BA (Hons) Global Development with Media with a Year Abroad

Course Overview

This course is closing after 2024, however, most of the content covered on the course will be available to students taking our BA Global Development course from September 2025.

Immerse yourself in the worlds of media, communication, and international development, and study the complex relationship between them.

Discover the ways charities and other development organisations communicate about poverty, inequality, conflict and migration. Explore why some humanitarian crises and disasters make it onto our TV screens and others don’t and what effect this has on public attitudes and government policy.

You’ll also ask: how important is press freedom in promoting democracy and tackling poverty? What is the impact of digital media in developing countries? Do Facebook and Twitter encourage political participation, or do they undermine citizens' genuine engagement with politics?

These are just some of the important questions and issues you’ll explore on our BA Global Development with Media course.

Please note we are changing our name to the School of Global Development from 1 August 2023, as we mark our 50th Anniversary.

This innovative course combines a strong interdisciplinary foundation with a specialist media lens in the study of global development. You’ll take core modules that seek to understand critical contemporary issues through the lens of media and communication – including poverty, inequality, migration, democracy and protest – focusing specifically on the complex relationship between media, communication and development. You’ll also gain practical experience in media production in your final year, learning key skills – from planning, interview techniques, camera work, lighting, sound recording and editing – culminating in the production of a short film or documentary.

In addition to this media focus, you’ll gain a broad grounding in the key issues, organisations and practices of development, fusing insights from media and communication with those from across the social sciences, including economics, environmental sciences, geography, anthropology, and politics. You can develop your understanding of particular regions in the world, through area modules relating to sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, or Latin America, and you can pursue your emerging interests in other aspects and perspectives of development.

In your third year, you’ll study abroad at one of our partner Universities, taking courses that complement what you are studying in the School.The result is an extremely flexible degree programme that you can tailor to suit your particular interests, and that allows you to combine an interdisciplinary foundation with your niche specialism.

By studying with us, you’ll join our close-knit academic community, made up of experts from across multiple disciplines, all housed within the School of International Development. As such, you’ll not only learn from our world-renowned media experts within the school, but you can benefit from a truly vibrant, interdisciplinary environment.

We are amongst the best in the world for researching, teaching, and practicing development. Come and study with us and help us to create a fairer world.

Entry Requirements

If you do not meet the academic requirements for direct entry, you may be interested in one of our Foundation Year programmes such as:

BA Geography and International Development with a Foundation Year

BA International Development with a Foundation Year

UEA are committed to ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all, regardless of their background or experiences. One of the ways we do this is through our contextual admissions schemes.

We welcome and value a wide range of alternative qualifications. If you have a qualification which is not listed here, or are taking a combination of qualifications, please contact us via Admissions Enquiries.

International Requirements

We accept many international qualifications for entry to this course. View our International Students pages for specific information about your country.

INTO UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA 

If you do not meet the academic and/or English requirements for direct entry our partner, INTO University of East Anglia offers guaranteed progression on to this undergraduate degree upon successful completion of a preparation programme. Depending on your interests, and your qualifications you can take a variety of routes to this degree: 

International Foundation in Pharmacy Health and Life Science (for Year 1 entry to UEA) 

International Foundation in Mathematics and Actuarial Sciences (for Year 1 entry to UEA) 

International Foundation in Physical Sciences and Engineering (for Year 1 entry to UEA) 

International Foundation in Business Economics Society and Culture (for Year 1 entry to UEA) 

International Foundation in Humanities and Law (for Year 1 entry to UEA) 

International Year One in Global Development with Media (for Year 2 entry to UEA) 

Admissions Policy

Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all undergraduate applicants.

Employability

You’ll graduate with knowledge and skills valued by a vast range of organisations related to global development. These include government agencies, the United Nations, private sector companies, consultancy firms, and the many hundreds of large and small non-government organisations that focus on development and humanitarian work.

Many of our alumni have also gone to work in the media, in marketing, journalism, advocacy and fundraising. Recent graduates have become freelance film-makers, photographers and travel writers and even set up their own production companies.

You could pursue numerous career paths combining both media and global development such as charity fundraising, media freedom advocacy, humanitarian communication and media support.

Or you could use the academic and transferable skills gained from our degrees for careers in business, the voluntary and public sector, education, and academia.

A degree at UEA will prepare you for a wide variety of careers. We've been ranked 1st for Job Prospects by StudentCrowd in 2022.

Example of careers that you could enter include:

• Charities and NGOs

• Development journalism

• International organisations

• Media organisations

• Marketing and Communications

• Travel writer

Discover more on our Careers webpages.