UCAS code
PP32Mode of Study
Full-time, Full-time sandwich with work placementDuration
3 years full-time, 4 years sandwich with work placementStart date
September 2023Overview
Take your interest in film and turn it into a promising career or pathway to further study with our Film Studies degree course.
You'll examine film and its related institutions from a contemporary perspective, focusing on the theories and concepts that define them. Guided by an internationally recognised team of researchers and academics, you’ll explore film's interrelationships with society, culture, identity, history, and the future, in areas ranging from fandom and popular culture to gender and global cinema. Our range of optional modules, industry talks and experiences, and local community and outreach connections in the curriculum will offer you a tailored degree experience to enhance your learning and enjoyment.
You’ll graduate from our course with a critical and global understanding of film. You'll also develop adaptable media skills in research, industry knowledge and communication, which will help you fashion your career in film or whatever field you choose.
Course highlights
- Take part in the annual Portsmouth Comic Con for the latest developments in film, popular culture, fan communities, and technology – course lecturers and students are panellists and run film screenings
- Screen your final-year film project at Portsmouth's established independent No. 6 Cinema and gain industry contacts
- Learn from widely published media experts and active researchers to add depth to your studies
- Be part of our extensive media culture at Portsmouth: you can write for student publications, collaborate with students on our Film Production and Television and Broadcasting courses, and participate in our student-led TV channel CCI TV
- Become an Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) to enhance your technical and production skills
Entry requirements
BA (Hons) Film Studies
Typical offers
- A levels – ABB–BBC
- UCAS points – 112-128 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent (calculate your UCAS points)
- T levels – Merit
- BTECs (Extended Diplomas) – DDM–DMM
- International Baccalaureate – 25
You may need to have studied specific subjects – see full entry requirements and other qualifications we accept
English language requirements
- English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.0 with no component score below 5.5.
See alternative English language qualifications
We also accept other standard English tests and qualifications, as long as they meet the minimum requirements of your course.
If you don't meet the English language requirements yet, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.
Facilities and specialist kit
Eldon Screening Room
Watch cinema from across the globe in our 80-seat lecture theatre, fitted with high-specification audio-visual technology, rich sound systems, and acoustic panelling.
Professional TV and film cameras
Broadcast and film in crystal clarity with our range of industry-level Sony, JVC and Canon cameras.
Video Editing Suite
Award-winning kit for future award-winning filmmakers. Our suite includes non-linear editing software Avid Media Composer and DaVinci Resolve, and specialist hardware for efficient film editing.
Equipment loan stores
Whatever your work, you can borrow computers and professional-standard film, photography, lighting, and performance equipment from our loan stores in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries.
Careers and opportunities
Along with theoretical and practical knowledge of film, you'll also graduate with a more nuanced understanding of the world. You'll develop methods for deconstructing its sociocultural ethics, means of representation, and constructs, and scrutinise environments more deeply. These analytical skills are crucial in many sectors within and outside media and film.
Many of our graduates begin their careers in communication, such as public relations and advertising. Some continue to postgraduate studies and research in multimedia, while others take teacher training to begin careers in higher and further education.
With such a flexible degree as our Film Studies course, you'll be able to explore many other possibilities.
Graduate roles
Roles our graduates have gone onto include:
- Content Creator
- Marketing Manager
- Theatrical Marketing Department Executive
- Lecturer
- Writer and researcher
- Videographer
Graduate destinations
Our graduates have worked at places such as:
- Pathé
- CIC Film Crew 4u
- Arrow Films
- Studio Canal
- Chichester College
Graduate success
James Cummings
Alumnus James co-wrote 'Boiling Point': an award-nominated indie film that's since been released nationwide. Learn how it was made, as well as how James feels about his growing recognition.
Ongoing careers support
Get experience while you study, with support to find part-time jobs, volunteering opportunities, and work experience.
Towards the end of your degree and for up to five years after graduation, you’ll receive one-to-one support from our Graduate Recruitment Consultancy to help you find your perfect role.
Placement year (optional)
Between your second and third year, you can complete an optional work placement to gain professional experience and enhance your skills. It's also a great incentive for employers once you graduate.
You can work for a company, organisation or agency, or you can go self-employed and start your own business with fellow students or by yourself.
Whatever you decide – or even if you just want some employability advice – our exclusive Creative Careers team can support you every step of the way.
Creative Careers
Our in-faculty Creative Careers team has extensive recruitment experience and knows the creative sector well, making it easier for students to find placements within the creative industries.
They can guide you through every step of the application process, including:
- Searching for the ideal job through their database of vacancies
- Giving tips on how to write an interesting CV that will catch employers' attention, no matter the role
- Organising mock interviews, so you can hone your technique and familiarise yourself with the recruitment environment
- Writing your startup business proposal – if you're going down the self-employment route
The team will continue to give you support throughout your placement year.
What you can do on a placement year
If you're thinking of doing a placement but not sure what role to take or where to go, we can steer you in a direction that fits your aspirations.
Check out our Creative Careers team's blog to find out where fellow film, media and communication students have interned during their studies.
Placement experiences
Our students have worked in a variety of capacities, areas, and countries for their placement years, developing their soft skills and film and media knowledge in professional environments. These include:
- Events organiser and coordinator for film festivals in France
- Working with independent filmmakers in Czechia
- Working in a social media and market research team at Mercedes Benz
- Working in a communications team at Vivid Homes
- Working in a production team at Global Fire Creative
What you'll study
Each module on this course is worth a certain number of credits.
In each year, you need to study modules worth a total of 120 credits. For example, 4 modules worth 20 credits and 1 module worth 40 credits.
Modules
Core modules
In the first year, we introduce key analytical strategies to understanding film and introduce the core areas of film theory. We’ll introduce you to a wide range of films and cinematic culture, and offer you a grounding in film production skills and the academic study skills needed for your degree. You’ll be supported by an assigned personal tutor, in a small tutor group.
What you'll do
Covering case studies from across the globe, we will investigate the diversity and shared global connections found across the cinema industry. You will learn about historical changes in representation, film language and culture, through examples of Japanese cinema, Spaghetti westerns, Australian cinema and much more.
Additional content
What you'll do
You'll learn to interpret the constituent elements of narrative screen media (mise en scene, editing, performance, sound/music) and investigate the critical approaches to visual form and style used in contemporary academic thought. Topics discussed may range from the critical analysis of authorship, genre, adaptation, realism and representation. You'll also consider the interdisciplinary insight offered by fields like literary theory, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology and philosophy and their influence on film and media analysis.
What you'll learn
When you successfully complete this module, you'll be able to:
- Demonstrate ability in the close analysis of audiovisual screen media
- Understand a range of conceptual and theoretical approaches to media analysis
- Develop skills in formulating arguments in response to a pre-existing academic debate
- Learn to articulate ideas in a rigorous, systematic and suitable manner
What you'll learn
Focusing on the disciplines of film and television studies, as well as recent developments in screen-based entertainment, the module will examine the changing nature of screen media and explore the people (creators and audiences), institutions and technologies of the screen industries.
Assessment
On this module, you'll be assessed through a online test, written essay and group presentation
Additional content
What you'll do
Looking at examples of Hollywood spectacle, censorship, new technologies, audiences and production, we will discuss how Hollywood history is repeated and reproduced as the industry strives to continue to make movies that both entertain and tell a story. The tension between spectacle and narrative will be discussed through a range of examples from early cinema and the latest blockbusters.
What you'll do
You'll also develop the capacity to produce and understand, and to stimulate an informed understanding of these practices that will underpin further critical and creative work and industry practice.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Recognise and apply practically audio-visual processes and skills in a range of media
- Work collaboratively on specific audio-visual projects, demonstrating organisational skills
- Demonstrate the ability to develop and design narratives, images and sequences that function within existing recognised formal systems
- Reflect on their own creative and organisational work and understand how to develop that in future projects and modules
- Produce effective and clear narrative project in and audio visual forms
- Work within established procedures to produce a film within health and safety requirements
Teaching activities
On this module you'll attend lectures, seminars and practical classes.
Independent study time
We recommend you spend at least 156 hours studying independently. This in on top of the 44 hours of scheduled teaching activities making the 200 hours expected for this 20 credit module. This is around 5 hours of independent study time a week over the duration of the module. Independent work, research and group project development and production are key to this unit.
Assessment
On this module, you'll be assessed through:
- an individual project proposal (20% of final mark)
- an individual pre-production portfolio including visual preparation and planning (40% of final mark)
- a group project final short film and production paperwork portfolio (40% of final mark)
What you'll do
You will develop your skills on proposal development, screenwriting and pitching ideas.
Additional content
Core modules
In your second year, you’ll start focusing on your own interests and specialisms through an optional production strand and a variety of modules on film and media culture. You’ll be offered many experiences – including industry talks – to help support your career development and build up to an optional year-long placement between your second and third years.
What you'll do
You'll explore how curation practices and exhibition structures invite critical questions about power, taste, community building and representation. You'll also develop professional skills by curating film events (in groups) and working in the real-life environment of a local film festival - Portsmouth's Making Waves Film Festival.
What you'll learn
When you successfully complete this module, you'll be able to:
- Understand the landscape of film curation and exhibition in the UK and its global links
- Critically discuss the contribution of film festivals to fostering film cultures and communities
- Understand the set of practices involved in curating film events and apply these appropriately to the production of film event programme
- Critically reflect on your own curatorial practice in relation to questions of power, ethics and representation
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Interpret, analyse and explain aesthetic, thematic, political and economic concerns of transnational films and filmmakers.
- Apply key theoretical reading to analysis of films.
- Critically assess how new technologies, production and exhibition contexts impact on national and transnational filmmaking.
- Evaluate the relationship of film to wider geo-political agendas and concerns.
- Critically understand and articulate distribution, marketing and reception of transnational work.
Optional modules
What you'll do
You'll look at topics including comic book to film adaptation, representation, revisionism, global markets, international forms and narratives, and nostalgia and canon. You'll explore case studies in the context of contemporary academic dialogues on comics and popular culture, and art and the visual image.
You'll develop your research skills, including the use of specialist databases, to help prepare you for further study.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Contextualise industrial and historical factors within Comic Book industries
- Outline and dissect appropriately-pitched theoretical and industrial research material relevant to the subject area
- Analyse Comic Book texts within their production and consumption contexts
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Develop independent, analytical and creative attributes, through engaging imaginatively with new areas of investigation within and across discipline boundaries
- Demonstrate the ability to be effective team players, able to provide leadership and to support the success of others
- Communicate clearly and effectively, in a range of forms and to different audiences
What you'll do
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Develop a critical and reflective appreciation of the relationship between film and ethics, with an ability and readiness to question the principles, practices and boundaries of film practice and analysis, allied to a commitment to social justice issues such as equality, respect and sustainability.
- Engage in an interdisciplinary approach that combines a contextual analysis of film with a detailed consideration of professional practice, bringing the insights of both together to better enhance the transferable skills developed in each subject area.
- Develop a future career strategy informed by a considered duty of care both to one's self, one's co-workers and to one's future employers, at the heart of which will be a self-critical understanding of the ethics of professional practice that can be applied across a range of different career contexts.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Use appropriate equipment and techniques to develop a video-based project, using the relevant health and safety policies and procedures
- Collaborate effectively with group members and contribute to team projects
- Use time management skills to complete tasks within allotted schedules
- Demonstrate a reflective understanding of the interrelation of theory and practice within your own work, and the work of other practitioners
- Demonstrate advanced audio-visual literacy and camera skills
- Use post-production skills to inform your appreciation of film and video
Additional content
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Use appropriate equipment and techniques to develop a video-based project, using the relevant health and safety policies and procedures
- Collaborate effectively with group members and contribute to team projects
- Use time management skills to complete tasks within allotted schedules
- Demonstrate a reflective understanding of the interrelation of theory and practice within your own work and the work of other practitioners
- Demonstrate an understanding of film grammar and narrative
Additional content
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Reflect on their learning and experience to date and use this as a basis to plan and organise suitable work experience(s) that will enable the development of their professional profile.
- Propose a programme of learning that enables the development and demonstration of specified professional skills.
- Critically evaluate their learning and experience and relate this to their future career goals.
- Communicate the outcomes of their experience through the effective use of reflective practice.
What you'll do
You'll research genre through focused case studies in the horror genre, looking at its inception and main categorisations, and at hybridity and cross-media presentations. You'll explore the production, reception and consumption of horror texts to question the validity of using genre as a category in critical studies.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Discuss the role of genre as a categorisation
- Explain the critical and economic considerations of media texts
- Evaluate texts in institutional, historical and cultural contexts
- Recognise and analyse the cultural relevance of genre in various media
Additional content
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Analyse the complexities of launching a startup business
- Critically reflect upon the factors which contribute towards successful market research, marketing, manufacturing, and selling
- Recognise suitability for specific roles in business and collaborative working
What you'll do
The cross disciplinary nature of this module equips you with employability skills required by creative transmedia industries. You'll develop practical approaches and team work skills, combined with theoretical underpinning, to develop your own transmedia franchise.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Critically examine commercial and grassroots texts that contribute to larger media franchises (mobisodes and webisodes, comics, games)
- Trace the historical context from which modern transmedia practices emerge
- Understand the processes of transmedia narrative structures
- Develop and pitch transmedia strategies around an existing or proposed media property in a team
- Conduct, apportion and complete research within planning processes
- Successfully execute a student proposed transmedia project
What you'll learn
The learning objectives of this module are to be confirmed.
What you'll do
You will study the impact of legislation, changing film markets and issues surrounding the representation of 'Britishness' on screen. With a particular focus on gender, race and class, you will offer your thoughts on how ideas about nationality are filtered through the lens of cinema. Case studies include gangster films, the impact of social realism, popular music culture and the impact of specific producers, studios and politics on British films.
Additional content
What you'll do
You'll explore issues and debates around with contemporary radio production, from the challenges brought about by the on-demand multi-platform consumption environment to the ethical and regulatory issues that shape production and broadcast opportunities. You'll also learn how to write scripts, research and interview for broadcast, engage an audience with compelling content and use your voice effectively to present different styles of radio programming.
What you'll learn
When you successfully complete this module, you'll be able to:
- Understand and recount the history radio broadcasting and its adaptation to the digital age
- Understand and recount of the institutional landscape of the contemporary UK radio sector and associated global platforms
- Critically discuss issues affecting radio production in the age of convergence, multi-platform and on-demand media consumption
- Understand the legal, ethical and regulatory issues that shape production and broadcast opportunities and apply it to their own practice
- Apply a set of practical and critical skills to produce a radio/podcast artefact
What you'll do
You'll enhance your learning experience by adding a global dimension to your studies.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Manage and complete tasks in an overseas study environment relevant to your course, with an appropriate level of skill, independence and performance
- Reflect on your personal development and how your employability prospects have been enhanced by the exchange
Assessment
On this module, you'll be assessed through a portfolio (100% of final mark).
Additional content
Optional modules
During your studies here, you can take a year-long study or placement to help gain relevant global and industry experience. These year-long options are completed in year three of a four-year sandwich degree structure – after your second year.
Throughout your degree, we’ll offer you opportunities for paid part-time work, volunteering, self employment and other ways to develop a full CV while completing your studies. If you don't want to take a full year in a placement, we can help you find your own pathway to industry experience.
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Demonstrate increasing autonomy, with reduced need for supervision and direction, within defined guidelines
- Communicate a detailed knowledge of the contexts of business and industry specific practices relevant to their chosen field and an awareness of a variety of ideas, contexts and frameworks within self-employment, freelancing or business startups
- Develop working professional relationships within industry/business disciplines
- Proactively evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses, and develop their own criteria and judgement relating to their business practice, future learning and future employability goals
Assessment
On this module, you'll be assessed through a portfolio (100% of final mark).
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Demonstrate increasing autonomy, with a reduced need for supervision and direction, within defined guidelines
- Communicate a detailed knowledge of the contexts of business and industry specific practices relevant to their chosen field and an awareness of a variety of ideas, contexts and frameworks within self-employment, freelancing or business startups
- Develop working professional relationships within industry/business disciplines
- Proactively evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses, and develop their own criteria and judgement relating to their business practice, future learning and future employability goals
What you'll do
With the support of the Creative Careers team, you can find, apply for and complete a year of a work placement with a variety of employers - previous placements have been offered from NBC, Disney, Warner Bros. and a variety of SME's in the region.
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Demonstrate increasing autonomy, with a reduced need for supervision and direction, within defined guidelines
- Communicate a detailed knowledge of the contexts of business and industry specific practices relevant to their chosen field and an awareness of a variety of ideas, contexts and frameworks within their chosen area of employment or self-employment
- Develop working professional relationships within industry/business disciplines
- Proactively evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses, and develop their own criteria and judgement relating to their business practice, future learning and future employability goals
What you'll do
Study abroad placements are done in year 3 of a 4 year sandwich degree structure. Enhance your learning experience by adding a global dimension to your studies and develop knowledge and skills essential for roles in the global workforce. Participation in this module is subject to a selection process, supply and demand you'll be assessed on a pass/fail basis.
Where activity is to be undertaken in a non-English speaking country, you'l need to evidence your language ability and plans for improving your language competency.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Critically assess how activities relate to disciplinary knowledge and practice covered on your course within a global context
- Manage and complete tasks in an overseas study environment relevant to your course, with an appropriate level of skill, independence and performance
- Reflect critically on your personal development during your study abroad, identifying the transferable skills you acquired and their relevance to future study and employability
Teaching activities
5 hours of tutorials
Independent study time
We recommend you spend at least 20 hours studying independently. This is around half an hour a week over the duration of the module.
Assessment
On this module, you'll be assessed through:
- a 2,000 portfolio (pass/fail, pass mark of 40)
What you'll do
Study abroad placements are done in year 2 of a three year degree. Enhance your learning experience by adding a global dimension to your studies and develop knowledge and skills essential for roles in the global workforce. Participation in this module is subject to a selection process, supply and demand you'll be assessed on a pass/fail basis.
Where travelling to a non-English speaking country, you'l need to evidence your language ability and plans for improving your language competency.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Critically assess how activities relate to disciplinary knowledge and practice covered on your course within a global context
- Manage and complete tasks in an overseas study environment relevant to your course, with an appropriate level of skill, independence and performance
- Reflect critically on your personal development during your study abroad, identifying the transferable skills you acquired and their relevance to future study and employability
Teaching activities
3 hours of tutorials
Independent study time
We recommend you spend at least 20 hours studying independently. This is around 1 hour a week over the duration of the module.
Assessment
On this module, you'll be assessed through:
- a 2,000 portfolio (pass/fail, pass mark of 40)v
Optional modules
In your final year, your subject interests will guide your final year project (written or video production) and optional modules informed by your lecturers' research specialisms.
What you'll do
You'll develop your knowledge of research and writing skills. You'll also receive ten hours of one-to-one tutorial support.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Use analysis and enquiry techniques within an ethical framework
- Critically evaluate theories and data to form a judgement, frame further questions and identify potential solutions
- Use current research or equivalent advanced scholarship in the relevant field
- Manage your own learning
- Communicate in writing to a specialist audience
What you'll do
You will learn about film and gender theory, feminist theory, postfeminism, trans and queer theory, and theories of masculinity as we apply key ideas to a range of exciting case studies from film and television. You will have a chance to engage with key debates and apply what you have learnt to case studies of your choice for the assessed work.
Additional content
What you'll do
You will cover approaches to marketing and releasing, including the development of marketing, how trailers and posters create a specific image. You will analyse box office results to assess the relative success of a given film. This module focuses on the theatrical release of films, but the concepts can be applied to other forms of media release and promotion. Topics covered will include how the star system, genre, auteurism, intellectual property and franchises or ideas of prestige via awards and film festivals, play a part in the film business.
Additional content
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
- Critically evaluate different theoretical approaches to the study of audiences and fans.
- Analyse the social, cultural and economic premises and consequences of media fandom across different texts and their contexts.
- Articulate and demonstrate an understanding of the wide range of discrete practices of media fan communities.
- Research and defend a theoretical position with regard to questions of media fan cultures and their related fan practices.
What you'll do
You'll also learn how to create a video to industry standards and requirements.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Work as part of a team to produce practical projects
- Research and develop appropriate skills for a chosen production role
- Apply time, scheduling, project and resource management skills to practical projects
- Complete projects to a predetermined schedule
- Apply knowledge of equipment, techniques and resources to the production of video
- Work in a professional manner that follows industry practices
- Understand the connection between film and media theory and production practice
What you'll do
You’ll focus on the distinction between 'factual' and 'fictional' science, and draw on history and theory to examine how science, technology and the figure of the scientist have been represented in a variety of media forms. These include literature, cinema, television, advertising, new media and journalism.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Critically discuss the role of the mass media in our understanding of the world, including the consequences and effects of social and technological change on that media and understanding
- Evaluate diverse representations of mediated science and technology in a variety of institutional, cultural and historical contexts
- Recognise and critique the wider social and cultural relevance of science and technology, as well as the implications of its mass mediation, in contemporary society
What you'll do
You’ll develop your knowledge of research methods for both visual and written sources.
What you'll learn
When you complete this module successfully, you'll be able to:
- Evaluate animation styles, designs and the visual practices commonly associated with familiar animated texts
- Apply various codes and visual practices to a variety of animation styles
- Evaluate agency, authorship, national and industrial factors in animation
- Demonstrate the use of both primary and secondary arguments for a written piece of work
- Review your own methods, learning process and application of research
What you'll learn
The learning outcomes of this module are:
-
Engage with key debates and theories within the field of contemporary comedy history and theory.
-
Articulate how secondary and primary research can be expressed within written piece of work.
-
Assess agency, authorship and industrial factors within a variety of national, political, social and cultural contexts.
-
Employ the use of differing academic perspectives in the scholarly analysis of comedy.
Changes to course content
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.
Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry. If a module doesn't run, we'll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.
How you’re assessed
You’ll be assessed through:
- essays
- presentations
- video productions
- film scripts
- reports
- a research portfolio
- dissertation or video project
You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.
You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.
Teaching
Teaching methods on this course include:
- workshops
- seminars
- lectures
- one-to-one tutorials
- filming/editing workshops
- film screenings
How you'll spend your time
One of the main differences between school or college and university is how much control you have over your learning.
We use a blended learning approach to teaching, which means you’ll take part in both face-to-face and online activities during your studies. As well as attending your timetabled classes you'll study independently in your free time, supported by staff and our virtual learning environment, Moodle.
Term dates
The academic year runs from September to June. There are breaks at Christmas and Easter.
Supporting your learning
The amount of timetabled teaching you'll get on your degree might be less than what you're used to at school or college, but you'll also get support via video, phone and face-to-face from teaching and support staff to enhance your learning experience and help you succeed. You can build your personalised network of support from the following people and services:
Types of support
Your personal tutor helps you make the transition to independent study and gives you academic and personal support throughout your time at university.
You'll have regular contact with your personal tutor in learning activities or scheduled meetings. You can also make an appointment with them if you need extra support.
In addition to the support you get from your personal tutor, you’ll also have access to a Faculty student support advisor. They can give you confidential, impartial advice on anything to do with your studies and personal wellbeing and refer you to specialist support services.
You'll have help from a team of faculty academic skills tutors. They can help you improve and develop your academic skills and support you in any area of your study.
They can help with:
- improving your academic writing (for example, essays, reports, dissertations)
- delivering presentations (including observing and filming presentations)
- understanding and using assignment feedback
- managing your time and workload
- revision and exam techniques
If you need support with software and equipment or you want to learn additional skills (including skills not covered on your course), our creative skills tutors provide free workshops, activities and one-on-one tutorials. Skills you can learn include life drawing, film camera operation and video production.
Computing support staff are always available to give technical support in the Faculty's computer suites during normal working hours. There's also some support available from 5.00pm to midnight at busy times of the year.
As well as support from faculty staff and your personal tutor, you can use the University’s Academic Skills Unit (ASK).
ASK provides one-to-one support in areas such as:
- academic writing
- note taking
- time management
- critical thinking
- presentation skills
- referencing
- working in groups
- revision, memory and exam techniques
If you have a disability or need extra support, the Additional Support and Disability Centre (ASDAC) will give you help, support and advice.
Our online Learning Well mini-course will help you plan for managing the challenges of learning and student life, so you can fulfil your potential and have a great student experience.
You can get personal, emotional and mental health support from our Student Wellbeing Service, in person and online. This includes 1–2–1 support as well as courses and workshops that help you better manage stress, anxiety or depression.
If you require extra support because of a disability or additional learning need our specialist team can help you.
They'll help you to
- discuss and agree on reasonable adjustments
- liaise with other University services and facilities, such as the library
- access specialist study skills and strategies tutors, and assistive technology tutors, on a 1-to-1 basis or in groups
- liaise with external services
Library staff are available in person or by email, phone, or online chat to help you make the most of the University’s library resources. You can also request one-to-one appointments and get support from a librarian who specialises in your subject area.
The library is open 24 hours a day, every day, in term time.
If English isn't your first language, you can do one of our English language courses to improve your written and spoken English language skills before starting your degree. Once you're here, you can take part in our free In-Sessional English (ISE) programme to improve your English further.
Course costs and funding
Tuition fees
- UK/Channel Islands and Isle of Man students – £9,250 a year (may be subject to annual increase)
- EU students – £9,250 a year, including our Transition Scholarship (may be subject to annual increase)
- International students – £17,200 a year (subject to annual increase)
You won't pay any extra tuition fees to another university for taking part in a study/work abroad activity if you choose to do it for the whole academic year. During a year abroad you'll only have to pay a reduced fee to the University of Portsmouth.
Funding your studies
Find out how to fund your studies, including the scholarships and bursaries you could get. You can also find more about tuition fees and living costs, including what your tuition fees cover.
Applying from outside the UK? Find out about funding options for international students.
Additional course costs
These course-related costs aren’t included in the tuition fees. So you’ll need to budget for them when you plan your spending.
Costs breakdown
Our accommodation section show your accommodation options and highlight how much it costs to live in Portsmouth.
You’ll study up to 6 modules a year. You may have to read several recommended books or textbooks for each module.
You can borrow most of these from the Library. If you buy these, they may cost up to £60 each.
We recommend that you budget £75 a year for photocopying, memory sticks, DVDs and CDs, printing charges, binding and specialist printing.
If your final year includes a major project, there could be cost for transport or accommodation related to your research activities. The amount will depend on the project you choose.
During your placement year or study abroad year, you’ll be eligible for a discounted rate on your tuition fees. Currently, this discount amounts to 90% of the year’s fees.
Tuition fees for that year are:
- UK/Channel Islands and Isle of Man students – £925 a year (may be subject to annual increase)
- EU students – £925 a year, including Transition Scholarship (may be subject to annual increase)
- International students – £1,800 a year (subject to annual increase)
The costs associated with your specific destination will be discussed during your second year, as well as possible sources of additional funding.
You may need to buy items such as DVDs and MiniDV tapes to use on practical units, which cost approximately £20–£30.
You’ll need to cover the material costs for individual project work, which usually costs £50–£100.
Apply
How to apply
To start this course in 2023, apply through UCAS. You'll need:
- the UCAS course code – PP32
- our institution code – P80
If you'd prefer to apply directly, use our online application form.
You can also sign up to an Open Day to:
- Tour our campus, facilities and halls of residence
- Speak with lecturers and chat with our students
- Get information about where to live, how to fund your studies and which clubs and societies to join
If you're new to the application process, read our guide on applying for an undergraduate course.
How to apply from outside the UK
See the 'How to apply' section above for details of how to apply. You can also get an agent to help with your application. Check your country page for details of agents in your region.
To find out what to include in your application, head to the how to apply page of our international students section.
If you don't meet the English language requirements for this course yet, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.
Admissions terms and conditions
When you accept an offer to study at the University of Portsmouth, you also agree to abide by our Student Contract (which includes the University's relevant policies, rules and regulations). You should read and consider these before you apply.