MLitt Film and Television Studies

1 Year On Campus Masters Program

University of Glasgow

Program Overview

The Film & Television Studies MLitt at the University of Glasgow gives you a deep, critical and research‑oriented understanding of film and television — how they work as cultural forms, their histories, and how they intersect with society, technology and audiences. It’s ideal if you love thinking about screen media from intellectual, theoretical or cultural perspectives, perhaps with an aim toward media research, academia, festivals, curation or cultural policy.

Curriculum structure:

Year 1 (full‑time MLitt):
You begin with a core course “History of Film and Television Studies” that traces the development of film and TV as academic and cultural phenomena — building your historical and theoretical grounding.
In parallel you take “Research Methods and Dissertation Preparation”, equipping you with the skills needed for postgraduate‑level research: designing projects, critical analysis, academic writing and methodology.
Across either semester, you also study “Advanced Topics in Film Studies” and/or “Advanced Topics in Television Studies” — these let you explore specialised themes or current issues in film/TV scholarship (for instance debates around media, representation, identity, new technologies, etc.).
Then, for your final project, you write a dissertation: either a traditional ~15,000‑word academic thesis or a creative/analytic piece combining a shorter written dissertation (~6,000 words) with ~12 minutes of audiovisual content — letting you merge theory and media practice if you wish.

Focus areas: Film and television history, critical theory, screen cultures and industries, audiovisual analysis, advanced scholarship in both film and television, research methodologies, and (optionally) creative or practice‑informed screen/ media work.

Learning outcomes: Graduates will be able to critically analyse film and television texts, understand their historical, social and cultural contexts, conduct rigorous research into screen media, articulate scholarly arguments, and — if chosen — combine theoretical insight with creative audiovisual output.

Professional alignment (accreditation): The course sits within UofG’s respected School of Culture & Creative Arts. You study at the Gilmorehill Centre — a dedicated facility with its own cinema, extensive audiovisual and digital resources, and the academic environment of world‑renowned researchers and practitioners in film/television studies.

Reputation (employability & outcomes): The programme is part of one of the UK’s top institutions for drama, film and cinematics — UofG is ranked 5th in the UK by the Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide for Drama, Dance & Cinematics, and within the UK top‑10 according to the Complete University Guide for the same subject area. Graduates often go on to academic research (PhD), or careers in media & creative industries — such as film festival programming, arts administration, film/TV research, cultural policy, curatorial work, or media journalism.

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

When you join UoG’s Film & Television Studies MLitt, you’re not simply reading books — you get to study in a real media‑rich environment, with a campus built around film and screen culture. You’ll be based at the Gilmorehill Centre, which offers not only a cinema but also extensive audiovisual and digital resources. That means your learning is grounded in real screenings, media archive access, and interaction with a community of film scholars and practitioners.

Here’s how the experiential learning plays out, based on what UoG provides:

Access to cinema + audiovisual resource centre: The Gilmorehill Centre includes its own cinema — used for weekly screenings that are part of the curriculum.
Media Archive + digital / audiovisual library: You get access to a resource centre housing thousands of audiovisual and digital holdings: DVDs, videos of films, television programmes, theatre performances — with viewing and IT facilities. This supports deep research, analysis, and historical study.Seminars, screenings, research‑led discussions & guest speakers: The programme includes seminars and screenings, and students often engage with guest speakers from media and creative industries, which helps connect theory to contemporary practice.
Interdisciplinary interaction and community: You’ll be part of a postgraduate community (Film & Television Studies + related areas like theatre, media arts), offering opportunities to share ideas, collaborate, attend events — good for networking and creative exchanges.
Flexibility to produce audiovisual work as part of research/dissertation: For your dissertation you can choose a standard 15,000‑word research paper, or opt for a shorter written element plus audiovisual content (e.g. a film/video component), giving you a chance to combine scholarly research with creative practice.
Exposure to screen culture, television and film history, theory + contemporary media issues: Through core and optional courses (on film history, television studies, advanced topics, experimental media, festivals etc.), you’ll engage critically with both historical and modern screen practices — good grounding if you want to work in academia, criticism, programming, or media‑cultural research.

Progression & Future Opportunities

Strong academic environment with top resources: The programme is based at the university’s Gilmorehill Centre, which includes a cinema, extensive audiovisual & digital resources, and access to the international journal Screen — great if you want to build serious academic or critical‑theory credentials.
Exposure to leading research culture and networking opportunities: The department hosts international conferences and invites guest lecturers from the film/TV studies and creative‑arts world. That means you get exposure to global debates, potential collaborations, and access to professionals and researchers — a helpful network for future jobs or PhD applications.
Balanced focus on film and television — with flexibility in specialisation: The course gives you the chance to explore both film and television, including history/theory, screen cultures, new media, and comparative contexts — which opens a broad range of creative‑cultural career paths (from curation and media analysis to policy, teaching or research).
Preparation for both creative‑industry and academic/research careers: While many graduates do enter media‑industry roles or arts organisations (festivals, curation, programming, public sector media, cultural policy), the MLitt is also explicitly designed as preparation for further postgraduate research (e.g., PhD, MRes, etc.). Graduate‑outcome track record: According to the programme page, graduates have gone into film education, festival management and programming, arts administration, public sector work, and research roles in television and academia.

Further Academic Progression:
If after completing the MLitt you decide you love the research side — you could apply to a doctoral‑level programme at University of Glasgow: they offer research pathways (PhD / MPhil / MRes) in Film & TV Studies, where you can explore topics like screen history, media technologies, film festivals/curation, societal issues in media, or practice‑led research.

Also, having a master’s from Glasgow — with its academic rigour and credentials — gives you a strong foundation if you want to shift into related fields like cultural policy, media research, teaching, arts programming, criticism, or even cross‑disciplinary roles in humanities and social sciences.