Master of Communication and Media

Purpose

The primary purpose of the qualification is to equip learners with a deep and complex understanding of media theory as it is applied in the practice of the creative and cultural industries. Learners will gain a broad understanding of the field of study that includes news, actuality and entertainment media on broadcast and networked media channels, and communication more broadly within a business environment. They will further obtain a deep understanding of an area of specialisation within the media industry. The qualification is intended for learners from professional backgrounds in the media sector, including journalists, photographers, videographers, archivists, public relations professionals, and graphic designers. The qualification is eligible for learners who want to obtain high-level knowledge of communication practices in the media sector, that they can use in a range of contexts including managerial, consultancy and leadership roles in the media sector, thereby being well placed to serve as management, creative influencers, project/business leaders and other high-level roles in the media industry.

The qualification is aimed at

• Educating and training researchers who can contribute to the development of knowledge at an advanced level.
• Providing high-level knowledge in the epistemologies of communication as applied within a media context
• Enhancing employability and self-employability of graduates, improving promotional prospects and/or helping graduates assume new career directions in the media and communication field.
• Emphasising greater learner learning autonomy while still providing maximal learner support to build a detailed understanding of scholarly research, theories of communication, media studies, and the pragmatic comprehension of how communication works in a professional context.
• Developing high-level cognitive skills to learners in being able to read and understand the ways in which communication manifests in the professional context of media and the arts and cultural spheres.

Upon the completion of the qualification, qualifying graduates will be able to

• Reflect critically on communication theory and its application.
• Deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively.
• Design and critically appraise research.
• Make sound judgements using data and information at their disposal.
• Communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• Conduct research that is both scholarly and professionally focused.
• Demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems.
• Act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks with a theoretical underpinning.
• Continue to advance their knowledge, understanding and skills.

Graduates will be able to apply the knowledge gained to a defined professional context within the media and cultural spheres, thereby serving as consultants, managers, thought-leaders, entrepreneurs and company/organisation directors.

Rationale

The media, creative and cultural industries are undergoing radical change because of the ways in which technology is forcing previously different sub-disciplines like journalism, film production, photography, and communication to converge. No longer do media practitioners work in the siloes of their sub-disciplines. Practitioners must have advanced knowledge of influences and practices across a range of disciplines and must be able to critically evaluate the economic, socio-cultural, technological, and political environments to produce relevant material that speaks to both the local and the international market needs. The media sector employs increasing numbers of journalists, photographers, videographers, archivists, public relations professionals, and graphic designers, although in vastly different contexts than historically where an employee would be attached to a large company for many years at a time. The cultural and creative industries are populated by professionals who can work in an agile and creative fashion, building their own areas of expertise and niche to contribute to almost 3% of total employment in South Africa (2014) covered by the sector. Leaders in the sector must understand their own sub-disciplines while also engaging with changes to local media, which are hybrid, digital, mobile, networked, decentralised, co-produced, ubiquitous, and often live. The changes in the media industry globally necessitate high-level thinkers to manage, innovate, generate new ideas, advise others on best practices, and otherwise navigate a new world. The qualification intends to produce such thinkers to respond to the technological changes in the media sector.

The need for the qualification was conveyed through focus groups with the institution's advisory boards, which represents a broad base of industry specialisations in film and photography, including corporate films, documentaries, commercials, feature films, and film and photographic servicing of foreign productions, as well as in journalism and public relations. Alumni were consulted, as were academic staff who are active in the field of media. These consultations indicated that there is a need for a qualification in a complex and growing services-based industry like media which

will equip learners with the interdisciplinary conceptual skills of critical analysis and conceptual planning as related to a range of media contexts. The wide scope of the qualification includes news, actuality and entertainment media on broadcast and networked media channels, and communication more broadly within a business environment. Given the cross-disciplinary focus, the qualification will add substantive value to the national and regional growth patterns of the entertainment and media industry in South Africa, which is touted to reach R177bn in turnover by 2022 according to Price Water Cooper's Entertainment and media outlook: 2018-2022 report released in 2018. The qualification will enable mastery of knowledge of the media field with a view to graduates being able to apply their knowledge within a diverse media field and produce graduates who understand media theory as it is applied in the practice of the creative and cultural industries, thereby being well placed to serve as management, creative influencers, project/business leaders and other high-level roles in the media industry.

The design of the qualification supports the values and objects of the National Development Plan (2030) of South Africa in its aim to empower learners to become active participants in national economic development through their high-level understanding of media and communication. This is in line with the NDP's prioritizing of improving the quality of education, skills development, and innovation. The qualification is developing a key area of specialisation in the knowledge economy, with a focus on developing the knowledge economy as it applies to media and is evidenced in the scarce skills identified in the 2008 National Master Scarce Skills List for South Africa, put out by the Ministry of Labour This will add substantive value to the media industry in South Africa. With a focus on the broadening and deepening of skills and knowledge within a growing industry and a clear focus on social transformation, the qualification seeks to educate learners to be critical to a high level of cognitive complexity. Upon successful completion of the degree, graduates may be admitted to a doctorate in the field of research in media and communication.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

This qualification may be achieved in part or completely through the Recognition of Prior Learning, which includes formal, informal, and non-formal learning and work experience. In keeping with national policy frameworks and the institution's mission and vision, widening of access is promoted through Recognition of Prior Learning. The RPL assessment process involves the identification, mediation, assessment and acknowledgement of knowledge and skills obtained through informal and non-formal learning. RPL is applied in terms of policy and criteria of the institution. The necessary documentary evidence will have to be provided and a formal RPL process will be followed. The institution will apply in this qualification the RPL for both access and credits in line with the National Policy and Criteria for the Implementation of RPL (Amended in March 2019).

RPL for Access

Learners who do not meet the minimum entry requirements of the required qualification may be considered for RPL. There are two options:

• Advanced Standing, in which case the minimum entry requirements are waived by the admitting institution based on evidence of prior learning, work experience or any other relevant circumstances that may apply to an individual learner. No portfolio is required.

OR

• Applicants may provide evidence in the form of a portfolio that demonstrates that the applicant has acquired sufficient relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies to be able to reasonably meet the expectations for learning demanded by the qualification for which they are seeking access.
• In instances where RPL is applied for the purposes of access, no credits will be awarded for any previous learning. However, the candidate may choose the option of being assessed for credit.

RPL for credits

Learners who do meet the necessary entry requirements for admission to a qualification may be awarded some or all the credits towards the qualification. There are two possibilities:

• Learners may apply for RPL to be exempted from a module or some modules by providing sufficient evidence in the form of a portfolio that demonstrates that a level of competency, equivalent to the learning outcomes of the module or modules, has been achieved. Credits will be awarded for such modules.

OR

• Learners may apply for RPL to be awarded all the credits required for the qualification. Sufficient evidence must be provided that demonstrates a level of competency equivalent to all the learning outcomes of the qualification.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• Bachelor of Arts Honours in Media Studies, NQF Level 8 with a minimum of 65% across all subjects.

Or

• Bachelor of Social Science Honours: Media and Communication, NQF Level 8 with a minimum of 65% across all subjects.

Or

• Bachelor of Social Science Honours in Culture, Communication and Media, NQF Level 8 with a minimum of 65% across all subjects.

Or

• Postgraduate Diploma in Media Studies, NQF Level 8 with a minimum of 65% across all subjects.

This qualification consists of the following compulsory modules at National Qualifications Framework Level 9 totalling 180 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, Level 9, 180 Credits

• Communication and Media Theory, 30 Credits.
• Communication Research Methods, 30 Credits.
• Writing for Publication, 30 Credits.
• Communication and Media Project, 90 Credits.

1. Apply skills and knowledge to succeed in a strategic approach to develop and analyse social change campaigns, with a particular focus on the role of communications and the media.
2. Compile a dissertation that indicates an ability to conduct independent research and report findings in conformity to established academic protocols of research and writing.
3. Demonstrate the ability to apply an appropriate research methodology to a defined research problem within a communication context, based on an understanding of research methodologies in both the scholarly and professional audience/market research contexts.
4. Produce a researched journal article at the level of cognitive complexity suitable for publication in a recognised scholarly journal
5. Demonstrate ability to argue a contextualized understanding of the defined research problem and/or its potential solutions based on knowledge of the scholarship of the field
6. Produce a complex communication product that exhibits a contextualized understanding of the defined research problem and/or its potential solutions based on knowledge of the scholarship of the field.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

• Critically analyse the political, economic, social, and technological variables applicable to an instance of professional practice within the media industry.
• Explain the political, economic, social, and technological variables applicable to an instance of professional practice within the media industry.
• Make context-based statements of conclusion the political, economic, social, and technological variables applicable to an instance of professional practice within the media industry.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

• Describe the key characteristics of the meaning and application of the notions of Ontology, Epistemology, Theoretical framework, Literature review/analysis, Research aim, Research problem, Research question, Significance and Relevance of Study and Assumptions and Limitations.
• Demarcate and describe a defined research problem that is coherent in relation to a similarly coherently described Ontology, Epistemology, Theoretical framework, Literature review/analysis, Research aim, Research question, Significance and Relevance of Study and Assumptions and Limitations.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

• Describe the key elements of the main approaches to qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and methods as applicable to contemporary communication practices in the media industry in South Africa and abroad.
• Identify conflicts between the main approaches to qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and methods as applied to contemporary communication practices in the media industry in South Africa and abroad.
• Compare and contrast different research methodologies used in communication studies to explain contemporary media practices within the media industry.
• Describe the key elements of the main approaches to action research as applied to contemporary communication practices in the media industry in South Africa and abroad.
• Identify conflicts between the main approaches to action research as applied to contemporary communication practices in the media industry in South Africa and abroad.
• Compare and contrast action research and other forms of traditional research used in communication studies to explain contemporary media practices within the media industry.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4

• Identify a conceptual problem suitable for investigation and argument in the form of a scholarly journal article.
• Identify key points of comparison or of dispute within the epistemology within which the problem resides.
• Conceptualise an argumentation point suitable for expression in a scholarly journal article.
• Write a complex argument that leads in a logical way from a research problem to a scholarly point in a way suitable for a scholarly journal article.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5

• Identify key points of comparison or of dispute within the epistemology within which a defined research problem resides.
• Conceptualise an argumentation point suitable for expression in a dissertation.
• Make a complex argument that leads in a logical way from a research problem to a scholarly point in a way suitable for a dissertation.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 6

• Identify a defined research problem that is suitably addressed by means of a complex communication product.
• Identify the resources, conceptual approaches and alternatives required to develop a complex communication product.
• Develop a plan of production of a complex communication product.
• Follow a plan of production in the development of a complex communication product.
• Exhibit a complex communication product.