Media and Cultural Studies, University of Kwazulu-Natal

Important Undergraduate Information

• What Do I Need to Be Accepted?

  Those who completed Matric before 2008 require a Senior Certificate with Exemption and a total of 32 Matriculation points to gain admission into the School.  For details on how to determine your Matric points, please click here for further details.

  Those applicants who wrote Matric after 2008 require a National Senior Certificate for degree study, a Level 4 in English (either as a home language or first additional language) and Life Orientation, an academic performance score of 28 (details on how to determine this can be found here), and have achieved a Level 5 in one of the following subjects: Business Studies, Consumer Studies, Dramatic Arts, Economics, Geography, History, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Mathematical Literacy, Music, Religion Studies or Visual Arts.

  International students will be required to approach the South African Matriculation Board to determine if you qualify for degree entry. The best way to do this is to consult www.hesa-enrol.ac.za.

  We recommend that potential students obtain at least a Level 5 in English because Media and Cultural Studies is a writing intensive subject. For applications please click here.

  Majoring in Media & Cultural Studies

  When you arrive at university it is generally very hard to know what subjects you will like and/or do well in.  For this reason we strongly recommend that you do not decide on your majors at the outset.  Rather, structure your first year in a way that keeps your options open by taking a range of subjects, each of which is a potential major.  Then, at the end of your first year, you can decide which subjects you would like to continue with, and which you would like to drop.

  But if you decide that Media and Cultural Studies is the way to go, you need to know the following:

  The MECS major consists of 8 modules (128 credit points).

  Two modules are taken in first year, two in second year, and four in third year.

  Five of the eight modules are compulsory, and the remaining three are electives which can be selected from a prescribed pool of subjects.

  You will also be required to major in one other subject (also consisting of 8 modules); some useful co-majors include Marketing, English, French, Fine Art, Digital Art, Political Science, Drama and Psychology.

  Interested in MA & PhD?

  • How do I Apply?

    It is also possible to register for an MA of PhD in Media and Cultural Studies. Both of these are research rather than course-work degrees and students who are interested in registering for either should begin by consulting the Head of the Programme Dr Subeshini Moodley.

    The first goal of such a discussion will be to consider your research interests and decide if they are related to the research areas of staff in Media or the School of Arts generally (a full list of staff members’ research fields are available on their profile pages). If we are able to supervise your research, you will usually be offered provisional acceptance which will depend on submitting proof of qualifications.  Once we have received all the necessary documentation you will be allowed to register to use the university’s facilities while you prepare your thesis proposal. Once the proposal has been accepted you will be able to begin your degree formally and to continue with your research.

    Aside from devising ever more subtle ways to make students work hard, Anton’s main teaching and research interests are in New Media and Film Studies. In the former he is particularly interested in the ways in which the new media are challenging accepted, content-based, approaches to media studies.  In the latter he is working on the non-narrative dimension of film, the ways in which visuality and sound elicit affective (emotional) responses from the audience.

    Room 124 Old Main Building

    Email: vdhoven@ukzn.ac.za

    WHAT OUR CULTURE HAVE TO SAY

    

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