The media and creative industries need multi-disciplinary skills, such as the ability to tell a story and turn a creative idea into a sustainable business. Working with world-class media and creativity researchers alongside industry leaders, this course is designed to give you the knowledge, skills and aptitude you need to determine your own path in these diverse and exciting industries that are growing all over the world.
This course will move you through the foundations of theory and practice to focus on developing creative ideas.
Having explored the breadth of the media and creative industries regionally, nationally and globally, you will then be able to follow your creative practice through lab work, collaboration and in response to industry briefs. You will be supported in your outward facing portfolio of creative work. In your second and third years, you will have the opportunity to work closely with the media and creative industries through a placement and residency with an organisation of your choice.
Within the framework of our research-led expertise on media, creativity, communication and cultural production, we offer innovative and dynamic teaching, technology and practice-led learning and assessment, with a strong focus on creativity and collaboration.
The Centre’s vibrant extracurricular culture (alongside Theatre and Performance Studies, Creative Writing, Film and Television and History of Art) means you will be surrounded by many others who share your passion for media and creativity or see themselves managing and leading creative people to pioneer new ways of communicating.
You will emerge from your course more entrepreneurial, more skilled, able to deliver on creative ideas while ensuring you are critical, well-researched and self-reflexive.
Entry requirements
A level typical offer
AAB
Please also see our additional requirements below.
A level contextual offer
We welcome applications from candidates who meet the contextual eligibility criteria and whose predicted grades are close to, or slightly below, the contextual offer level. The typical contextual offer is BBB. See if you're eligible.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
International Baccalaureate (IB) typical offer
34
Please also see our additional requirements below.
International Baccalaureate (IB) contextual offer
We welcome applications from candidates who meet the contextual eligibility criteria and whose predicted grades are close to, or slightly below, the contextual offer level. The typical contextual offer is 30. See if you're eligible.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
BTEC
We welcome applications from students taking BTEC qualifications, either alone or in combination with A levels.
Our typical BTEC offers are as follows:
BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate plus 2 A levels: D* plus AB, or D plus AA
BTEC Level 3 National Diploma plus 1 A level: D*D plus A, or D*D* plus B
BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma: D*D*D
Please also see our additional requirements below.
Scotland Advanced Highers
AA in two Advanced Highers where you have achieved ABB/BBB in three further Highers subjects.
AB in two Advanced Highers where you have achieved AAB in three further Highers subjects.
Welsh Baccalaureate
ABB in three subjects at A level plus grade C in the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales.
Access to Higher Education Diplomas
We will consider applicants returning to study who are presenting a QAA-recognised Access to Higher Education Diploma on a case-by-case basis.
Typically, we require 45 Credits at Level 3, including Distinction in 33 Level 3 credits and Merit in 12 Level 3 Credits. We may also require subject specific credits or an A level to be studied alongside the Access to Higher Education Diploma to fulfil essential subject requirements.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
If your application meets our requirements we will request a Portfolio from you, consisting of creative work, a video and a written answer to a question we set. Having viewed your Portfolio we will make a decision based on this and all other elements of your UCAS application.
We will invite offer holders to a virtual Offer Holder event in Spring.
Warwick may make differential offers to students in certain circumstances, such as those who have participated in a Widening Participation programme or who meet the University’s contextual data criteria. These offers are usually one or two grades below Warwick’s standard offer.
Do you offer foundation programmes?
All students who successfully complete the Warwick International Foundation Programme (IFP) and apply to Warwick through UCAS will receive a guaranteed conditional offer for a related undergraduate programme, for selected courses only. Further details are available in the standard offer and conditions for the IFP.
Can I take a gap year before starting my course?
Yes, Warwick welcomes applications for deferred (gap year) entry.
Will I need to interview for this course?
Warwick does not typically interview applicants. Offers are made based on the UCAS application, including predicted and achieved grades, the personal statement, and the school reference.
Because this course will prepare you for a graduate or freelance career in media, cultural and creative industries in the UK and beyond, it is structured as key steps of development that build upon one another. Core modules have been designed in consultation with industry professionals to develop the skills and ideas they believe will be necessary for creative and media work in the 21st century.
Throughout the whole course you will learn how to create value from your ideas; communicate your passion for media and culture; think critically, creatively, ethically and strategically about cultural values within media, creative and communications projects, industries and contexts.
You will develop the ability to use your knowledge and understanding of creative, cultural and media processes as the basis for the examination of policy and ethical issues through critically informed competencies.
You will learn how to experiment, test, plan, research, develop, distribute, produce and commission creative and cultural work through Media Lab work across all three years; as well as understand the industrial, political, technological and social issues that underpin media and creative processes through Placement, Workplace Study or Residency.
With this course you will have the opportunity in each of the three years to select a module from a number of departments at the university, thus expanding your opportunities for learning from other disciplines.
Note that the module catalogue is subject to change for future years of study, as we evolve our courses in response to the latest developments in academia and industry. If optional modules are listed below, these can vary from year to year.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Optional Modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Indicative module topics include:
In all years you have the opportunity to select optional modules from related Warwick departments such as Sociology, Creative Writing, Theatre and Performance, Film and Television and the Institute of Advanced Teaching and Learning.
Fees and funding
Tuition fee
£9,790
On 26 November 2025, the UK government announced that the tuition fee cap for UK undergraduate students for the 2026-27 academic year would increase to £9,790 from the 2025-26 rate of at £9,535.
Students who qualify for government-regulated fees are classed as ‘Home’ students for fees purposes. In future years, fees for continuing students may be subject to an increase in fees in line with any inflationary uplift as determined by the UK Government (if permitted by law or government policy).
We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.
If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.
You will repay your loan or loans gradually once you are working and earning above a certain amount. For students starting their course after 1 August 2023 (on Student Finance England’s Plan 5), you will repay when your income is over £25,000 a year.
Repayments will be taken directly from your salary if you are an employee. If your income falls below the earnings threshold or you stop working, your repayments will stop until your income goes back up above this figure.
Access thousands of part-time opportunities through our agency UnitempsLink opens in a new window (such as office work, retail jobs or helping at events)
Choose to apply for a job as one of our Student Ambassadors to share your own experience at events like Open Days
There are many different funding routes available, including a number of bursaries and scholarships for full-time undergraduates. If you struggle to meet your essential living costs, our Student Funding team will be on hand to offer advice and support.
Provides additional financial support for qualifying Home students from lower income families of up to £2,500 for eligible students
This bursary is paid directly into your bank account in three equal termly instalments to help with the costs of studying
There is no application for this bursary as your details will be provided directly from the student support awarding bodies (Student Finance England, Student Finance Northern Ireland, and Student Awards Agency Scotland)
A number of scholarship opportunities are open to full-time undergraduate students. These include sporting and musical bursaries, and scholarships offered by commercial organisations.
If you experience financial difficulties during your studies, you may be eligible for Hardship Funding from the University, in the form of an Emergency Loan and/or a non-repayable award
There are no Departmental scholarships available for our Undergraduate courses, however there are other scholarships which you may be eligible for. Please see our scholarships web pages for more information.
Tuition fee
If you are an overseas student enrolling in 2026-27, your annual tuition fees will be as follows:
Band 1 – £27,870 per year (classroom-based courses, including Humanities and most Social Science courses)
Band 2 – £35,530 per year (laboratory-based courses, plus Mathematics, Statistics, Theatre and Performance Studies, Economics, and courses provided by Warwick Business School, with exceptions)
Overseas Tuition fees for 2027-28 academic year have not been set. In future years, fees for continuing students may be subject to an increase in fees in line with an inflationary uplift. Please check our website for updates about 2027-28 fee rates before you apply.
If you are an EU student and eligible for student finance, you may be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your fees, please visit our Student Funding webpage for guidance for students ordinarily resident outside of England.
We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.
If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.
Eligibility for student finance will depend on certain criteria, such as your nationality, residency status, course, and previous level of study. The information below is based on the package of financial support available to students starting their course in 2026.
Eligible European Union (EU) Undergraduates can apply for a loan to help with the cost of Tuition Fees. Eligible EU students who meet additional residency criteria may also be eligible for a loan to assist with living costs.For more information please see Student Finance for Undergraduates - EU StudentsLink opens in a new window.
Access thousands of part-time opportunities through our agency UnitempsLink opens in a new window (such as office work, retail jobs or helping at events)
Choose to apply for a job as one of our Student Ambassadors to share your own experience at events like Open Days
If you are an international student, you may be eligible for financial help from your own government, from the British Council or from other funding agencies. You can usually request information on scholarships from the Ministry of Education in your home country, or from the local British Council office.
A number of scholarship opportunities are open to full-time undergraduate students. These include sporting and musical bursaries, and scholarships offered by commercial organisations.
If you experience financial difficulties during your studies, you may be eligible for Hardship Funding from the University, in the form of an Emergency Loan and/or a non-repayable award.
As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.
Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2025/26 year of study). Information about module specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:
Core text books
Printer credits
Dissertation binding
Robe hire for your degree ceremony
Are there any course specific costs?
For departmental specific costs, please see the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue, where module-related costs are detailed.
Teaching and learning
You will study three core strands across years one, two and three (theory, practice, industry) that prepare you for working in media, cultural and creative industries. These modules build upon each other in preparation for your final year, in which you will immerse yourself in an industry of your choice via the residency and your final project.
You will have the opportunity to be involved in regional and national industries and enterprise, and you will better understand the global flows of media, communication, creativity and culture through exposure to research and practice from around the world.
Teaching and assessment are distinctive and dynamic, hands-on and creative, intellectual and rigorous.
Our seminars, media labs and industry activities are taught in several ways:
Taught classes with between 25 to 45 students
Creative teams with between 4 to 8 students
One-to-one personal tutoring and professional mentoring
Online collaborative learning is a key aspect of creating and generating ideas quickly and collectively.
We are renowned for our ‘family feel’ and ‘open door’ policy, offering tailored tutoring where needed.
Our lab-based work is intensive and practice based. Typically classes run all day in our Media Lab, allowing you to tackle multiple activities and experiment with different media and equipment, supported by the tutors.
Research-based seminars are typically three hours once per week.
Industry-led activities include taught sessions and a placement and residency in your second and third year.
Modules may be augmented with guest speakers, evening work, screenings, workshops or other kinds of online and offline learning opportunities.
Assessment varies across modules and seeks to break down the boundaries between theory and practice. For example, subject specific skills and knowledge are delivered through practical modules Media Lab 1 and Media and Creative Industry Case Study and in research based modules Media, Culture and Creative Industries and Thinking Culture and Creativity.
You are initially taught to demonstrate these skills and techniques individually and in teams and then produce your own research on your individual assignments (reports, case studies, essays and research papers) or in group assignments.
You will learn to manage your own time independently and then subsequently in groups to complete projects that demonstrate a collaborative working practice to reflect the media and creative industries.
You are expected to apply a broad range of aspects or competencies to complex briefs, some of which will be proposed as live briefs by external clients.
Learning for employability will be found in the Media and Creative Industries Case Study, Placement and Residency.
Research and practice-informed learning and teaching can be found in Media Lab 1 and 2.
Moreover, you are required to produce academic analysis and research in the written work for modules focused on the latest research on creativity and media industries, as well as the written components of option modules chosen from other departments.
The latter will allow you to further demonstrate the ability to evaluate and criticise received practices and opinions.
STUDYABROADINFO
Careers
This innovative degree is designed to open a wide range of career opportunities in the media and creative industries.
At time of writing our first cohort of graduates (2020-2023) are entering the workplace, with over 80% currently progressing in media and creative careers. Previously, postgraduates from the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies have gone onto work in the following:
Art galleries
Audience development
Digital archives
Events
Festivals
Film and TV distribution
Freelance creative or media production
Global media and communication
Heritage commissioning art and cultural work
Media buying, marketing, planning, policy work, research, and tech start-ups
Museums
NGO, corporate or government communications
PR
Project management
Social media business and analytics
User experience and web development
Outside of media industries, graduate opportunities can be found in design, marketing, user experience, the services sector and manufacturing industries.
Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant. They offer impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year.
Our Student Opportunity (Careers) department offer a wide range of workshops, from developing confidence and interview techniques to learning how to articulate what you have to offer in order to impress potential employers. Online resources are also available, including training in drafting CVs and covering letters, practice aptitude and psychometric tests, practice online interviews, and other resources to help you research job opportunities. The myAdvantage databaseLink opens in a new window also advertises job, placement and internship vacancies that are from employers who are targeting Warwick students for their recruitment.
All modules have embedded employability skills as the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies has decades of experience and connections with media, cultural and creative industries.
The course offers industry-ready strand of learning, teaching and assessment through the required core Industry modules.
Placements will be negotiated with media, cultural and creative industries through the networks the Centre has cultivated. Each placement, client brief or industry study will be developed over years two and three on a case-by-case and bespoke basis, depending on your interests and ambitions.
For example, you may wish to explore:
Technology, software companies and social media platforms
Broadcast, film and animation
Advertising, PR and Marketing
Archives, museum and heritage
Games and e-sports
Arts, creative and cultural organisations
Life at Warwick
This is where your journey begins. Our campus is the heart of it all. It’s more than just a campus - it's the places you visit, the people you meet, the fun that you have; the experiences you have here will be transformative.
Within a close-knit community of staff and students from all over the world, discover a campus alive with possibilities.
Our campus is where all the elements of your student experience come together in one place. You won't be short of ways to spend your time on campus - whether it's visiting Warwick Arts Centre, using our incredible sports facilities, socialising in our bars, nightclub and cafés, or enjoying an open-air event. Or if you need some peace and quiet, you can explore lakes, woodland and green spaces just a few minutes’ walk from central campus
Follow our students around campus on our social channels to see their experiences first-hand.
Teaching facilities
Our campus is designed to cater for all of your learning needs. You will benefit from a variety of flexible, well-equipped study spaces and teaching facilities across the University.
Oculus, our outstanding learning hub, houses state-of-the-art lecture theatres and innovative social learning and network areas
Different study spaces offering you flexible individual and group study spaces, computers, printing and scanning facilities, multimedia resources and more
Supporting you
Our continuous support network is here to help you adjust to student life and to ensure you can easily access advice on many different issues. These may include managing your finances and workload, and settling into shared accommodation. We also have specialist disability and mental health support teams.
Whether you live in a campus residence or in partnership accommodation off campus, you’ll be part of a community to get the most from your experience at Warwick.
Societies and sports play a huge part in community life at Warwick. With over 300 to choose from, getting involved is one of the easiest ways to make friends and share in experiences. Whether you’re into films, martial arts, astronomy, gaming or musical theatre, you can instantly connect with people with similar interests.
Your university experience is defined by far more than your course or the career path you follow. At Warwick, it’s where you discover who you could become.
74th
Warwick is ranked 74th in the world and top 10 in all major UK league tables
Our alumni community still call Warwick home. From a few hundred in 1965 to more than 310,000 alumni, and it's ever-growing.
As Warwick graduates, our students have access to employability support for two years after graduation, including access to careers appointments, job vacancies and professional networks.
of expertise in the research and teaching of creative, media and cultural industries
Pioneering
New research in cultural and media policy, creativity, climate change, arts and enterprise and more
Challenge the status quo. Create new work, discover your passions, and take your ideas and values forward.
Our course is based on research-led theory, practice and industry collaboration. You will develop strong media production skills by managing creative projects. Discover how to influence audiences, tell great stories and make inspirational content. By the end of the course, you'll be confident and ready to work in creative industries.
The department recently moved into our Faculty of Arts Building.
As an Arts student at Warwick you’ll find your home amongst excellent teaching, learning and social spaces, including specialist facilities, all designed to support collaborative working and to enable your creativity and innovation to flourish.
The sustainably built, eight-storey building is located next to the refurbished Warwick Arts CentreLink opens in a new window in the heart of the University’s creative and cultural arts quarter.
This information is applicable for 2027 entry. Given the interval between the publication of courses and enrolment, some of the information may change. It is important to check our website before you apply. Please read our web page 'Important information to consider before making an application' in advance of applying to Warwick.
Next steps
Experience campus at an Open Day. Can't visit? Receive regular email updates or ask current students and staff questions about life at Warwick.
