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Unusual Masters degrees around the world
"But perhaps this is not such a strange degree to hold in an age where everyone and their dog spends an ever increasing amount of time in front of their Gameboy or Playstation?"
So what about media and cultural studies? Two much-derided academic areas, media and cultural studies are now fixtures in the postgraduate prospectuses of such august institutions as Princeton, the London School of Economics and the University of Melbourne. The urban myths related to the study of soap opera and surfing are just that – myths. As a discipline, media studies is important to the development of informed contemporary debate on a wide range of subjects. According to Dr Nick Couldry, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics, “students should study the media because, as virtually all commentators on politics, society and culture agree, media institutions are central to the organisation and presentation of the social world today and we need people going into adult life who have a solid grasp of the complex effects this has on the world is and appears to be”. Postgraduate programmes available in media are many and varied, from Australia to Singapore. What better place to study media than in the heart of Hollywood at the University of California, Los Angeles where a prospective postgraduate student in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media can choose programmes as specific as Animation, Production and Direction and Screenwriting to ease their way into a lucrative behind-the-scenes career in the arena of the large or small screen. Alternatively, like so many, graduates could find themselves as over qualified restaurant hands. Degrees in media studies might seem unusual, but it all depends on where you stand on the issue. Roger Silverstone, author of the 1999 book “Why Study the Media?” encourages all students to think of media studies as the PPE for the late modern world, “students need to study the media precisely because they need to understand the enormous significance of media as intermediaries in every aspect of our private and public lives.”
"Whether a one wants to study close to home or make the increasingly common decision to study overseas, postgraduate study is sure to add something to one’s resume and to one’s intellectual development."
What ever subject a student seeks to pursue at postgraduate level, no matter how obscure, there is bound to be a programme that caters for their interest. Whether a one wants to study close to home or make the increasingly common decision to study overseas, postgraduate study is sure to add something to one’s resume and to one’s intellectual development. Remember, it’s not all about adding skills to enhance one’s employability – some subjects are just simply interesting. Happy studies!
