studying for a masters

how it works

A ThinkSpace Masters degree brings all the advantages that studying online offers. You don't have to relocate, give up or change jobs, or interrupt your life or family commitments.

Our flexible schedules enable you to get qualified from as little as 8 hours of study per week. You can also pause and resume your studies later if life gets in the way.

We are not your average film scoring school. From day one, you will be part of a thriving online community of hundreds of students from 52 countries around the world.

explore masters SUBJECTS
 masters degrees start september 2024
Would you like email updates about upcoming open days and deadlines?
REgister for more information

Join ThinkSpace, Join arts university bournemouth

Your degree is awarded by our academic partner, Arts University Bournemouth (AUB). Soon after you start your ThinkSpace Masters, you'll also receive your own AUB email account (useful for student discounts) and your degree certificate will be issued by the university.

Home to one of the UK's best film schools, AUB is a public university on the south coast of England, with a history dating back to the 1880s. AUB provides academic oversight across all our degrees to ensure high-quality education.

Image

learning that fits around your life

FLEXIBLE SCHEDULES

We offer a range of flexible schedules to suit your situation. A 12-month full-time MA course can also be studied part-time over 24 or 36 months. A 24-month full-time MFA course can be studied part-time over 36 or 48 months. Plus if you start on a full-time schedule and find it's too much you can swap to a slower part-time schedule instead. You can even pause your degree altogether and resume it later.

FINANCING & STUDENT LOANS

Our Masters degrees start at just £11,750. Through our payment gateway, Flywire, you can pay in affordable monthly installments throughout your course. Part-time schedules help spread the cost of your course over a longer period of time. Eligible students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland can apply for a government postgraduate student loan, which you only start repaying when your income exceeds a certain level.

all the ways you'LL learn

We provide you with a wide variety of learning resources. Some people use all of them; others prefer some more than others. But like everything else in the ThinkSpace universe, the key here is flexibility. Video tutorials, course text, assignments, your calendar with links to webinars and support is all provided through our custom-built Virtual Learning Environment.


ONE-TO-ONE TUTORIALS

One-to-one tutorials are one of the most popular aspects of our courses. You can choose from a wide range of teaching staff – Grammy-winning producers, AAA games composers and sound designers, award-winning composers. It's an amazing opportunity to get personal mentorship from world-class professionals, focused entirely around your work and what you need to do to hit that professional standard.


LIVE WORKSHOPS & WEBINARS

Every week there are live webinars on a vast range of topics, and you’re not only limited to webinars from your course. So indulge your curiosity – you never know what you’re going to discover. Can’t make the webinar live? Don’t worry, all our webinars are recorded so you can check it out at a time to suit you. Because of our flexible schedules, students on the same course can quickly get out of sync with each other. Whether you are able to catch a webinar or not, it won’t get in the way of you completing your next assignment.


VIDEO TUTORIALS & COURSE TEXT

Your course includes a wealth of exclusive video tutorials – an incredible resource that brings you the wisdom and insights of dozens of world class professionals. A module might contain anything from a few hours to dozens of hours of video content. They might be show-how videos implementing sound design in middleware, over the shoulder scoring or mixing demonstrations, interviews and discussions and much more.


PROJECT WORK

Our courses will have you working on projects taken right from the industry you're training for. You might be asked to write and produce a song from scratch, write music to picture, create and implement sound design for part of a game – all tasks that a creative professional would be asked to do as part of their working life. Many of your assignment projects are commissioned from real-world professional projects, or built in-house, so you can hone your skills in the same environment as a working composer or audio professional.

You may be asked to provide written commentaries alongside your work, but we focus on practical training and skills as much as possible. Don’t worry. Most of our students have been out of education for many years or are not familiar with academic writing. That’s why we have a dedicated team of academic teaching staff to help you get up to speed.


TEAM LEADER DROP-IN SESSIONS

We divide our students into teams of roughly 30 students, all of whom have a dedicated Team Leader. Your Team Leader is your point of contact who can help with all kinds of questions to do with your course, and will hold regular drop-in sessions to answer any questions you have. You will also become acquainted with fellow students in your team, so you have access to a small network of students to discuss your work and studies.


INDEPENDENT READING & RESEARCH

Despite the wealth of learning resources we provide you with, this is a postgraduate degree and there is an expectation that you will be able to do some research of your own. Independent research, reading, watching films, listening to music, reading articles, problem solving – this is all part of the learning experience. You may need to buy some books, subscribe to services like Netflix and Spotify, or subscribe to an academic portal like JSTOR. If you want a comprehensive list of these requirements, simply get in touch.

LIFETIME ACCESS TO MATERIALS  ...FOR EVERY THINKSPACE COURSE

As a degree students you not only get lifetime access to all your course materials, but also the materials for all our other Masters degrees. For example, if you graduate in MA Professional Media Composition, you also get the course materials for MA Composing for Video Games at no extra cost. Plus you have access to every new live webinar and guest lecture across all our degrees, every course update and addition, every new degree we launch, and every one of our short online courses. It's an amazing opportunity to continue learning long after your graduate.

your supportive network

CONNECT WITH FELLOW STUDENTS

ThinkSpace students are a very sociable bunch. You'll be part of a community of hundreds of students studying in countries all over the world. When you first join the course, you'll be allocated to a team, which is a small group of students led by a member of the teaching staff. Student representatives make sure everyone is included and everyone's voice is heard.

FIRST-CLASS STUDENT SUPPORT

Supporting our students is a core part of what we do. So whether you have an academic or technical problem, mental health issues, or simply want some clarification or guidance. We are here to help.

Employment support programme

HELPING YOU SECURE YOUR FIRST ROLE

Many of our degrees include an optional Employment Support Programme, giving you valuable assistance in securing a great job once you graduate. 
 
This bootcamp-style program helps you enhance your demo reel, refine your website, build your professional network, identify job prospects, and improve your pitching abilities. Through a combination of live workshops, video tutorials, and course materials, it provides you with the essential support, training, and motivation required to embark on the fulfilling career you deserve.

REQUEST MORE INFORMATION

Interested in learning amore about our Masters degrees? Connect with us to find out more and get answers to any questions you might have. We recommend arranging a 1-to-1 chat with one of our course advisors.

postgraduate@thinkspace.ac.uk

+44 (0)1243 256049

Register below to receive more degree information by email, be notified about upcoming open days and deadlines, and have the chance to book an informal 1-to-1 chat with a course advisor.


How to apply

To make an initial application you will need to fill out the application form, write a short cover letter and provide a few examples of your music / sound design. You will find a detailed explanation of the process on the applications page.

Start your application