The National University of Ireland, Maynooth MA in Critical and Creative Media
The National University of Ireland, Maynooth

The National University of Ireland, Maynooth

MA in Critical and Creative Media

Maynooth, Ireland

MA

1 year

English

Full time

EUR 16,000 / per year *

On-Campus

* non-EU students | EUR 7,550 - EU students

Key Summary

    About : The MA in Critical and Creative Media offers a comprehensive exploration of media practices with a focus on developing critical thinking and creative skills. Students engage with contemporary media issues and develop practical knowledge in various media formats. The program is designed to enhance both theoretical and practical understanding of media's role in society over a one-year full-time or two-year part-time study period.
    Career Outcomes : Graduates may pursue roles in diverse fields such as media production, journalism, public relations, content creation, and media consultancy. Skills gained in critical analysis and creativity open avenues in both traditional media and emerging digital platforms.

This one-year (full-time) MA advances practical, research and analytical thinking skills while deepening creative and theoretical engagement with media of all kinds. The programme combines critical thinking and cutting-edge creative practice to tackle the challenging environment of contemporary media industries. It develops a wide range of theoretical and practical approaches across several media forms including film, interactive media, print, broadcast TV and radio. It situates these media in their historic and social contexts, examining how people engage with them, their economic infrastructures and technological forms, alongside hands-on practical engagement with media tools.

The programme’s flexible structure also allows you to build a degree that suits you.

Students can follow one of our 3 pathways: Creative Media; Society and Justice; History and Culture, or a programme of their own design. The programme also allows students to pursue their own interests by taking related modules from across a range of subjects available at Maynooth University. Finally, students can choose between a final dissertation or a creative project based on where they want the MA to take them.

Course Structure

The compulsory module Critical and Creative Media Research, lays the foundation for the programme in semester one, building key skills for developing a research project. This is followed by a second compulsory module Media Theory in the second semester which provides the theoretical spine that underpins the subject. Together, these modules set students up for the final dissertation or project.

All other modules during semesters one and two are electives. Students have the freedom to choose individual routes through the programme by selecting from our range of modules or by following one of our 3 pathways: Creative Media, Society and Justice, and History and Culture. Students may also take a number of media-related modules from across a range of other subjects available at Maynooth University.

The MA programme culminates with a supervised individual project that may assume a variety of forms, from a scholarly essay to an empirical study to a practice-based project, where creative outcomes are contextualised and framed theoretically. A postgraduate diploma is available to students who do not wish to complete the final dissertation/project.

Course Duration: 1-year programme full-time