The Department's Distance Learning MA course in Mass Communications is the first of its kind. Following the lead we took in the development of postgraduate teaching in the field of communication and media in the UK in the early 1970s, we have continued to innovate by launching the first UK-based distance learning taught MA degree programme. The programme accepted its first students in September 1995. Since then more than 500 people from around the globe have registered and successfully completed the degree. There are nearly 200 students studying for the degree at the present time.