
Division of Media, Communication and Performing Arts
Welcome to the Division of Media, Communication and Performing Arts where we have been delivering courses in culture, creativity and communication for over forty years. Our aim is to provide a stimulating and challenging environment where students combine academic study, creative practical work and opportunities for reflective, work-based learning. Our students benefit from the division’s links with businesses, professional practitioners, as well as Edinburgh’s unique artistic and cultural organisations, festivals, and events.
We deliver undergraduate and postgraduate courses that are relevant, stimulating, challenging and practical. They aim to provide students with the specialist knowledge, working practices, and high level communication skills that employers look for in graduates. Students are encouraged to challenge conventional assumptions, develop collaborative partnerships, explore their creativity, cultivate resilience and ultimately become ready to engage with their chosen professional careers. Our graduates go on to work in the creative industries, marketing, public relations, events, arts management, and beyond.
Within the division, learning is not limited to the classroom. Opportunities for work-based experiences exist across all of our courses, while students also have access to a range of specialist facilities and resources to support their studies. In addition to a range of production equipment, digital editing suites and post-production facilities, we also have a fully equipped and licensed studio theatre, five rehearsal studios and a costume design workshop. We also have international partnerships in Australia, Sweden, Canada, and the USA and every year a number of our undergraduate students take the opportunity to embark on an overseas exchange.
Our staff team is made up of many dedicated professionals and practitioners, all of whom have strong, current industry connections. Many are actively engaged in research and knowledge exchange, meaning that the content of our courses is up-to-date, thought-provoking and engages with contemporary questions and debates. In 2014, our submission to the Research Excellence Framework, in the field of Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, was ranked 1st in Scotland for world leading and internationally excellent publications and 12th in the UK on the same measures.




QMU is in the top 2 in Scotland for student satisfaction in Tourism, Transport and Travel (includes International Hospitality and Tourism Management, Events Management, and Public Relations, Marketing and Events courses) (Source: NSS 2020)
Free Skills Based Courses



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QMU teams up with Papple Steading to offer £27,000 digital media prizes for students
Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, is partnering with East Lothian's Papple Steading to off read more
25 March 2021Proposals sought for fee-waived Performing Arts Master of Research
As part of its 50 years of performing arts anniversary celebrations, Queen Margaret University (QMU) read more
15 December 2020QMU to offer new film education module
Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, is set to offer a new module aimed at those with experie read more
15 October 2020 More NewsThere are currently no items to display.
Decolonising the Curriculum: Silence is not an Option
Stephen Lawrence was a black British teenager who was murdered in an unprovoked racially motivated a read more
21 April 2021Masculine Affirmation - Filmmaking Research During the Pandemic
As an early-career researcher in the process of completing my PhD, I am often reminded of the develo read more
14 April 2021Cooking up a Storm: Discussions about Decolonisation
Discussing how to decolonise the curriculum in the middle of a pandemic might add an extra challenge read more
24 March 2021