FoundationFoundation Year in Media
Why study a media foundation year?
Immerse yourself in a wide variety of media platforms to develop your creative and technical skills, as well as your academic skills, before starting your three-year undergraduate degree.
- 0thin the UK for teaching quality in communication and media studies, out of 80 institutions (Times Good Uni Guide 2026
- 0thin the UK in film production and photography, out of 70 institutions (Guardian Uni Guide 2026)
- Top0best student city (StudentCrowd, 2024)
- Develop a broad range of skills across a range of media platforms before starting your undergraduate degree.
- Begin developing your portfolio of media production work including video, photography and graphic design.
- You'll have immediate access to specialist equipment.
- Our foundation year will help you to ‘find-your-feet’ and acclimatise to the university experience, gaining a head start for when you start your own undergraduate programme.
- Many of the academic team on the foundation year also teach on the degree-level courses.
Course overview
The Foundation Year in Media provides you with the opportunity to develop technical, creative, and academic skills across a range of media platforms including graphic design, screenwriting, marketing, branding, video production, digital photography, and blogging.
Understanding that students are joining the Foundation Year from a range of previous experiences, the course is specifically designed to acclimatise you to the university experience and foster confidence and a creative community.
Your first semester introduces essential skills in photography, audio production, and creative design, alongside introducing foundational professional skills for all media creatives. These are all key skills, whether you see yourself as a content creator, a sports journalist, a film director, a TV producer, or any other role in the creative sector.
Your second semester introduces essential skills in video production and post-production alongside key skills in production design and production management. The year culminates with the School of Creative Industries Showcase. Here, you'll collaborate with students from music, art and design and digital arts collaborate to produce your own individual showpiece contribution to our end-of-year event.
Throughout the year, you’ll be encouraged to situate your own creativity within established traditions and styles while beginning to identify your own storytelling voice and signature style. You'll also be introduced to the significance of the creative industries within the UK economy and will be encouraged to begin positioning yourself within this growing and exciting, but competitive, sector.
By the end of the year, you will feel competent in photography, video production, and graphic design. You will have developed your writing skills and have begun to discover your own voice and professional identity. Ultimately you will feel more confident about your own place in the creative industries giving you a head start on any creative undergraduate degree programme.
Any questions?
Contact international admissions
Email:Â Call:ÂWho this course is for
The Foundation Year in Media is designed to help you build basic media-making skills ahead of starting a full undergraduate media-related degree at Solent. Typical candidates either haven’t yet met the entry requirements needed to start on the first year of an undergraduate course or have spent time away from education.
- Foundation years are designed to help prepare you for undergraduate study and are ideal for gaining an introduction into your chosen subject area.
- If you've been out of education for a while, a foundation year provides a supportive environment for returning to studying.
- Foundation year students have access to the same facilities, and academic and student support as students on undergraduate degrees.
What you'll study
Find your degree
Meet the team
The teaching team for the foundation year is made up of lecturers who also teach on the degree courses.
Entry requirements
48 UCAS tariff points
- A-levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma at PPP or BTEC Diploma at MP, a T-Level Pass (D or E), or equivalent.
- We will consider mature students who have not recently undertaken a formal course of study at A-level, or equivalent, but can demonstrate relevant work or voluntary experience, that's indicative of their ability to complete the course successfully.
For international and EU students
- As a general guide, we look for qualifications that are equivalent to the British high school A-levels.
- If you are applying from outside the UK, find information about entry requirements, visas and agents for your country here.
- For further information about qualifications, please contact admissions.
Contextual offers
Solent endeavours to offer learning opportunities to students from all backgrounds. When we receive and review an application, we take into consideration the context and personal circumstances of applicants when making a decision, which means our advertised entry tariff could be reduced.
Language requirements
Applicants who do not have English as their first language will be required to demonstrate an approved level of proficiency in the use of the English language. The agreed minimum requirements for this course are:
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IELTS 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each individual component, or equivalent.
Qualifications
Qualifications are checked before enrolment, and international students must bring their original certificates or certified copies when coming to study at the University.
The University also offers a pre-sessional English programme for international students who wish to improve their level of English before starting a degree course.
Find your degree
Our foundation years are designed to offer a broad range of academic skills alongside a taste of the wider industry before you start your chosen specialist undergraduate degree. Some degrees also include a year in industry, meaning you can gain valuable first-hand work experience with a year-long full-time work placement between the second and third years of your degree.
Applying is simple, just:
- 1
Find the undergraduate degree you’re interested in studying, and explore the course page – this is also where you’ll find the modules you will study throughout your degree.
- 2
Make sure you’ve selected a ‘foundation year’ (or foundation year and year in industry) variant; you’ll find this under ‘Course length’, near the top of the relevant course page.
- 3
Click the ‘Apply on UCAS’ button, and check the UCAS summary mentions ‘foundation year’ under ‘Study mode’.
And don’t worry if you discover a new skill or subject you love during your foundation year, it’s easy to switch to another linked degree!
