Cross-Cultural Communication MA

Our course enables you to meet the growing need for increased knowledge in cross-cultural communication. You will receive communication-focused training and develop expertise in cross-cultural communication. The course covers understanding how cultures and human behaviour reflexively interconnect.

Changing social conditions and circumstances require new ways of dealing with people, and fresh ways of interacting and communicating with people of other cultures.

There is an urgent need to improve our knowledge and understanding of the processes and issues involved in cross-cultural communication, and to discover how such knowledge can be effectively applied in everyday experiences.

What this means in practice is that we need to develop our knowledge of why and how communication 'works' and how and why it sometimes does not 'work'.

The course answers questions including how cultural background impacts upon successful communication and how language, thought, and behaviour are interrelated.

The course is theoretically, practically and research oriented, and allows selection of one of six specialist pathways.

Our CCC courses are the only ones in the world to offer such a broad range of specialisms. This unique combination of expertise in cross-cultural communication and an additional area provides our graduates with enhanced employability in the competitive global marketplace.

We have an international student cohort, with up to 35 countries represented. Former students identify this as one of the main strengths of the course, as they are regularly working with peers from a wide range of national, linguistic and professional backgrounds. This provides everyone with an opportunity to develop their interpersonal and intercultural skills while studying.

Through the research portfolio, you are equipped with the analytical and theoretical skills required to understand and analyse communication in a wide range of settings. You learn about research in communication and cross-cultural communication from a range of perspectives, including:

social psychology
communication studies
intercultural communication studies
ethnography
discourse studies

The course has received praise from external examiners and the University's Internal Subject Review committee for the emphasis on teaching and assessing empirical, data-driven research. You receive training on the practical, theoretical and methodological skills required to conduct research relevant to the field of cross-cultural communication. This includes the various ways of collecting and analysing empirical data:

ethnographic observation
research interviews
questionnaire-based statistical analysis
discourse analysis.