience. The course is flexible, giving you the time and space to explore different aspects of digital media. All students gain skills  in content creation, digital media production, storytelling, and research, alongside a critical appreciation of the role of media in society. Students then build on these practical skills and conceptual insights by choosing a specialism which reflects their interests and aspirations.

At the end of the first year, you will be able to choose from pathways in Media Production, Communication, Public Relations and Advertising, and Journalism.  You will have the opportunity to learn from industry professionals throughout the course and can benefit from our industry links by opting to complete a work placement year.  Alternatively, you might decide to expand your educational experience by studying aboard between Years 2 and 3. You will also have access to our award-winning Careers and Employability Service with its network of over 3,000 employers. 

This up-to-date blend of skills and knowledge will equip you to work successfully in a wide range of sectors and professions in digital media and beyond. Whether you want to work for a leading multinational, a start-up, a media outlet, the public sector or to launch your own company, this course will give you the broad expertise alongside the specialist knowledge you need, both when you enter the job market and into the future.

Our innovative MA in Film and Television builds on its prestigious heritage as the longest running degree programme of its kind in the UK. We aim to equip you with wide-ranging skills, knowledge and critical awareness to meet your career aspirations in sectors in which moving images play a central role. Our curriculum incorporates an exciting variety of learning and teaching activities designed to foster your capacity for researching and rigorously analysing different aspects of film, television and moving images. You will have the opportunity to develop key skills for communicating about and with moving images across a range of contexts and platforms.

Live Music is at the centre of Music as an industry and cultural experience. There is a rich set of global opportunities arising from the significant economic and cultural global growth of Live Music. Central to this are music festivals as economic, social and cultural centres of importance, enhanced by the link between social media and experiential experiences.

This new course will help you to develop a comprehensive knowledge and critical understanding of business and practice in the live music and events industries and equip you to navigate this fast-changing and challenging environment. It also sets out to examine how the live music and events industries interact with wider social and technological transformations, critically important in a socially distancing environment necessitating new business models such as live streaming, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

At Westminster, we already have a highly regarded background and established reputation for successful teaching and research in music and events from the very heart of the global centre for live music, London. Our Live Music Management MA has been developed alongside and is heavily integrated with industry and will be delivered by both leading academics as well as frequent guest speakers from the live music industry (including leading industry spokespeople and companies).

This exciting new multidisciplinary Master's programme is fully designed to reflect the needs of contemporary interactive media industries, bringing together creative technologies, interactivity and design practices within digital cultures with the user in mind.

Interactive Media Practice combines a wide range of digital creative technologies primarily combining digital literacies design, technology and interaction, through user-centred design for commercial outputs to an industry standard.

Interactive Media Practice places the user at the centre of the experience and focuses on design and content creation in areas such as mobile app development, wearables, games, rich media websites, interactive guides and installations, immersive VR, next generation advertising and virtual and augmented reality systems, through to social media powerful eMarketing and entrepreneurship through innovation protocol.

Our exciting specialist course will enable you to develop your imaginative and creative skills, while giving you a sound knowledge and understanding of animation processes, techniques and critical theory.

Commercial animation is a rapidly growing and vibrant industry, encompassing a broad range of rewarding and fascinating creative job opportunities. Our strong emphasis on creative practice will help you to develop your skills in drawing and design, along with the imaginative development and innovation of ideas expressed sequentially. These skills, together with the professional practice aspects of the course, will ensure that you have the confidence and expertise to succeed in industry, whether as a producer, technician, designer or manager. You’ll also develop the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

Throughout the course, there are opportunities for you to take part in national and international competitions and film festivals. Our course is delivered by a large team of experienced animation practitioners, staff and industry visitors, and you’ll work in dedicated specialist animation studios with facilities for blue screen, rostrum animation, CGI, drawing, stop-frame, film, photography, set building, sound and video.

Successful animators need to be flexible and able to adapt to changing cultures and new initiatives, and our course seeks to reflect this fluidity. You’ll rapidly develop your own practice in animation, and will be encouraged to work on shared initiatives. Based at our Harrow Campus – home to the Westminster School of Arts and the Westminster School of Media and Communications – you’ll work alongside students from film, photography, music, fashion and journalism, in a unique creative hothouse.