Critical & Creative Media

This nine-month Postgraduate Diploma (full-time) advances practical, research, and analytical thinking skills while deepening creative and theoretical engagement with media of all kinds. The programme combines critical thinking and cutting-edge creative practice to tackle the challenging environment of contemporary media industries. It develops a wide range of theoretical and practical approaches across several media forms, including film, interactive media, print, broadcast TV, and radio. It situates these media in their historic and social contexts, examining how people engage with them, their economic infrastructures, and technological forms, alongside hands-on practical engagement with media tools.



The programme's flexible structure also allows you to build a degree that suits you.



Students can follow one of our 3 pathways: Creative Media; Society and Justice; or History and Culture, or a programme of their own design. The programme also allows students to pursue their own interests by taking related modules from across a range of subjects available at MU.



We recommend that students register for the MA programme which gives the option to do the final dissertation/project. It is possible to decide against completing the MA, it is possible then to exit with the Postgraduate Diploma. Do get in contact to talk through your options.



This programme can be taken full-time or part-time.

The compulsory module Critical and Creative Media Research, lays the foundation for the programme in Semester One, building key skills for conducting media related research. This is followed by a second compulsory module Media Theory in second semester which provides the theoretical spine that underpins the subject.



All other modules during semesters one and two are elective. Students have the freedom to choose individual routes through the programme by selecting from our range of modules or by following one of our 3 pathways: Creative Media; Society and Justice; and History and Culture. Students may also take a number of media related modules from across a range of other subjects available at MU.



Course Duration: 1 year full-time, 2 years part-time

Applicants must have a recognised primary degree which is considered equivalent to Irish university primary degree level.



Minimum English language requirements



Applicants for whom English is not their first language are required to demonstrate their proficiency in English in order to benefit fully from their course of study. For information about English language tests accepted and required scores, please see here. The requirements specified are applicable for both EU and International applicants..



Maynooth University's TOEFL code is 8850

Applications are open for the 2025/6 academic year. Visit our online application portal to start your application.

We are here to support you throughout the admissions process.



For queries on your postgraduate course options please contact pgstudies@mu.ie

For queries or support on your application process please contact pgadmissions@mu.ie



If you are an international (Non-EU) applicant please contact internationaladmissions@mu.ie

Assessment for the modules will be based on 100 per cent coursework/in-class tests/dissertation.


Students who pass all of the taught modules but who fail to achieve a mark of at least 50 per cent in the dissertation are eligible for the award of a PG Diploma.

1 year Full-time, 2 years Part-time

Knowledge of, and skills in, mediated communication are required across a whole range of sectors. Media industries such as web design, games, film, and television all require understanding of the wider communication landscape, practical knowledge of production, and research skills. But it is also companies that interact with the public – that have communications and a wider social presence – that call for informed media graduates. Businesses include sports, arts, and heritage organisations, charities and NGOs, corporations and brands increasingly require media-trained graduates, particularly in the areas of content production and interactive media. They also demand the kinds of critical thinking, research skills, and creative problem-solving that are developed across this programme.