Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies
Lugano, Switzerland
DURATION
4 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Aug 2025
TUITION FEES
CHF 52,750 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* annual tuition fee for international students per year | for Swiss/EU/EEA and US citizens / permanent residents and Canadian citizens: $48,500 per year
Introduction
Understand Complex Human Communication Processes
Communication and media are central features of our lives. From navigating relationships to crafting professions to engaging in local and global issues, we are always using communication and media. Recent years have seen the proliferation of media forms, technologies, and industries. Indeed, there has never been a better time to study communication and media. No matter what kind of work you do or what kind of life you live, understanding communication and media processes is fundamental to your health and wealth.
The Communication and Media Studies Program at Franklin focuses on four key threads in communication and media studies:
- Media forms, practices, technologies, and industries
- Empirical and critical media and communication research (with an emphasis on emerging and social media)
- Media uses and effects (individual, relational, cultural, and social)
- The relationship between media and global processes
Admissions
Curriculum
The major in Communication and Media Studies is particularly suited to students who are interested in pursuing media professions as well as for those who are interested in better understanding the role of communication and media in creating and maintaining well-functioning interpersonal relationships, organizations, and societies.
Required Courses (18 credits)
- COM 105 Introduction to Communication and Media Studies
- COM 201 Fundamentals of Media Studies and Criticism
- COM 203 Communication Research Methods
- COM 204 Media Ecology
- COM 301 Globalization and Media
- COM 350 Mediated Relationships
Capstone Requirement (3 credits)
One of the following:
- COM 497 Senior Research Seminar in Communication and Media Studies
- COM 498 Internship in Communication and Media Studies
Major Electives (12 credits)
Four of the following, two of which must be at or above the 300 level:
- COM 202 Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication
- COM 225T Technologized Bodies: Mobile ICTs in the City
- COM 230T Communication, Fashion, and the Formation of Taste (Italy)
- COM 295 Media Consumption, Fashion, and Identity
- COM 302 Intercultural Communication: Theory, Research, and Practice
- COM 310 Issues in Journalism
- COM 326 Digital Communication: Theory and Strategy
- COM 330 The Digital Innovation and Media Strategies for a New Consumer Culture
- COM 347 Organizational Communication
- COM 352 Environmental Discourses
- COM 370 Topics in Communication and Media Studies
- COM 497 Senior Research Seminar in Communication and Media Studies
- COM 498 Internship in Communication and Media Studies
Interdisciplinary Electives (6 credits)
Two of the following:
- COM XXX Any additional COM course
- AHT 213 Art and Ideas: Exploring Vision
- AHT 216 Introduction to the History of Photography
- AHT 338 The City and Its Representation in the 20th Century
- AHT 361 The Visual Culture of Disaster
- AHT 362 Visual Semiotics: Signs and Symbols in Art, Architecture, Film, and Fashion
- BUS 236T Marketing for Movies
- BUS 256 Marketing Research Methods
- BUS 274 Brand Management
- BUS 285 Integrated Marketing Communications
- BUS 308 Advanced Marketing Research and Data Analysis
- BUS 361 International Marketing
- BUS 383 Digital Marketing and Web Analytics
- BUS 385 Consumer Behavior in International Marketing
- BUS 410 Organizational Behavior and Leadership
- CLCS 200 Gender and Sexuality in a Global Context
- CLCS 220 Inventing the Past: The Uses of Memory in a Changing World
- CLCS 225 Music and Popular Culture from the 1950s to the 1990s
- CLCS 230 Science / Fiction: Envisioning the Possible
- CLCS 241 Forbidden Acts: Queer Studies and Performance
- CLCS 242 Representations of Poverty in Literature
- CLCS 243 The Cultural Politics of Sports
- CLCS 254 Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures and Theories
- CLCS 300 Masculinities in Literature and Film
- CLCS 320 Culture, Class, Cuisine: Questions of Taste
- CLCS 330 The Politics of Mobility: Exile and Immigration
- CLCS 340 Fashion and Visual Culture
- CLCS 350 Culture and Human Rights
- CLCS 360 Critical Race Studies in a Global Context
- CLCS 371 Law and Culture
- ECN 355 Political Economy: Theories and Issues
- ENV 200 Understanding Environmental Issues
- ENV 220 Ecocritical Approaches to Literature
- FRE 374 Introduction to French Cinema
- FRE 376 French Cinema: The New Wave
- GER 373 German Film as Medium of Culture
- GER 376 Screening Swissness: An Introduction to Swiss-German Film
- HIS 325 Human Rights in History
- IS 280T Italian Cinema on Location: Projections of the Eternal City in Italian Film and Cultural Studies
- ITA 353 Italian Theater Workshop
- ITA 374 Italian Cinema
- PSY 201 Social Psychology
- PSY 202 Developmental Psychology
- PSY 203 Theories of Personality
- PSY 210 Cognitive Psychology
- PSY 220 Multicultural Psychology
- PSY 310 Organizational Psychology
- PSY 315 Environmental Psychology
- STA 200 Computer Graphics in Advertising
- STA 209 The Video Essay: From Conception to Projection
- STA 279 The Video Essay and Photography on Location in Europe
- STA 300 Computer Graphics in Advertising, Advanced
Gallery
Program Tuition Fee
Scholarships and Funding
Franklin University Switzerland offers merit scholarships to admitted students based on academic achievements in high school and/or transferable undergraduate work. All undergraduate applicants are considered for merit awards as part of the admissions process, which are awarded at the point of admission with priority given to students applying by the December 1 deadline. Additional need-based scholarships may be awarded on top of merit scholarships, depending on a student’s need. Merit scholarships are renewable for up to four years or eight semesters.
Undergraduate Special Awards
Our competitive scholarship programs offer the most promising students the financial support they need to pursue their studies. These scholarship opportunities are awarded during the enrollment process for incoming students.
At FUS, we are committed to ensuring that talented students are able to access the best educational opportunities so that they can reach their full potential and make a positive impact at Franklin and beyond their studies. We offer generous scholarships and awards to make sure the most promising and motivated young minds are able to achieve their goals and make a positive impact on society.
The scholarship opportunities listed below are cumulative with other types of financial aid, and would be renewed annually to student recipients provided GPA requirements and other applicable conditions per scholarship type are maintained.
- SUNY-FUS 2 + 2 Jacques Villaret International Education Award for SUNY Community College Students
- Franklin Honors Program Award
- The Ambassador Wilfried Geens Award
- The Brian Stanford Award in Creative Practices
- The Ann Gardiner Award in Sustainability
- Life-Long Learning Scholarship