Media Cultures

The world we live in is profoundly mediated. Many aspects of our daily lives are now fundamentally structured and informed by media, such as television, film, and new media – from the arts, politics, economics, to our collective memories. This has changed significantly in recent years because of our constant engagement with media through the use of smartphones, apps, and social media platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Netflix, WeChat, TikTok, Whatsapp and Snapchat. We are constantly consuming and engaging with feature films, television programmes, documentaries, and many other types of audiovisual “texts”. The need to understand and analyse audiovisual discourse is therefore more urgent than ever - across all media platforms.

Is Media and Culture right for you?

As a Media and Culture student you will explore how and why particular media have certain roles in different cultural contexts. You will examine how they attract and direct our attention, and shape our experiences of the world. The programme invites you to develop a more critical engagement with media by teaching you about the history and theory of film, television and cross-media culture. Studying how certain stories or facts are presented and disseminated by media, whose interests they serve, and what worlds they create, is central to this programme. You will also learn how media objects are created, positioned and used in the world, as well as begin to create and use them yourself.

Why study Media and Culture at the UvA?

• A world-class education
  The UvA ranks 1st in the world for Media Studies in the QS World University Rankings by subject 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 ánd 2023.
• Fast-growing field of study
  You want to take part in a programme that offers the most recent, cutting-edge developments in the field with a wide set of media research methodologies, yet also allows you to pursue your own areas of specialisation and academic interests.
• An ambitious, international intellectual environment
  In groups and independently you will discuss the global media landscape with leading experts from all over the world, as well as an international student community.
• Amsterdam as a cultural hub
  The programme offers many connections with the city of Amsterdam, which is a hub for cinemas, television studios, new media, museums, festivals and cultural institutions. We cooperate with leading media institutions in the Netherlands, such as the EYE Film Museum, the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, the Stedelijk Museum, and television broadcasters and production companies.
• New media institutions
  The programme also promotes intensive contact with new media institutions like the Waag Society, the Netherlands Media Art Institute Montevideo, Mediamatic, the Virtueel Platform E-culture Knowledge Institute, and other cultural institutions working with (new) media, such as Paradiso, De Balie and De Melkweg.

What are my options after graduation?

The programme offers inspiring career prospects: aside from careers in the academic field, graduates go on to work at production companies for film, television, new media, in advertising and in the creative industries, as researchers, producers, directors, creative editors, and journalists. They may also hold positions as project managers, advisors, curators and programmers at distributors, broadcasting networks, festivals, museums, libraries, archives and other cultural institutions, or commercial companies. After completing your Bachelor’s, you can apply to a variety of Master’s, including programmes in advanced Media and Culture studies.

Degree certificate

Media and Culture is an accredited degree programme. After completion of this programme, you will receive a legally accredited Bachelor's degree and the title Bachelor of Arts (BA).