The Key to Success in Media Studies Starts with a Strong Foundational Program

If you want to attend a media or communication program at Centennial College but feel that you may need a base first, the Communication and Media Foundations offering may be for you. This program is designed to offer students a pathway to three-year advanced diploma offerings such as Advertising & Marketing Communications Management, Journalism, and Broadcasting and Film. In fact, students who complete the two semesters of this program receive an offer of admission to the undertaking of their choice.

There are two ways to get into this foundational undertaking. First, applicants who apply to, but who do not meet the admission requirements for Broadcasting and Film, Journalism, or Advertising and Marketing Communication Management, may receive an alternate offer to the Communications and Media Foundations program. Secondly, applicants are required to have completed an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent, or mature student status (19 years or older) as well as Grade 12 English C or U, or equivalent (minimum grade required) or take the Centennial College English Skills Assessment for Admission.

The offering is based at the Centre for Creative Communications, which is important because this location houses all the other programs from the School of Communication, Media and Design. As such, students get a good idea of what to expect from the college environment and have the opportunity to network with students from other programs to get an idea of workload, assignments and more.

The Communications and Media Foundations offering itself focuses on developing students’ communication skills and at the same time, introducing them to the communications and media industries. Through lectures led by media professionals and practical application of skills, students gain confidence as they become familiar with ins and outs of the media world.

The range of topics covered within the offering includes everything from appropriate use of vocabulary, terminology, basic numeracy and communicative strategies necessary in the communications and media environment to applying theoretical principles to produce practical, focused written communications and media solutions. However, there is also emphasis on the students’ roles as media professionals, which entails them examining their roles and responsibilities as global citizens in personal and professional life as well as exploring beliefs, values and behaviours that form individual and community identities and the basis for respectful relationships. As a result of this media education foundation, students are able to create and maintain a forum in social media networks using rich media applications; research and describe media forms, audiences, platforms, and “traditional” and non-traditional communication methods; apply developed English language skills to a presentation portfolio; write and present in basic narrative formats for a variety of media platforms and apply knowledge of communications and media workplaces, environments and practices to develop job search strategies and early career success strategies.