uel.ac.uk/adi
Push boundaries and maximise your academic and creative potential
School of Arts and Digital Industries
Humanities and Creative Industries
Courses: Advertising Creative & Professional Writing English Literature History Journalism Sports Journalism Urban Cultures
Welcome The School of Arts and Digital Industries at the University of East London is a forward thinking School in the thriving artistic, cultural hot bed of east London. The School has a great breadth of academic activity from a wide variety of disciplines which will provide a unique flavour to your experiences at UEL. Our academic staff create a diverse and innovative learning environment that will not only challenge you, but also expose you to a rich diversity of culture and experiences. The School is supported by excellent technical and administrative support staff and programmes are taught in purpose-built facilities to ensure you have a full suite of resources available to you throughout your study. The School is committed to maintaining high standards in all areas. We have excellent engagement with industry, and cultural and community organisations across London and beyond. You will be able to develop your creative skills, collaborate across disciplines, have access to exciting projects and work placements and complete a qualification that will offer you great employment opportunities for the future.
Simon Robertshaw Dean of the School of Arts and Digital Industries
Humanit Creative Humanities and Creative Industries courses cover a broad range of disciplines which seek to provide an intellectually challenging environment. Our courses encourage an interdisciplinary approach and engage students in critical analysis and practice. We have an outstanding track record for student satisfaction, with four of our BA courses achieving 100% overall satisfaction in the National Student Survey (NSS) over the last three years. Courses in the subject area are closely aligned to industry and the cultural sectors, and we have an exciting roster of guest speakers; recent talks and workshops have included Mark Frith (former editor of Smash Hits, Time Out and currently working at Time); Siobhan Breatnach, editor of the Irish Post; Nathalie Malinarich, Head of BBC mobile, Ellen White, England footballer and BT Sport analyst; Matt Tench, former editor of FourFourTwo; and Lisa Markwell, editor of the Independent on Sunday.
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Our academic team are internationally renowned scholars, active researchers and experienced professional practitioners as well as staff with emerging profiles in research and practice. We work alongside an exciting range of cultural and creative sector partners and have close links with employers and leading organisations across the arts, cultural and creative industries. Students engage in work-based learning projects, and undertake work experience placements. Students have access to a huge range of resources which include studios, exhibition areas, printmaking workshops, a multimedia production centre and a writing centre. We support students to push boundaries and maximise academic and creative potential so that they are prepared for a rewarding working life in the cultural and creative industries.
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Undergraduate courses
Our undergraduate humanities and creative industries courses at the University of East London are enriched by international networks and professional teaching staff who encourage you to develop your passion and skills and prepare you for your future career.
Humanities and Creative Industries degrees with foundation years
BA (Hons) Advertising UCAS code: N561 / Points: 112
Foundation year degrees offer an alternative route into higher education for students who do not have the traditional qualifications to start an undergraduate degree, but who wish to progress onto study at BA level in visually creative areas. These include advertising, creative and professional writing, English literature, history, journalism and sports journalism.
Advertising at UEL combines industry practice-based modules with media production and theoretical learning, to offer a comprehensive approach to the study of contemporary advertising and promotional culture. Students receive extensive instruction in photography, digital and social media, together with theoretical examinations of psychology, identity, lifestyle, and social experience in media and consumer culture. The programme embeds key employability skills within the teaching curriculum, for example through placement, working to assigned briefs and conducting consumer research. By combining industry experience, media production skills and theory, the advertising degree provides an excellent springboard for a range of careers in the global creative and promotional industries.
The course offers you broad experience across this range of creative disciplines, and combines the ambitions of a foundation course with the opportunity to progress directly onto the first year of a of a Bachelor’s degree following successful completion of the Foundation year. Courses are taught by practicing artists, designers and architects who are abreast of contemporary developments in their fields. The dedicated Foundation Degrees Studio is located in the AVA (Architecture and the Visual Arts) Building, which also houses the BA courses and a full range of workshops that are available to students.
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With foundation year: UCAS code: N564 / Points: 72
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BA (Hons) Creative and Professional Writing UCAS code: W800 / Points: 112 The Creative and Professional writing programme aims to break down the barriers between traditional ways of looking at ‘genre’ in writing and allows students to experiment with a variety of genres and media forms. The programme tutors stress the importance of experimenting with verse/fiction/drama and different media to develop new forms and new representations. Tutors are dedicated to developing students’ writing skills, along with enhancing their understanding and experience of the professional writing world, and have themselves achieved excellence as writers and teachers. Students also draw on the expertise of award winning novelists, professional scriptwriters, internationally-published poets, and cutting-edge critics, they gain valuable insights from guest lectures by visiting writing professionals, feedback and advice from Royal Literary Fund fellows, and have opportunities to publish work and learn about editing by contributing to the online student e-zine UNBOUND (unboundonline. co.uk). The course stimulates writing through varied readings, small-group workshops, lectures,
directed creative assignments, and insightful feedback and guidance. Students are encouraged to find their own paths as writers. With foundation year: UCAS code: W801 / Points: 72
BA (Hons) English Literature UCAS code: Q200 / Points: 120 There are many ways to study and understand the world – how it works, why it looks the way it does, ways in which it might be changed – and literature is one of the best and most rewarding ways to do that. The BA (Hons) English Literature offers the chance to study poetry, novels, drama and short stories from a range of historical periods and national traditions. Our purpose is to teach literature with energy and imagination, to inspire students to read perceptively, think critically and write clearly. The programme provides a strong foundation in British literature, beginning in the early modern period and moving through to contemporary writing, along with the opportunity to study thematic modules. The programme develops a range of transferable skills that employers value: students of literature become skilled critical thinkers and fluent
writers who understand how to locate, evaluate and communicate information. They can work independently and collaboratively, and they possess the capacity to understand and communicate complex ideas clearly and persuasively.
BA (Hons) History UCAS code: V100 / Points: 112 Our History BA (Hons) encompasses five centuries of British, European and global history and we use London’s archives and museums to study London as a global, multicultural city. Incorporating social, cultural and political history, we teach you about key events and movements, and how ordinary people experienced them. As well as teaching the traditional skills of historical research, critical thinking and assessing evidence that make history such a highly valued degree, we also engage with historical practice in the digital age. For example you will learn to interrogate historical databases, professionally record and edit oral history interviews and publish historical research online for a world-wide audience. With foundation year: UCAS code: V101 / Points: 72
BA (Hons) Journalism UCAS code: P500 / Points: 112 Students train to become journalists by reporting on east London and its international connections. Journalism staff act as mentors, commissioners and editors, working together with students on outward-facing publications such as Rising East: London on the move. Individual students are also encouraged to develop their own entrepreneurial projects, with advice and support from staff. Towards the end of their studies, some students opt to augment their degree by taking the Professional Certificate in Journalism awarded by the Professional Publishers Association. UEL is currently the only UK university offering this arrangement. Students learn about the history of journalism and debate its future. ‘Journalism at UEL has been life changing. For aspiring journalists it provides great insight into the future of journalism.’ (Nisha Jain, current student) With foundation year: UCAS code: P501 / Points: 72
journalistic skills. Students are able to take full advantage of our location by maximising the chance to work in press boxes in London. During the first two years, students cover at least 15 sports events as a working journalist. Students have been to games at Wembley, Twickenham, Lords, the Emirates Stadium and the Olympic Park, and have developed relationships with lower league football clubs, other sports organisations and local papers. Students also have the opportunity for international sports journalism experience. The University of East London’s Going Global Bursary offers students the chance to apply for grants to go abroad to cover sport. Students learn the techniques that journalists use to cover local and global sporting events and report sports news and developments. Students use this knowledge to produce and publish sports articles and a magazine publication. The University of East London invests highly in sport with a focus on high performance sport, offering sports journalism students the chance to work with budding athletes. With foundation year: UCAS code: P503 / Points: 160
BA (Hons) Sports Journalism UCAS code: P502 / Points: 280 Sports Journalism combines stimulating investigations into academic controversies within sport and the media, with a thorough grounding in practical
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BA Urban Cultures * UCAS code: P500 / Points: 112 The BA Urban Cultures course takes advantage of UEL’s unique location in the rapidly developing
art sector of one of the world’s most vibrant and dynamic cities. The programme is particularly designed for students who take a keen interest in art in an urban context; the cultural effects of digital technologies; the city’s influence on changes in the visual arts and literature; and contemporary forms of urban activism. You will be introduced to the study of the city as a space where culture is created, represented and disputed. You’ll also discover the relationship between urban space, technology and culture and the power structures determining urban hierarchies. You will use these ideas and theories to explain and explore contemporary practices such as parkour, urban exploration and street art. BA Urban Cultures will prepare you for careers as diverse as journalism, marketing, arts administration and advertising and future-trend forecasting. If you’re interested in the voluntary and community sectors, you can specialise through a unique civic engagement module offered in year five. The final-year targeted project will give you a portfolio to enhance your CV. You will also be encouraged to develop contacts in the arts and activist communities through our extensive network of partner organisations. With foundation year: UCAS code: P501 / Points: 72 * S ubject to validation.
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Journalism at UEL has been life changing. For aspiring journalists it provides great insight into the future of journalism. Nisha Jain BA (Hons) Journalism graduate
Postgraduate course MA Media, Communication and Global Development
Admissions and entry requirements For a full breakdown of course entry requirements by qualification visit ucas.com
Global development practice and discourses have changed dramatically in the past two decades. The media, in the multiple and diverse forms they have assumed in the 21st century, are seeking to communicate and interpret this multi-dimensional development in new and innovative ways. This programme will equip you intellectually to make critical contributions to contemporary media and global development debates. You will also acquire advanced media production skills that would enable you to produce and distribute global development news and information in a variety of formats.
Resources and facilities Students have access to a huge range of resources: –– –– ––
As a humanities and creative studies student at UEL you will have access to a huge range of resources.
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Studios Exhibition space Multimedia production centre, including radio suites, design labs, video editing suites Mac and PC labs Writing Centre Newsroom
The Writing Centre UEL’s Writing Centre is the focal point for the school’s writing events and activities. The centre offers writing support, and is also the headquarters of our Writers in Residence, our student literary e-zine, and our reading series, which features well-known as well as undiscovered authors.
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Creative Futures
Publications We publish a regular Humanities@UEL newsletter, and Creative & Professional Writing students work as the editorial collective of UnBound, a magazine that celebrates new writing by our students.
Our annual end of year show, Creative Futures, celebrates the achievement and ambition of our students. Students on the Advertising, Journalism, Sports Journalism, and Creative & Professional Writing degrees have the opportunity to showcase their talent. Creative Futures features an open mic event for creative performances, and an award ceremony at which prizes for outstanding work across all our programmes are presented by key cultural and industry figures.
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UEL History and English Literature Society Students on our programmes run the UEL History and English Literature Society, which organises a schedule of events throughout the year, including tours, talks and trips.
Placements
Our placements include:
The University of East London is firmly committed to supporting students in finding suitable placement opportunities to further enhance their experience and employability skills. We have great industry contacts and secure places for students in a wide range of companies, as well as with local and community organisations and groups.
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Publications UK LTD. Hill + Knowlton Strategies Wunderman Ad Pepper Media Al Jezeera Tiger Aspect The Times Pride Magazine Ogilvy Mrs. Grey The Olympics Press Department Watford FC
Profiles
Allan Taylor
Allan Taylor
Dekan Apajee
Senior Lecturer, BA (Hons) Advertising
BA (Hons) Sports Journalism
Allan Taylor is a lecturer on the BA Advertising course and before coming to UEL, he worked as a feature writer with a specialism in commercial content, writing advertorial, native and branded content for media owners like BBC Worldwide and publications such as Radio Times and Lonely Planet Traveller, for clients ranging from Virgin Holidays to UKTV. He is currently finishing his practiceled PhD entitled ‘Performance, Photography, Performativity: what the still image does’ at Falmouth University.
Dekan Apajee is a lecturer in BA Sports Journalism. He has delivered training on Broadcast Journalism, Presenting and Multimedia/Digital production skills with many universities and youth media organisations. Dekan also works as a broadcast pundit and Producer creating and consulting on the creation of bespoke content.
He has developed a broad range of research interests across the fields of visual culture, cultural theory and performance, including the ‘doing’ of imagery and photography in relation to contemporary society, the documentation of live art and performance, the relationship between fine art and advertising, as well as practice-led research in the creative disciplines.
Dekan Apajee
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Teaching both theory and practice, Allan’s main expertise is supervising the execution and development of students’ creative ideas and preparing students for careers in the media industry. He also encourages students to think reflexively about their practice and how theory informs their practical creative work.
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As a broadcast journalist for the BBC, Dekan spent over 10 years honing his skills within the organisation, presenting and producing for BBC News Channel, BBC London TV, BBC Radio London and BBC 2012. He was also awarded a producer and director credit for his digital work with BBC Comedy on the BAFTA award winning series, Twenty Twelve. Dekan spent several years working as a User Generated Content Producer training and facilitating the production of online video and content. Prior to his work in the media industry, Dekan graduated in Aerospace Engineering and spent a number of years working in a variety of roles within financial services. He also has a passion for music and is managing director of a Social Enterprise that produces performance based events in collaboration with London charities and the Mayor of London’s Peer Outreach Team.
Samantha Dodd BA (Hons) Creative and Professional Writing UEL has been an incredible experience for me. I came into my own as a writer here, and as a person, too. I now have the confidence, experience and knowledge to pursue the things I am passionate about, and to write persuasively and passionately. While on the Creative & Professional Writing course. I undertook two internships and founded a student-led subgroup of writers charity English PEN, called UEL PEN. We crowd funded and organised events, raising money for, and awareness of, imprisoned writers worldwide. I won four awards for my contributions to the UEL community, and I now work in my chosen field, for a freedom of expression, literature and literacy arts charity. I don’t think it’s possible to overstate how UEL opens doors for people who are willing to work hard. It values so much more than just marks, and I just wouldn’t be where I am today without the teaching staff on the Creative Writing course.”
Samantha Dodd
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10 reasons you’ll be glad you came to UEL
19,000 current students from 120 different nationalities. The best years of your life, at university you’ll meet people of all ages and from all backgrounds, making friends that will last a lifetime.
3,850 free Samsung tablets given to new undergraduate students in 2014. Letting you learn more flexibly, you will receive a free tablet pre-loaded with your core e-textbooks.
£2m worth of scholarships and bursaries awarded each year. You will benefit from our generous financial support for students.
26 sports clubs and over 60 societies. You’ll have fun with plenty of time to pursue your passions outside of formal learning whether they are for a subject, a hobby or cause.
5 dedicated funding schemes to help you develop personally and professionally. Through our Going Global, Global Scholars, London Scholars, Civic Engagement Fund and Civic Engagement Scholarship, you’ll have opportunities to broaden your horizons by travelling abroad as part of your course or by bidding for funding to undertake community or studyrelated projects at home or overseas.
17% of our research rated world leading, the highest possible ranking, and a further 45% internationally excellent. You will be inspired by academic staff who are passionate about their subjects and learning more through ground-breaking research they will share with you.
10 top skills employers want. You’ll develop the leadership and professional skills to give you the edge in the job market - verbal communication, teamwork, commercial awareness, research and analysis, initiative/self motivation, drive, written communication, planning and organisation, flexibility and time management
84% of our students feel their course has developed them personally. You’ll have your mind stretched, your eyes opened and we’ll help you redefine your limits.
87% of our graduates in work or further study after six months. You’ll gain an academic qualification that will help you find the rewarding career you’ve dreamed about – both in terms of fulfilment and earning power.
70,000 alumni. You’ll gain lifelong membership of a global community of alumni across the globe.
How to apply Undergraduate applications All applications for full time undergraduate courses starting in September are made via the Universities and Colleges Admissions System (UCAS). UCAS offers a secure web based application system which allows you to track your application. To register for UCAS, please go to ucas.com and follow the step-by-step guide. You will need the University of East London institution code which is E28. For a full breakdown of course entry requirements by qualification visit ucas.com
Postgraduate applications Visit uel.ac.uk and search for the course you wish to apply for. Use the How to Apply section to apply directly using UEL’s secure online form.
University of East London Applicant Enquiries Tel: +44 (0)20 8223 3333 / Email: study@uel.ac.uk
facebook.com/universityofeastlondon @uel_news youtube.com/videouel uel.ac.uk/adi © University of East London For 2017 applicants This publication has been prepared some months before the academic year to which it relates, and whilst every care has been taken to ensure accuracy at the time of going to press, its ongoing accuracy cannot be guaranteed. In particular, we are constantly developing and improving the courses, modules and options described in the publication, and we reserve the right to modify or discontinue them. No part of this publication is to be construed as an offer or the basis of any agreement between UEL and an individual.