BA (Hons) Digital Media and Content Creation with foundation year
Course Overview
The way we consume media is changing. Traditional broadcasters and production companies are evolving as audiences flock to new platforms, including social media. Businesses look to use innovative digital content in their marketing and communications to entice consumers to interact with products and services in new ways. Digital media professionals who can creatively engage audiences in online and digital spaces are in demand. The University of Bolton's BA (Hons) Digital Media and Content Creation with foundation year course is a dynamic, forward-thinking degree designed to prepare you for employment in the rapidly evolving digital and creative economy.The foundation year allows you to discover and strengthen research, design, practical and communication skills that are essential for success as you study Digital Media and Content Creation. You'll explore an array of core techniques relating to the creative arts industries, including drawing, painting, sculpting, and finishing techniques, investigating both traditional and digital technologies. The foundation year also aims to build your confidence in academic skills such as literature searching, academic referencing and written and oral communication techniques.
Throughout this degree, we aim to future-proof your career in this exciting sector. We offer you up-to-date knowledge for today's creative industries, as well as lifelong learning skills that will help you stay abreast of innovations and new technologies moving forward. Our expert team will guide you as you develop a secure grounding in media production, web and mobile media design, graphic design, pre and post-production, photography and copywriting. We'll encourage you to develop critical thinking skills and explore trend forecasting, branding and data analytics.
Live briefs, guest lectures, and specialist modules will help you gain experience in a range of creative technologies and develop the essential digital skills you'll need to create innovative and engaging digital media. Our goal is to equip you to design and produce digital content for a wide range of settings and to develop your own exciting and innovative work. We'll also help you gain transferable skills such as resilience, adaptability, and teamwork that are highly attractive to employers.
This practical, industry-focused, and design-led degree focuses on designing, writing, filming, editing and publishing digital media. Our expert team will combine concepts, techniques and knowledge from the fields of digital media, film and TV production, photography, graphic design, web design and visual effects, helping you build the relevant skills to design and realise in-demand and innovative digital media and content creation.
Highlights
- This hands-on, interdisciplinary course allows you to explore a wide range of traditional media and digital technologies and platforms, offering you an extensive toolkit to draw from when you create digital content.
- You'll have access to the University of Bolton's excellent media, design and technology facilities, including a film and audio suite, a visual effects studio with an infinity curve green screen, graphics and animation suites, and fully equipped media and photography studios.
- Our dedicated team will guide you to explore digital and convergence cultures, including audience development, social identity and branding, and delivery platforms.
- We'll encourage you to experiment and apply your skills in innovative and novel ways, crossing the boundaries between traditional media and emerging digital activities.
- You'll work with a wide range of specialist staff members who possess professional experience from across the media and digital arts.
Key Features
- You'll have opportunities to make professional and industry connections throughout your studies.
- We offer opportunities to work from live briefs throughout the programme, giving you the chance to connect with industry partners in the sector.
- We'll help you gain technical skills in media production, photography, graphic design, animation, and data analytics.
- This course encompasses the crafts of storytelling, narrative, branding and copywriting so you can learn to create exciting digital content that engages your intended audience.
- We'll encourage and support you in building a portfolio of work representing the projects and tasks you've completed during your studies, ready to impress potential employers.
- By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Manchester, one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, is less than 20 minutes away by train. Not forgetting, the North West of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline and heritage. This makes Bolton an ideal base from which to explore some of the best cultural and outdoor activities the UK offers.
Entry Requirements
- 48 points
- Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3. Creative subjects are strongly preferred.
- You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent), including English.
- You'll be required to attend an interview and provide a portfolio of appropriate work. Your portfolio should demonstrate your skills in a range of relevant creative media and styles.
- The quality of the portfolio/interview is the primary basis on which applicants are selected; therefore, special consideration will be given to applicants without the above qualifications who have a strong portfolio. Relevant work or voluntary experience will also be considered. In these cases, we may ask applicants to undertake additional assessments to determine their suitability for the course.
- If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.
Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
Career Opportunities
The University of Bolton is well-established as a provider of education across the spectrum of design, media, and creative technologies, so we're ideally placed to offer degree-level studies in digital content creation.
Entertainment and technology are co-evolving, with changes in one driving innovation in the other. The exponential growth in new media platforms, including social media, has changed how media content is created and shared. Audiences demand high-quality, innovative digital content on phones, tablets, and audio formats like podcasts. Our BA (Hons) Digital Media and Content Creation degree offers you skills in digital storytelling, developed through a vibrant mix of training in traditional media production, graphics and user experience design. As a graduate of this forward-thinking degree, you'll be ready to create digital content for the myriad of public and private sector organisations looking to interact with clients and service users creatively through online and digital spaces.
During the course, you can also expect to develop a wide range of technical, professional and interpersonal skills, such as attention to detail, teamwork, communication, time management, problem-solving and lifelong learning. Overall, you'll be well-prepared for a career in the creative industries, working for an employer, on commission, as an independent artist producing your own work.
What can I do with this qualification?
After graduation, you'll be well-placed to seek roles such as digital content creator, videographer, digital designer, digital copywriter, and creative director/producer. You'll likely also find opportunities in social media content creation and strategy, as well as in advertising, brand management and digital campaign management. Depending on your interests, you might also pursue roles in art direction and website design.
You'll also be ready to progress to postgraduate-level studies to develop your expertise and professional practice further. The University of Bolton offers a range of master's degrees in the arts, creative technologies, and business fields that can enhance your career prospects and job satisfaction.
Alternative career options
Graduates can use the qualification as a stepping-stone into a range of other careers. For some of these roles, relevant experience and/or postgraduate study may be required. They include:
- Communications and marketing
- Film production
- Journalism
- Theatre production
- Creative design
- Teaching
- Publishing
- Visual effects
- Games design
- Arts administration
- Research and development
- Public relations
Fees & Funding
Home/EU Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
International Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2024-25 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.
How to apply
Home Applicants
Course application details are unavailable at present
International Applicants
Course application details are unavailable at present
Partner Organisation Applicants
Option currently unavailable.
Teaching & Assessment
Much of the work involved in this course centres on practical projects. We'll expect you to create different types of content, as well as write essays, presentations and pitches. Some online course activities are student-generated and controlled to resemble the creative industries' practices you're likely to encounter.
We emphasise group work, activity-based assignments, workshops, demonstrations, projects, and guided independent study. Some modules are delivered in a more conventional way through classes, lectures, and presentations. You'll be taught by tutors who have extensive industry experience and by specialist guest lecturers.
We'll also expect you to devote significant time to independent study, assisted by our online resources. Assignments will require time outside of lessons to complete. Work-based learning is a vital element of the course. Completing industry briefs and professional-quality work helps ensure you are ready for employment when you graduate.
There are no examinations. All assessment is through coursework. You can expect formative evaluation to help you learn and develop your knowledge and skills and summative assessment, on which you'll be graded. Your summative assessment briefs will contain tasks such as creating digital content for a range of platforms and screen media, writing essays and reports, writing scripts and outlines, giving presentations and pitches, carrying out practical exercises and working on client-led projects/live briefs.
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
