Journalism, Politics and International Relations (BA)

Our teaching is led by research experts or practitioners in the fields of journalism, media studies, politics, and international relations.

You’ll mostly be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and workshops.

Lectures take a range of forms, but generally provide a broad structure for each subject, introduce key concepts, and convey relevant up-to-date information, equipping you to carry out independent research for the seminars and to develop your own ideas.

Seminars provide an opportunity to ask questions and discuss key ideas in a small group environment. This helps you to integrate the information and ideas you receive from lectures and readings and to explore issues critically and in depth. Seminars may take various formats, including plenary group discussion, small-group work and student-led presentations. Workshops are like seminars, but they tend to involve more structured activities and the involvement of more students and staff.

We offer a supportive learning environment, where you’ll develop and refine a range of skills and a wealth of specialist knowledge. Tutor-led and student-led discussion gives you practice in applying different concepts, theories and methods to the subject-matter at hand. It also exposes you to different interpretations, opinions and perspectives. You’ll develop intellectual skills, such as critical thinking, close analysis, evaluating evidence, constructing arguments, using theory and the effective deployment of language in writing and in debate. We also help you gain experience in team working, independent research and time management.

Our in-person, face-to-face teaching and learning is supported and complemented by various digital tools. Each module makes extensive use of Learning Central, which is the university’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). On Learning Central, you’ll find discussion forums, pre-recorded videos, links to relevant web-based resources, multimedia materials and course materials.

How will I be supported?

You’ll be allocated a personal tutor who will help you reflect on your performance on the programme and advise you on study techniques, module selection and career planning (alongside the University’s careers support). They will also provide a first point of contact if you experience any difficulties. Additionally, all teaching staff keep set office hours when you can meet with them and discuss any learning queries arising from the module or from your studies in general. You can also request a Welsh-speaking personal tutor.

All modules within the programme make extensive use of the University’s Virtual Learning Environment, Learning Central, where you can access discussion forums and find course materials including multimedia materials, presentations, lecture handouts, bibliographies, further links, electronic exercises, discussion groups, etc. You’ll also be able to reflect on your progress and on the skills that you will develop through a section on the University’s Central Learning site called Planning Personal Development.

Within modules, the requirements and expectations of learning and assessment will be explained carefully by the module leader in the class and through supporting materials available on Learning Central. This will include a weekly ‘module map’ to provide detailed instruction of the following week’s learning activities.

Modules include forms of assessment that are designed, in part, to monitor progress and to provide feedback before more substantial assignments later in the module. You’ll receive written feedback on all coursework.

A range of staff are available to provide further support, including a specialist librarian. A member of academic staff acts as a designated Disability and Diversity Officer and ensures that reasonable adjustments are made for students with disabilities.

Additionally, the University offers a range of support services co-located in the Centre for Student Life, including Student Futures (careers advice and guidance), money advice, counselling and wellbeing services, disability and dyslexia support, and student mentoring. You’ll also have access to excellent libraries and resource centres.

Feedback

Assessments are not used solely for marking purposes. They are mainly used to provide advice and written feedback to help you to achieve the learning outcomes on each module and to help explain what is required to improve your work in future. This is known as formative feedback.

Formative feedback helps you to:

• Identify your strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work.
• Address problems identified with targeted strategies for improvement. This is sometimes called ‘feedforward’.

The marking dimension of assessment also has a name: summative assessment. It is summative feedback that contributes to progression and degree classification decisions. The goal of summative assessment is to indicate how well you have succeeded in meeting the intended learning outcomes of a module or programme. All feedback should link to assessment criteria that is readily available for you to consult.

Beyond comments on work submitted (which is sometimes in the form of audio feedback), feedback is also given in seminars, personal tutor meetings, and other learning environments.

How will I be assessed?

A range of assessment methods are used, including essays, examinations, group work, presentations, primary document analysis, policy briefs, portfolios, and creative assignments.

Through a carefully designed teaching programme, you’ll develop your academic study and independent research skills. This is underpinned by bespoke study skills sessions in the first year, specific research training in the second year, and longer research essays, primary research exercises and, if selected, a dissertation in journalism and communications in your final year.

Essays and examinations are used not only for assessment purposes but also testing grounds for gathering, organising, evaluating and deploying relevant information and ideas - from a variety of sources - in reasoned arguments.

The optional final-year dissertation in journalism and communications provides you with the opportunity to investigate a specific topic of interest to you in depth - developing detailed knowledge about the subject matter, using your initiative in the collection and presentation of material, and presenting a clear, cogent argument which draw appropriate conclusions.

What skills will I practise and develop?

The Learning Outcomes for this Programme describe what you will achieve by the end of your programme at Cardiff University and identify the knowledge and skills that you will develop. They will also help you to understand what is expected of you. 
 On successful completion of your Programme, you will be able to:
 

Knowledge & Understanding:

• Understand key concepts and theoretical approaches that have been developed and are developing within Journalism.
• Understand key concepts and theoretical approaches that have been developed and are developing within Journalism.
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of core concepts and theories in both politics and international relations. Examples of these concepts and theories include sovereignty, power, governance, justice, human rights, and diplomacy.
• Analyse the evolution and functions of various political institutions across a range of settings.
• Examine how globalisation and transnational issues (e.g., climate change, migration, terrorism) influence both domestic and international political agendas.
• Demonstrate an understanding of political and policy-making processes and their impacts both within individual states and/or the international relations between states and non-state actors.
• Understand the roles of communication systems, modes of representations, and systems of meaning in the ordering of societies.
• Understand the social, cultural, and political histories from which different media and cultural institutions, modes of communication, practices, and structures have emerged.

Intellectual Skills:

• Put to use a range of IT skills from basic competences such as data analysis and word-processing to more complex skills using web-based technology or multimedia, and develop, as appropriate, specific proficiencies in utilising a range of media technologies.
• Effectively communicate complex international and political concepts and analyses to both specialist and non-specialist audiences through presentations, reports, and/or policy briefs.
• Convey a knowledge of the production processes and professional practices relating to journalism in a variety of contexts and forms.
• Retrieve and generate information, and evaluate sources, in carrying out independent research.
• Demonstrate an awareness of the ethical considerations and challenges faced in political and international relations research and practice.

Transferable/Key Skills:

• Work in flexible, creative and independent ways, showing self-discipline, self-direction, and reflexivity.
• Develop intercultural awareness and communication skills by engaging with diverse political viewpoints and perspectives from around the world.
• Gather, organise, and deploy ideas and information in order to formulate arguments cogently, and express them effectively in written, oral, or other forms.
• Demonstrate adaptability and resilience by responding to changing national and international political environments, and the evolving nature of domestic and global challenges.