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Summary:
Course Code: P319
Course Code: P309
Course Code: P320
Where Are You Applying From?
How Would You Like To ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½?
When Do You Want To Start Your Studies?
Which Campus Would You Like To ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ At?
Which Options Would You Like With Your Course?
Why choose the School of Arts and Creative Industries
We are members of the British Fashion Council, The Association of Fashion and Textiles Courses, the Association of Illustrators and AA2A (Artists Access to Art Colleges), enhancing your graduate employment opportunities
Our Fashion Design graduates have entered many areas of the fashion industry and completed internships with Alexander McQueen, Mary Katrantzou, Sophia Webster and Amanda Wakeley
Our students work on live briefs for companies such as Bedford Creative Arts, London Luton Airport, Luton Town FC, Luton Culture Trust and Penguin Books and participate in collaborative projects with leading art and design practitioners
About the course
Radio is as popular as ever and has evolved excitingly to keep pace with digital technology. This degree opens up many opportunities for graduates in both broadcast radio and in the creation of audio content for other platforms such as podcasts and websites.
As well as delivering a range of practical broadcasting and journalistic skills the course gives you a grounding in media theory and history; a thorough understanding of how the medium works; and what goes into creating great content. You will graduate as a professional ready to work in broadcast media or within the wider field of audio-content creation.
You study a combination of units that together provide a broad range of professional knowledge and skills including Radio Skills Reporting and Writing Understanding Media and Preparing for the Audio Workplace. You can also specialise with optional units in your second and third years.
Throughout your study you have access to Radio LaB the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½â€™s own community radio station offering opportunities for presenting producing or working on promotions and special events.
Why choose this course?
- It gives the practical and academic skills needed to produce creative audio and broadcast radio content
- Through Radio LaB you can broadcast on FM across Luton and surrounding areas as well as worldwide online building up your experience and CV
- In your final year you work independently on a special project of your choosing
- It opens up wider work opportunities in technical and managerial broadcasting roles providing a broad knowledge of industry practice and regulation
- It develops your range of operational skills particularly in relation to programme planning and content development. These skills are transferable if you decide to pursue other media-related career paths
- Take the degree over four years and include a Professional Practice Year in industry where you gain experience build your CV and make contacts for the future
with Professional Practice Year
This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.
There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.
*Only available to UK/EU students.
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with Foundation Year
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.
Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.
The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.
This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?
- Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
- Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
- Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
- Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees
The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.
During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.
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Course Leader - Terry Lee
Terry is the Senior Tutor in Radio & Audio at the Unversity, and is also responsible for the award-winning Radio LaB 97.1FM.
He joined the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ in 2014, having previously been the manager of Future Radio in Norwich, where he had been working from 2007.
In 2018, he launched a podcast series called 'Fantastic Noise'.
The podcast is primarily aimed at students studying radio, and features the voices of radio professionals and experts.
Course Leader - Terry Lee
Terry is the Senior Tutor in Radio & Audio at the Unversity, and is also responsible for the award-winning Radio LaB 97.1FM.
He joined the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ in 2014, having previously been the manager of Future Radio in Norwich, where he had been working from 2007.
In 2018, he launched a podcast series called 'Fantastic Noise'.
The podcast is primarily aimed at students studying radio, and features the voices of radio professionals and experts.
Course Leader - Terry Lee
Terry is the Senior Tutor in Radio & Audio at the Unversity, and is also responsible for the award-winning Radio LaB 97.1FM.
He joined the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ in 2014, having previously been the manager of Future Radio in Norwich, where he had been working from 2007.
In 2018, he launched a podcast series called 'Fantastic Noise'.
The podcast is primarily aimed at students studying radio, and features the voices of radio professionals and experts.
What will you study?
Reporting And Writing
This unit teaches the researching and writing of news stories and feature articles. You will learn how to identify what is newsworthy and then how to write for a series of platforms across a number of subjects, in an ethical and professional manner.
Radio Skills
This unit allows you to acquire key radio production and presentation abilities. You will learn some of the underlying principles of radio, together with essential equipment operation and digital production techniques. Taken together, these will provide you with a variety of key skills needed for the creation of high quality audio and broadcast radio content.
Radio 101 History & Practice
This unit provides you with an introductory grounding in the history of broadcast radio, paying particular attention its social and political impacts. It provides an overview of the context within which current broadcast radio content and practice are situated, paying particular attention to professional industry and regulatory structures. The unit will also help develop your academic and professional research skills as you discover more about radio and multi-platform approaches to audio programming.
Introduction To Podcasting
This unit allows you to explore the distinctiveness of podcasting as a both a medium and a movement, especially in contrast to traditional broadcast radio. You will develop your academic, professional research, critical analysis and presentation skills as you discover more about the history of podcasts and the unique qualities and practices that podcasting delivers.
Radio, Audio And Podcasting
This unit enables you to expand your radio, audio production, podcasting and presentation skills base. You will develop various types of programme content through the use of studio and location recording techniques alongside building your abilities in relation to digital audio editing.
Preparing For The Audio Workplace
This unit allows you to showcase what you have learned on the course so far and prepare for the transition to work. It will help you understand subject specific and transferable skills relevant to the job market You will develop the skills necessary to improve your employability, including those related to creating a Curriculum Vitae (CV) and professional social media profile. You will learn how to research potential employers, how to contact them in a professional manner and how to prepare for an interview. The creation of a work portfolio will be explored such that you can compile materials and present them to future potential employers after you have graduated from the course.
Radio Structures & Regulation
This unit allows you to explore how broadcast radio is structured and regulated. It examines differing approaches to the delivery of radio and how these are overseen through legislation and regulatory structures. Alternative approaches to radio broadcasting found outside the United Kingdom are considered, alongside technological developments within the medium along with the impacts of more recent audio delivery technologies.
This unit will also help develop your academic and professional research skills as you discover more about radio and multi-platform audio delivery.
Digital Production Skills
This unit will build your digital broadcast news skills. You will develop your practical television, radio and online production skills, your editorial skills and your voice skills, all of which helps you build towards your goal of producing industry standard digital broadcast journalism. This unit prepares you for the 15 Newsdays you will complete in the following semester.
Law, Regulation & Public Administration
This unit both deepens and broadens the basic legal, civic and regulatory knowledge you acquired in unit as Introduction to the Journalism Industry. The knowledge you acquire in this unit will enable you to report confidently on civic structures and to do so in a legally safe, regulatory compliant manner.
Radio 24/7
This unit enables you to produce a variety of radio programming to a professional industry standard. You will develop your ability to formulate, develop and deliver your ideas whilst working within professional production constraints. You will learn to critically reflect on your own work in comparison to professional radio and audio practice.
Radio & Audio Documentaries
This unit enables you to produce radio and audio documentaries to a professional industry standard. You will develop your ability to formulate, develop and deliver your ideas whilst working within professional production constraints.
Practical Special Project - Cnc
This unit allows you to demonstrate the skills, ideas and learning acquired during your degree in an extended piece of work that is self-initiated and managed, and supported by your assigned supervisor. The project needs to be in one of the areas of your degree, and have a clear and strong link to it. The project content should be taken from your main area of interest within your course. The topic will require the prior approval of the unit coordinator.
In this unit you will develop your practical project, individually or in groups. In the area of radio&audio, media communications and journalism: the project can be undertaken individually or as a group.
In the area of video/television: the project can only be undertaken as group activity.
The project is the bridge between your studies and the world of work, and you should approach it in a professional manner and demonstrate independent thinking, responsibility, perseverance and high standards, all necessary to enter your professional life or postgraduate study.
Dissertation Special Project - Cnc
This unit allows you to demonstrate the skills, ideas and learning acquired during your degree in an extended piece of work that is self-initiated and managed, and supported by your assigned supervisor. The project needs to be in one of the areas of your degree, and have a clear and strong link to it. The project content should be taken from your main area of interest within your course. The topic will require the prior approval of the unit coordinator.
In this unit you will develop your research project, in the form of an undergraduate dissertation. Your project will follow the guidelines of ethical practice for the British Sociological Association, confirmed through the compilation and approval of CATS ethics form.
The project is the bridge between your studies and the world of work, and you should approach it in a professional manner and demonstrate independent thinking, responsibility, perseverance and high standards, all necessary to enter your professional life or postgraduate study.
English Language Foundation
This unit focuses on your ability to understand and use the English language accurately when you read, speak, listen and write. We will concentrate on the English you need for undergraduate level study in your chosen subject area, covering grammar, subject area vocabulary and the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.
A key element of the unit is the grammar of the language, and particularly the verb tense system in English, because your ability to use the verb tense system accurately will be extremely important when you come to write essays and reports. This unit will focus in particular on the grammar of the language.
We will also focus on reading, listening and speaking skills in the context of your chosen subject area. Beginning with short texts, we will practise each skill and practise it again, so that gradually you will see, hear and feel that your command of the language is improving.
A recurring focus of the unit will be your acquisition of 'learner autonomy'. This means your ability to acquire the language yourself, without needing a teacher's help. This is important because from next year you will not have an English teacher to help you. So we will consider and practise strategies to help you gain confidence in your own ability to increase your knowledge of and ability to use the language, including for instance guessing meaning of difficult words, deciding which words are important in a text, recognising differences between formal and informal language, and other strategies, so that as the first semester continues, you begin to feel more confident in your use and experience with the English Language.
Academic Skills Foundation
When you begin your undergraduate level studies, you will be expected to have knowledge of and ability to use a large range of 'study skills'. You will also be expected to have some knowledge of the subject area you will be studying. This unit deals with both of these aspects of your preparation for undergraduate level study.
All of the academic skills are practised in English, so you will use your developing acquisition of the language from the partner unit 'English Language Foundation' to practise and gain mastery of these skills. You will also use your language and study skills as you learn the foundation of your subject area, putting the skills into practice as you learn.
Developing English Language Skills
This unit builds on the progress you made during its partner semester 1 unit 'English Language Foundation' and increasing your level from that which you had achieved by the end of semester 1.
We will recycle the tense system in English and other elements of the grammar system, but you will now learn how to use other aspects of the grammar, including the passive voice, as well as linking words and phrases and devices which enable you to write longer sentences but retain grammatical accuracy.
You will notice that we gradually introduce more specialist language that you need in preparation for your degree and we will expect you to use and develop the skills that you gained in the previous units so that you are able to work more independently.
Academic Skills Development
This unit builds on the skills learnt and practised in its partner semester 1 unit 'Foundation Academic Skills'. We will add more skills to the list, including summarizing and synthesising, argumentation, critical thinking and referencing and citation skills, as well as several others and practise and test them in the same way as with the semester 1 unit.
We will also investigate the research skill and you will learn how to prepare a research proposal and conduct a literature review, and how to plan a research project, learning about the research tools available and how they can be used to conduct research in your chosen field.
You will continue to broaden your knowledge of key current issues and theory in your chosen subject area, and apply the critical thinking and argumentation skills you acquire in this unit to argue for and against propositions you have studied in the form of in both essays and presentations and in seminar situations, ensuring that you are ready to step up to your chosen undergraduate course with a base level of subject area knowledge from which to continue your academic development as you progress to level 4 study.
Professional Practice Year (Subject Area Culture And Communications)
The aim of this unit is to provide the opportunity to undertake career-related experience which will allow you to understand and undertake responsibilities in the work place at an appropriate level and use the opportunity to assess your readiness to undertake a career in your chosen field
How will you be assessed?
You are assessed in a variety of ways. The majority of units are assessed through coursework portfolios essays and presentations or in a few cases in-class tests or exams. Presentations are usually given and assessed in the context of a group seminar. The emphasis within practical audio production units will be on developing your abilities to produce professional quality materials of increasing complexity as your course progresses towards its conclusion and using formative assessment alongside graded assignments.
At Level Four (during your First Year) you are assessed on your understanding of the fundamental concepts and disciplines that underpin professional broadcast radio and audio production. You are required to comprehend the basic range of intellectual concepts which form the foundations of the subject area and will be assessed on your ability to articulate such concepts in a coherent manner through a variety of both practical and written assessments. For example you will learn about content genres audiences and industrial dimensions of the audio and broadcast radio media.
At Level Five you are assessed on your ability to apply the basic production skills introduced in Level Four to the creation of more complex audio content. You will also develop a broader and deeper understanding of the structures and regulations that underpin radio broadcasting and audio within wider content regulation. You will be given the opportunity to begin to put your skills to professional use through participation in a work-place learning unit which will allow you to further contextualise your practical skills and theoretical knowledge of audio media.
At Level Six you will be required to demonstrate independent thinking and initiative. This may be in the form of analysing and critically appraising audio content or a particular broadcast radio institution or policy in an original manner. In relation to practical production work you will progress from well-defined briefs to more open-ended and challenging assessments which culminate in the delivery of your Special Project where you will be given freedom to choose your area of work.
Careers
The critical analytical and practical skills of this degree will prepare you for a range of careers. The most common destination will be in areas of audio production for example in commercial production houses or within broadcast radio. Roles can include those of researcher presenter broadcast assistant technical operator studio manager or producer.
Involvement may be in areas such as commercial production branding music as well as cultural or specialist programme production. However graduates may also also opt for freelance roles in audio creation for online and web-based companies or to develop careers in teaching publishing or public service.
Some students choose to continue in education and register on taught or research based Masters courses in media or business management. Students may also consider taking our MA in Mass Communications. Students can also continue onto PhDs by research which can lead to a career in higher education. The skill-set provided is also relevant for employment abroad.
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
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International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
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International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
Ìý
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.