The Higher Diploma in Mass Communications provides students with the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the interdisciplinary fields of mass communications,  i.e. journalism, film, and multimedia.  It equips students with general transferable skills which are of relevance to a wide range of careers in the field of mass communications.

The Higher Diploma is designed to help develop students’ analytical techniques and problem solving skills, enabling them to evaluate evidence, arguments and assumptions in the field of  mass communications.  It aims to provide graduates with the necessary grounding to exploit career opportunities in the mass media, commercial, financial and information system sectors of the economy.

The course aims to achieve an international standard of high quality training which will lead to a universally recognised qualification, enabling graduates to pursue undergraduate programmes in top universities.

Cambridge International Examinations validate the programme, providing quality assurance for the course structure, content, assesment. This organisation moderates the setting and marking of all the coursework.

The Higher Diploma has a total of 16 modules, assessed by means of coursework:

• Introduction to Media
  Introduction to Media will introduce students to different ways of conceptualising and thinking about the mass media and associated forms of analysis. It will explore the field of media studies by way of various media models and associated themes and issues - institutions, effects, power. These will be used to problematise the object of study and methodological tools utilised. The module will then go on to introduce students to the main methods of study they are likely to encounter throughout the programme: semi logical analysis, interviews, ethnographic, contextual approaches, ideological readings.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Media Technology
  This module aims to provide students with an introduction to a range of contemporary issues in media, culture and technology. Students will develop critical awareness of current political and ethical issues relating to science and technology within media studies. The content is taught in three sections: Media, Culture & Technology, Gender & Technology and New Media & Technology. The first section will explore issues on media, culture and its impact on technology. The second section will deal with gender, paying close attention to cyber feminism. The last section will focus on the Internet and New Imaging Technologies.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Writing for the Screen
  The module aims to provide a practical introduction to the different forms of writing for the screen. It is designed to enable the students to develop their own skills in screenwriting and provide a critical awareness of the various forms of writing for film and television. The emphasis of the module will be on those small-scale but nonetheless demanding writing tasks that an inexperienced screenwriter might be asked to attempt. Students will also be tasked to consider the practicalities of screenwriting e.g. format, layout, of scripts, shooting scripts and camera scripts.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Documentary
  This module introduces practical, technical, and theoretical issues in non-fiction filmmaking. Students will be exposed to different modes of documentary representation and the appropriate usage for each style. They will work individually and in groups in making creative choices to apply the research, planning and technical skills of video production and digital video editing to shoot and edit their own video documentaries. Documentaries of all styles will be screened and discussed.
  
  The role of documentary in media and as a form of film will be examined in this module. Students will get the opportunity to study the roles and responsibilities of a documentary filmmaker and the importance of the subjects and audiences played in a documentary film. They will also be exposed to current issues and methods of documentary. This module will allow them to develop an awareness of the role visual narrative in the development and production of a short video.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Foundations of News Writing
  This module introduces the techniques of basic news writing and develops the ability to work within the appropriate ethical framework and to recognise and communicate what is significant. The module introduces students to writing stories; to interviewing and the restrictions on reporting. It examines leads, organising stories, story development; quotes and attributions. Students will be provided with a comprehensive and carefully graded foundation to the skills and disciplines of writing for print. Workshop sessions will also be created to develop expertise in various news writing styles. The module gives practical and theoretical experience in producing basic news stories of various styles. The importance of accuracy is stressed in gathering and reporting facts. An introduction will also be given to various news sources such as government, the economy and industrial relations.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Advertising
  This interesting module will look at visual images and written texts that create meanings in advertisements. It will also examine advertising in different media (billboards, television, films commercial), brands names and trademarks and creativity in the industry.
  
  Great measures will be taken in this module to ensure an understanding of the way advertisement generate meanings through the language of advertisement. Students will be taught the latest trends and contemporary practices. Theories of communication and advertising, including how audiences construct meanings and ways of readings complex messages and signs systems will also be studied.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Public Relations
  In this module, students will be introduced to the theories and processes of public relations set in the historical, economic, social, ethical and legal contexts. It will also discuss the theoretical basic of public relations in terms of how it helps in managing populations in an age of rapid social change.
  
  Students will also get to analyse some of the skills and actual processes involved in public relations that are crucial to the work of all public practitioners. Students will be able to understand public relations theory and processes and learn how public relations help in managing populations. They will also be taught the various practical and conceptual tools for understanding, analysing and engaging in some aspects of public relations work.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Web Production
  Students will be introduced formally to the web and the use of graphics/images to convey an idea. They will learn about the development of the web and issues regarding its content and direction. Furthermore, they will learn to design and create their own website. This module will teach students how to use a Graphics software and web design software that are needed to design a website.
  
  Web Production will enable students to develop competence in the use of computer software, graphics packages and ancillary hardware such as scanners and digital cameras. Students will also be guided to market their products and services on the web. This will give the students exposure to new ways of branding and marketing.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Media, Culure and Society
  The module will analyse the relationship between the media and the cultural and social behaviours. It will focus on questions about power and meaning and provide students with critical tools for the analysis of media and cultural industries, texts and consumption. Students will get to be familiarised with a set of conceptual frameworks for understanding the media and cultural industries; the role of the State and ideology; media and cultural consumption.
  
  This module will also focus on the conceptualisation of mass entertainment and mass culture in the works of F.R. Leavis and the Frankfurt School. It will then show how Gramsci’s analysis of hegemony has been fruitful for an understanding of the ideological power of the media.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Researching Media
  This module aims to introduce the students to the problems, issues and methods involved in researching the media, or researching topics suitable for media production. The first half of this module consists of six two-hour workshops, which will introduce the students to a range of strategies for researching media. The students will then be assigned a supervisor under whose guidance they will develop a project proposal.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Global Culture
  Global Culture introduces students to the cultural implications of globalisation, relating these to specific case studies. The module opens by reviewing theories of globalisation, with specific reference to cultural, social, economic and political processes and outcomes. The role of the media is analysed in depth, and then case studies drawn from cinema, music, food and drink, and tourism are investigated. The module ends by considering the consequences of all this for the global subject.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Film Production
  This module aims to develop a conceptual knowledge of different film styles, and enhance students’ understanding and competence in the issues related to content and storytelling. Students will be familiarised with the theoretical and technical skills necessary to make a short film on a given topic. This module also examines the basic issues that comprise the study of film including film production, film form, types of films, and film style. Screenings, lectures and practical exercises are designed to help achieve an understanding of what makes a film look and sound the way it does. Apart from demystifying film as an art, students are also encouraged to analyse films as made objects, to prepare them for more advanced modules in film. This module will enable students to understand the theory and developmental process of communicating through visual time-based media, develop an understanding of technical terminology used in film production, and engage with the technical aspects of video production and editing.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Media Representations
  This module deals with major concepts in media, communication and cultural studies – the analysis of: the connections between the production of media texts, circulation and reading practices, and the formation of audiences and their capacities. Students will be trained to develop an understanding of the contexts of circulation and the techniques of composition of the realist and materialist accounts of representation; and how specific media genres ‘work’ to form capacities in audiences by producing particular ways of seeing people and things through address, narrative, and spectacle. Specific texts will be considered as examples of genres, and as ‘occasions’ for an audience’s formation. Furthermore, this module will help students appreciate discourses and selected regimes of representations through selected media genres like websites, films, and novels.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Popular Culture & Entertainment
  This is a comprehensive module to the major theories of popular culture. It will provide a critical assessment of the ways in which these theories have tried to understand popular culture today. The first section provides some definitions, components, and methodologies of popular culture. The following lessons will examine a specific aspect of popular culture. An interesting subject where students are encouraged to reflect on their own personal experiences of popular culture. Students will critically consider and discuss communications theories and media content. They will be asked to draw upon their experiences of the mass media in order to position themselves in relation to theoretical debates.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Internet Studies
  The Internet has transformed the media, cultural and social landscapes. Individuals and organisations are using the Internet to construct identities and communities. This module offers students a comprehensive and coherent introduction to Web-based media culture, covering existing and developing frameworks from which to approach the study of the Internet. The module also familiarises students with current debates on internet usage in social and theoretical contexts and introduce popular and critical discourse framing discussions on Internet usage.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework
  
• Film Studies
  Film Studies looks at the cultural and critical role played by cinema as an agent of societal desires, conflicts and values. This module examines film theory and looks at the reading of film as a media text. It explores textual meanings within film and how these fit into the framework of cinematic analysis theories. This module will provide a foundation for the contextual study of the film as a media text and at the same time give a comprehensive introduction to film theory concepts and ideas. Students will be familiarized with film traditions in various parts of the world, including Bollywood.
  
  Assessment: 100% coursework