BA (Hons) Film & Media and Religion

We have been teaching and conducting research in film and media since 1978, and our combination of academic and practical work continues to make us one of Scotland’s top institutions in this field. We are top in Scotland for student satisfaction in the 2016 National Student Survey. Whether studying Film & Media alone or in combination with other subjects, you can expect excellent teaching from staff with a range of skills, from active academic researchers to former and current professionals from media industries. You will also benefit from the Macrobert Arts Centre, an on-campus multi- screen cinema and theatre, and our students often choose to contribute to the campus television station and filmmaking group AirTV, to student newspaper The Brig, and to Air3 Radio. Film and Media teaching combines analysis and practice. You will learn the critical and theoretical skills required to study a range of topics within film, broadcasting, digital media, advertising and political communications. You may select modules devoted to audio and video productions and developing related skills in production, post-production, content development, pitching and research. Film and Media has excellent relationships with media organisations and individual media practitioners, who advise and contribute to our degrees. Students studying with us have full access to a modern suite of media facilities for radio and television production and a state-of-the-art newsroom. You will also be given the opportunity to participate in exchange programmes through which you could study for a semester or a year in a location chosen from a list including the United States, Canada, Australia and countries in Europe. Understanding religion in different contexts and developing the transferable skills of critical thinking, communication, research and analysis, make Religion graduates an invaluable resource for today’s employers. At Stirling we are committed to approaching ‘religion’ in a critical manner, in two broad senses: Firstly: We question the fundamental category of ‘religion’. It is sometimes assumed to be a ‘thing’ that simply exists, and this is where, in part, the idea that we can study ‘religions’ as entities in any society or context comes from. This, of course, implies that what ‘religion’ actually is stands as common knowledge and applies to all contexts. But where does religion begin, end or move into other areas? This is just one of the intellectually challenging questions we ask during this course. Secondly: Rather than hold religion to suspicion, or blame, or discredit, or incredulity – a growing tendency amongst certain public intellectuals, even if against the tide of global demographics – we examine religion from a positive critical standpoint. What this means is that in our studies we consider how open to re-interpretation or re-conceptualisation the term ‘religion’ is today in our intellectual, social, and cultural spheres. In coming to Stirling to study Religion, every student is thus exposed to a broad and interdisciplinary vision that can be life-changing in many rich and unexpected ways. Please note that Religion is studied as a Combined degree. You will take Religion plus two other subjects in Year 1.