The MA in Visual Culture offers an exciting opportunity to engage with current debates about visual culture in relation to the changes wrought by contemporary media on everyday life. We look at visual media such as photography and film, cultural institutions, such as museums and galleries, as well as ordinary, everyday cultural practices.
Study in a department ranked in the world top 75 and 4 th in the UK for Communication (ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2026).
We study the changes, and challenges for visual culture in the twenty-first century, while emphasising the importance of paying close, critical attention to visual artefacts and cultural experiences while situating them in a wider historical context.
As well as considering questions of visuality and examining images, the programme addresses questions of modernity and social change, ranging from experiences of everyday space, time and mobility, to the impacts of media on self and identity; how we access, ‘store’ or remember the past; and the broader environmental, infrastructural and social contexts of contemporary visual culture.
The programme is widely interdisciplinary in scope, drawing on perspectives from disciplines such as cultural studies, anthropology, Latin American studies, art and cultural history, cultural geography, urban studies, games and memory studies.
The programme is built around three core modules which focus on:
You will develop skills that directly enhance employability, including applying critical thinking skills, giving presentations, data management, problem-solving, team-working and research design and implementation.
You’ll be able to pursue your own specific research/study interest visual culture via a 12,000-15,000 word dissertation and by choosing from a range of master’s-level module options offered by the Department and wider School.
The course will be of interest to students with an arts, humanities or social science background who wish to develop their theoretical, critical and historical understanding of visual culture, and to visual arts and culture professionals keen to reflect on and further develop their practice.
The qualifications and exam results you'll need to apply for this course.
You'll need to demonstrate competence in the use of English language, unless you’re from a majority English speaking country .
We accept a variety of international language tests and country-specific qualifications .
International applicants who do not meet the minimum required standard of English language can complete one of our Pre-Sessional English courses to achieve the required level.
Do you need to complete a Pre-sessional English course to meet the English language requirements for this course?
The length of Pre-sessional English course you’ll need to take depends on your current level of English language ability.
If you don’t meet our English language requirements, we can use your most recent IELTS score, or the equivalent score in selected other English language tests , to determine the length of Pre-sessional English course you require.
Use the table below to check the course length you're likely to require for your current English language ability and see whether the course is available on campus or online.
If you’ve completed an alternative English language test to IELTS, we may be able to use this to assess your English language ability and determine the Pre-sessional English course length you require.
Please see our guide to Pre-sessional English entry requirements for IELTS 6.5 overall, with no component below 6.0, for further details.
| QS 综合 | 院校 | 学制 | 学费 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 第 85 位 | 杜伦大学Durham University | 1年 | 29500英镑/年 |