Two year Master programme in Media and Communication Studies

(120 ECTS/120 Swedish credit points)

The programme presupposes a B.A. including three semesters of undergraduate study in Media & Communication Studies or equivalents. A broad familiarity with the area is thus required for admission. The overall objective of the programme is to give deeper and critical insights into developments in the field and make students qualified for independent and advanced work inside and outside of media organizations. The critical reading and constructive use of central theoretical and methodological texts and tools is one way to achieve that goal. Working together in internationally composed student groups gives an extra impetus to critical, intellectual exchanges beyond lectures and seminars. Minor projects and individual essays are important forms of examination.

The theory courses during the first semester relate to subject areas and debates in the contemporary research scene, such as globalization studies and intersectionality theory. The objective is to stimulate and provide a solid background for later thesis work.

During the second semester the students are offered optional specialization courses at JMK, such as Media Philosophy and Media & Crime (7,5 or 15 cr.). It is also possible to include courses in other departments at Stockholm University, conducive to the completion of the thesis. The courses available each year is dependent on staff resources.

In the second and/or third semester two central faculty courses are compulsory (2 × 7.5 cr.). One of them is Research Ethics, the other Academic English. These might be given parallel to the department’s own master courses.

In the third semester various methodology courses (30 cr.) are offered. They build on the students’ experiences of applying methods in their undergraduate studies, which means that the training to some extent is individualized, with focus on qualitative and/or quantitative methods. Applied studies in the form of minor group projects, promote combinations of methods, used for structural, production, content and/or audience studies. The overall objective is to provide a good understanding and know-how of a broad range of social scientific and humanistic methods, of explanatory as well as interpretative methodologies.

The fourth semester is devoted to thesis work. In most cases the final examination is based on a scientific article summarizing the student’s master project and aimed for an international journal.

Programme syllabus

Master programme in Media and Communication Studies 120 hec

Course syllabus

Please note that this programme does not offer courses in fields such as media production or journalism!

Semester 1

• Global Media Studies 7.5 hec
• Autumn 2012: Global Media Studies 2 7.5 hec
  (Autumn 2011: Media Studies: Keywords for the Present 7.5 hec)
• Mediatized Intersections: class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality 7.5 hec
• Media and Death, (open course, apply here!)

Semester 2

• Third Television: TV in the Era of Plenty 7.5 hec
• Media and crime
• War and the Media 7.5 hec
• Faculty Course: Scientific Method and Reseach Ethics (In Swedish)
  Links to The Philospohy Department and the course:
  http://www.philosophy.su.se/utbildning/vetenskaplighet.htm
  http://people.su.se/~snce/vetenskaplighet_eng/index.html

Semester 3

• Faculty course: Academic English for Writing (mandatory) 7.5 hec
• Methodology and Research Methods 15 hec
• Method Project 7.5 hec

Semester 4

• Thesis for the Degree of Master in Media and Communication Studies 30 hec