Visual Culture - Master's Programme

If you’re interested in visual practices, media critique or cultural research, this programme gives you the tools you need to decode the visual world. From viral images and advertising to art, the programme explores how images influence and reflect modern life, shaping social realities. You will study a wide range of visual phenomena, including artworks, news and documentary images, advertisements, and more, across both analogue and digital media like photography, film, video, television, and urban environments.

The curriculum covers urgent topics like post- and decolonialism, gender, globalization, and media technology. The programme provides you with a comprehensive analytical toolkit to critically assess the influence of images and other visual forms, including how images produce and withhold knowledge, evoke fascination and discomfort, and persuade or repel. It also analyses how images generate meaning, desire, and fear within social, cultural, and personal contexts.  Hence, you will be able to examine how images both reflect and shape society, culture, identity, and power.

You’ll gain both theoretical depth and hands-on methods for analysing images and visual environments. The courses train academic and professional skills, from journal writing to conference presenting and research planning.

The programme combines thematic courses with skill-based training. Each course focuses on a specific topic, such as the human body in media, visual history, or representations of violence and nature, and connects it with selected theories and methods. You’ll study approaches including pictorial analysis and semiotics, discourse analysis and psychoanalysis, phenomenology, media archaeology, and ethnographic fieldwork.

Learning happens in small seminar groups, with active student participation and close contact with teachers. Assignments include academic writing, oral presentations, and research-based projects. You’ll be welcomed into a collaborative academic environment with opportunities to attend research seminars aligned with your personal interests.

Throughout the programme, you’ll also develop practical skills like writing for different audiences, presenting at academic conferences, and designing independent research plans. The final semester is dedicated to your master’s thesis, an opportunity to explore a topic of your choice in depth, using the skills and knowledge you’ve developed.

Admission to the latter part of the programme may be granted if you have completed education equivalent to the earlier part of the programme. Admission may take place from the second semester onwards, provided that there are places available.

Understanding how images shape society is a vital skill in today’s visually saturated world. This programme prepares you for careers in both academia and the cultural sector, with a focus on visuality, media and design. Graduates are equipped to pursue PhD studies in visual culture, media studies, or related fields. You can work in museums, galleries, and other cultural institutions, join creative industries with roles in visual research, communication or design, and contribute to public sector projects involving media, representation or cultural outreach.

You’ll also develop broadly applicable skills in research, critical thinking, and communication, all highly valued across a wide range of sectors. Whether your ambition lies in research or in creative and analytical roles related to media and culture, this programme will provide you with the expertise to critically interpret, interrogate, and contribute meaningfully to the field of visual studies.

Prerequisites

A Bachelor’s degree in Art History and Visual Studies, Film Studies, Musicology, Design Sciences, Architecture, or the equivalent. Proficiency in English equivalent to English 6 from Swedish upper-secondary school.

Selection criteria

Based on academic qualifications and a letter of intent.

Tuition fees for non-EU/EEA citizens

Citizens of countries outside:

• The European Union (EU)
• The European Economic Area (EEA) and
• Switzerland

are required to pay tuition fees. You pay an instalment of the tuition fee in advance of each
semester.

Tuition fees, payments and exemptions

Full programme/course tuition fee: SEK 270,000
First payment: SEK 67,500

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Note that you may also need to pay an application fee, or provide proof of exemption.

Application fee

No tuition fees for citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland

There are no tuition fees for citizens of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.

Lund University Global Scholarship Programme

The Lund University Global Scholarship programme is a merit-based and selective scholarship targeted at top academic students from countries outside the EU/EEA.

Lund University Global Scholarship

African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Scholarship

Within the framework of the Lund University Global Scholarship programme, the University also offers the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Scholarship targeted at top academic students from selected African research universities. 

ARUA Scholarship

Swedish Institute Scholarship: Global professionals

The Swedish Institute offers scholarships to international students from certain countries who are applying for select Master's programmes in Sweden. 

Scholarship information on the Swedish Institute website 

Country-specific scholarships and funding options

Lund University has agreements with scholarship organisations and funding bodies in different countries, which may allow applicants to apply for funding or scholarships in their home countries for their studies at Lund University. Most agreements are intended for Master’s applicants, although certain opportunities may also be available to Bachelor’s students.

Country-specific scholarships

External scholarships

In addition to scholarships offered by Lund University or through its partner agreements, there are external opportunities. On the page below, you’ll find examples of organisations that may provide financial support for international students from specific countries. 

External scholarships