The Foundation Year in Media is offered as an entry route to a media degree for those who don't yet meet the entry requirements for degree-level study.
You enrol on a four-year course, which includes the one-year foundation course. If you complete this year successfully you progress directly onto our three-year media degree courses listed below. The number of students who progress to degree study are very high - in fact some of these students have gone on to become some of our most successful graduates.
The Foundation Year is for you if:
The Foundation Year in Media is taught via a blended approach by the same lecturing staff who teach on our degree courses. You'll be taught in online seminars, webinars, virtual lectures and use student interaction and co-creation to learn new material. Collaborative online tools for creative media production is at the core of our teaching and you'll learn through carefully considered online materials and specialists; essentially practice together what you have learned during synchronous and asynchronous online activities.
We actively encourage you to get involved in events to feel part of the Middlesex community. With the support of former Media Foundation Year students, we hold regular social meet ups where you can get to know each other and share your experiences. We provide opportunities for you to collaborate on projects with other students across the degree programmes and every year, we have opportunities for you to work on live briefs designed by professionals in their fields.
This course will allow you to develop transferable skills in media, communication and problem-solving. At the core of our approach to online leaning and teaching is student interaction. In all of our programmes, you'll have the opportunity to interact with each other and complete classwork using online collaborative tools.
If you are interested in studying the Foundation Year in Media you must apply to one of our four-year degree courses. Please have a look at the How to apply tab for further information about how to apply. Successful completion of the foundation year guarantees entry onto your chosen media degree.
We offer the following courses:
| Course | UCAS Code |
| BA Advertising, PR and Branding with Foundation Year | N56F |
| BA Creative Writing and Journalism with Foundation Year | W8PF |
| BA Digital Media and Communications with Foundation Year | P37F |
| BA Film with Foundation Year | W60F |
| BA Games Design with Foundation Year | W1FY |
| BSc Games Design with Foundation Year | W2FY |
| BA Television and Digital Production with Foundation Year | TV1F |
| BA Visual Effects with Foundation Year | W6FY |
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You will study four modules over the year. You study the first three modules at the same time, and then, in the last few weeks of the year, develop your Media Portfolio Project. The year is delivered through induction workshops, demonstrations, tutorials, lectures, critique sessions and portfolio review meetings. You also benefit from the visiting speaker programmes, as well as visits to exhibitions, screenings and events.
As a student of this course you'll receive a free electronic textbook for every module.
This module explores and develops written and oral communication skills required for media subjects, through a range of media disciplines. From journalism to games design, you will acquire the basic principles of critical thinking and analysis to support your creative work and project development.
This module is structured to cover a wide range of digital production tools and resources. Short project briefs will enable key learning to be applied in manageable projects, some individual, some in groups. With introductions into camera, sound, post-production, digital imagery, 3D modelling and scripting, you will see the possibilities of the various media disciplines at undergraduate level, and make choices as to which specialism might best suit you.
This module allows further development of writing, presentation and organisation skills. Having begun to experience the potential of the resources at hand, in this module you experiment with your ideas, develop story worlds, write stories and/or features, prepare scripts, treatments, and/or scenes to plan your creative project work across a range of disciplines. The module is workshop based and will feed into your preparation for the portfolio projects.
Having experienced a range of opportunities in media, you then propose and develop your portfolio projects in the final weeks of the programme. You prepare your work for progression onto undergraduate programmes in this module. The programme team will support students to identify their strengths and facilitate your progression onto the most appropriate degree programme.
See the course specification for more information:
Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
We have developed new approaches to teaching and learning for the 2021/22 academic year.
We are currently reviewing our approach to teaching and learning for 2022 entry and beyond. We've learned a lot about how to give you a quality education - we aim to combine the best of our in-person teaching and learning with access to online learning and digital resources which put you more in charge of when and how you study. We will keep you updated on this throughout the application process.
Your timetable will be built around on campus sessions using our professional facilities, with online sessions for some activities where we know being virtual will add value. We’ll use technology to enhance all of your learning and give you access to online resources to use in your own time.
The table below gives you an idea of what learning looks like across a typical week. Some weeks are different due to how we schedule classes and arrange on campus sessions.
This information is likely to change slightly for 2022 entry as our plans evolve. You'll receive full information on your teaching before you start your course.
Learning structure: typical hourly breakdown in 2021/22 | ||
Live in-person on campus learning | Contact time per week per level: | 4.5 hours |
Live online learning | Average hours per week per level: | 14.50 hours |
Tutor set learning activities | Average hours per week per level: | 16 hours |
Outside of these hours, you’ll be expected to do independent study where you read, listen and reflect on other learning activities. This can include preparation for future classes. In a year, you’ll typically be expected to commit 1200 hours to your course across all styles of learning. If you are taking a placement, you might have some additional hours.
Definitions of terms
Support
You have a strong support network available to you to make sure you develop all the necessary academic skills you need to do well on your course.
Our support services will be delivered online and on campus and you have access to a range of different resources so you can get the help you need, whether you’re studying at home or have the opportunity to come to campus.
You have access to one to one and group sessions for personal learning and academic support from our library and IT teams, and our network of learning experts. Our teams will also be here to offer financial advice, and personal wellbeing, mental health and disability support.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
