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Undergraduate

Creative and Cultural Industries - BA (Hons)

This BA (Hons) Creative and Cultural Industries course will give you the expertise to succeed in a wide variety of careers. You will learn about the creative and cultural industries landscape and develop the critical thinking and content creation skills that will set you up for a career in the exciting and thriving creative and cultural sectors.

Creativity and culture play a vital role in our daily lives. Each day we engage in, or with, creativity and culture in some regard – uploading content to social media, going to the theatre, watching a TV show, attending a festival, or visiting a museum or gallery. Somewhere, at some point, a team of people conceived, produced, managed, and shared that creativity for us to experience. These people work in the creative and cultural industries.

This course will encourage you to think critically about creativity and culture – what it is, and how, when, where and why it is produced and consumed. It will provide you with an in-depth understanding of the creative and cultural sectors and how they are shaped by other factors – such as technology, economics, cultural shifts, and crisis. With creative production and industry engagement intrinsic to the course, it will provide you with the industry networks and knowledge and practical creative production skills you need to become one of the creative leaders and producers of the future.

NB This course is subject to validation, and the course content on this page will be updated after validation.

BA (Hons) Creative and Cultural Industries Film

Why QMU?

Preparing you for your career: The course offers not only a unique opportunity to study the forces that shape the creative and cultural industries, but also to develop the practical creative skills to help you carve out a career in the creative workplace.
Industry-networked learning: The course team is closely connected to the sectors and industry, ensuring our students are known to the creative leaders in the workplace. Throughout the degree students will hear from visiting industry guest speakers, work on client briefs, embark on field trips, attend networking events, and have the opportunity to conduct a fourth-year placement within a creative or cultural organisation.
Become a digital content creator: In each level of the course, you can engage with digital learning and production to ensure that you have practical skills in creative production, and solid understanding of how fundamental digital is to the creative industries.
Superb facilities for learning and teaching: You’ll learn in our superb specialist on-campus facilities including digital editing suites
Hone your entrepreneurial skills: Students have access to the University's Business Innovation Zone and many of our students have gone on to create their own creative businesses.
High ranking: QMU is ranked in the top 6 of Scottish higher education institutions for Media in the Guardian University Guide 2024.

Creative and Cultural Industries - BA (Hons): The course in brief

On this course you will:

build your industry network and knowledge through networking events, client-based assessments, field trips, industry speakers, and an optional industry placement with a creative business or cultural organisation for your final project;
develop real-world technical skills in creative and digital production, teamwork, academic research, leadership, project management and a variety of forms of communication;
explore careers and roles across the vastly diverse creative and cultural industry landscape, developing acute awareness of the challenges and opportunities faced across the various sectors; and
build a portfolio of creative content you have produced throughout your degree which could include short films, podcasts, scripts, press releases, social media campaign content, infographics or apps.

How will I be taught?

Structure

All students enroll onto the honours degree, but you can choose to exit with an ordinary degree after three years.

Teaching, learning and assessment.

You will be taught in lectures, seminars and in practical workshops. You will be assessed in a wide array of ways across the course, including presentations, case studies, podcasts, blogs, videos, essays, video essays and some written exams.

Placement

You will complete a four-week or 150-hour placement either in the summer vacation between Years Three and Four or in Year Four alongside other modules. Students are responsible for sourcing a placement host organisation and this can be in the UK or abroad. To help with the process, we hold a speed interview event to match hosts offering placements with students. The placement is unpaid although some hosts pay a wage and others cover travel and subsistence. We are able to help students find placements in many sectors including theatre, festivals, local and national charities, Scottish Government, and film companies, as well as marketing agencies. We keep in touch with our former students and many are keen to support our placement scheme having benefitted from this themselves while they were studying with us.

Facilities

We have superb on-campus resources, and media production equipment, including a recently-upgraded film editing suite and dedicated production and photography area equipped with a green screen and on-site lighting equipment, plus a fully equipped studio theatre and construction workshop.

Our students have access to a wealth of cameras, audio recording equipment and other related filmmaking equipment for both their studies, and extra-curricular pursuits. This includes access to Adobe’s Creative suite of programmes, including Premiere Pro, Photoshop, After Effects and Audition.*

*subject to availability and agreement with our technician staff.

You will have access to our on-campus Business Gateway and Business Innovation Zone (BIZ) that together provide business incubation spaces for student-led or graduate-led start-up companies and offer: desk space, a QMU business address, meeting facilities, ad-hoc rehearsal space and editing facilities, Business Gateway support and advice, a profile for your company on the QMU website, support with marketing materials and access to entrepreneurial networks within QMU and other universities (including Enterprise Campus, Scottish Institute for Enterprise, Sporting Chance and Converge Challenge).

Exchange opportunities

Studying abroad through our exchange programme can be one of the most exciting and rewarding challenges for a student to experience. The opportunity to travel and live in another country, learn different customs and traditions, meet new people and future career draws many students into the exchange programme. In Year Three you have the opportunity (subject to availability) to study for one semester at a university overseas. Please visit the Exchanges and Study Abroad pages for more information.

Teaching staff, class sizes and timetables

You can read more about the teaching staff on this course at the bottom of this page. Please note that the teaching staff is subject to change.

For more information, please also visit ‘How we teach and how you’ll learn’.

What will I learn each year?

Year One

You will:

explore the concepts of creativity and culture and their meaning, value, and function in society;
learn the basic principles of different forms of creative production; video (editing, framing, composition, lighting, and story), photography, and digital media content; and
develop your knowledge and understanding of the diverse range of sectors that sit within the broader creative and cultural industries.

Modules

Introduction to Creativity and Culture
Media Production: Skills and Techniques
Introduction to Theatre Production
Media, Culture and Communication Industries
Media Analysis
Creative Production: Digital Content Creation

Year Two

You will:

develop your knowledge and understanding of how creativity and technology intersect and think critically about how technology has reshaped cultural participation, experience, and consumption;
strengthen your creative production skills and develop more complex stories in your creative practice; and
apply your skills to real-world situations with our Digital Communication Campaigning module, where you will develop a digital strategy for a media project for a business or charity.

Modules

Creativity and Technology
Digital Communication Campaigning
Contemporary Scottish Theatre in Context
Media, Culture and Politics
Media Production: Podcasting
Digital Marketing and eCommerce Management

Year Three

You will:

learn important research skills to prepare you for Year Four and life beyond university;
develop a plan for your post-university creative career and understand working in the creative industries;
choose specialist options in, for example, film festivals, communication, arts and activism, screenwriting, photography, or writing for radio; and
have the opportunity (subject to availability) to study for one semester at a university overseas. For more information, visit Exchanges and Study Abroad.

Modules

Working in the Film, Media, and Communications Sectors
Fundraising in the Creative and Cultural Industries
Creative Production: Podcasting
Project Managing a Live Event
Designing a Research project
Plus, two options

Year Four

You will:

choose further specialist options in, for example, film festivals, communication, arts and activism, screenwriting, photography, or writing for radio;
develop your understanding of creative and cultural management and the business side of the creative and cultural industries, gaining skills in project planning and management, marketing, leadership, as well as the financial side of the creative and cultural industries; and
complete a placement with a cultural organisation or creative business.
complete a written or creative production dissertation. Creative production dissertations can be in photography, script, or video essay.

Modules

Dissertation
Placement
The Business of Creativity
Plus, one option

Year Three and Four options may include:

Advanced Theatre Production
Communication, Arts and Activism
Experiential Learning Placement
Film and the Family
Film Festivals
Photography and Visual Culture
Photography Practice
Playwriting
Popular Music
Radio and Audio Media
Reputation Issues and Crisis Management
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
Screenwriting
Site-specific Performance
Student Initiated Module
The Only Way is Ethics
The Video Essay
Video Production

NB The modules listed here are correct at time of posting (Feb 2024) but may differ slightly to those offered in 2025. Please check back here for any updates.

Careers

QMU has specialised in providing courses in the area of media and communications for many years. Our graduates are highly employable and much sought after, and currently are making names for themselves in film and television production, media research, PhD and academic research, public relations, marketing, advertising, arts and cultural management.

As a graduate of this new course, which has been developed to reflect current and future trends, you will be ready to start an exciting career in the modern creative and cultural industries. You will be armed with a host of knowledge and skills. You will graduate as a critical maker and consumer of creative content, with project management experience. You will be technically competent in digital content creation, with well-rounded practical skills.

Example careers from this degree may include arts marketers, theatre managers, festival curators or programmers, sales agents or distributors, policy advisors, cultural leaders, museum or gallery managers, fundraisers, and audience data consultants.

Creative and Cultural Industries - BA (Hons): Entry requirements and application information

Entry requirements

Scottish Higher: Standard - BBBB, Minimum - BBCC

A Level: BCC

Irish Leaving Certificate: H2 H2 H3 H3

International Baccalaureate: 28 points

International: IELTS of 6.0 with no element lower than 5.5

Required subjects: English, Media Studies, or Film Studies preferred at Higher/A level or equivalent. English required and Maths preferred at Nat 5/GCSE. We can also accept National 5 Application of Maths or Lifeskills at the same grade.

Am I a Widening Access student?: We apply the minimum entry criteria to applicants who meet one or more contextual factor. To see if this would apply to you, please refer to the access and application page.

Mature/Access: We welcome applications from mature students with relevant qualifications and/or experience. Visit our College Leavers and Mature Students Advice page for more information.

Direct Entry:

Year Two

HNC in a related subject with B in the graded unit
Scottish Higher: BC at Advanced Higher in relevant subjects plus BB at Higher
A Level: BBB in relevant subjects

Year Three

Not available for this course. It is available for the BA/BA (Hons) Media and Communication.

For details of related HNC and HND courses, visit our College Leavers and Mature Students Advice page.

Other costs

The additional costs associated with placement travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the student. Students who receive SAAS funding may be able to claim for some of these expenses to be reimbursed.

Disability/health conditions

If you have a disability, long-term physical or mental health condition, or learning disability, it should not stand in the way of your studying at QMU. However, if you are not sure whether your disability might be a barrier in your studies or in relation to the professional standards, please contact the disability service who will be able to have a conversation with you about reasonable adjustments and supports available to you.

Terms and Conditions

The delivery of this course is subject to the terms and conditions set out in our 2025/26 Entry Terms and Conditions (Undergraduate).
The course information on this page is correct at the time of posting (Feb 2024) but may differ slightly for 2025 entry. Please check back here for updates.