A particular feature of the course offered, and one which distinguishes it from other Music Technology courses, is a balanced approach to musical and technological topics. Musically, a strong emphasis is placed on the development of adaptable compositional skills, while technological topics are addressed from both a hands-on workstation/studio exposure and a fundamental mathematical and scientific basis which focuses on musically relevant issues.
The course seeks to encourage the development of creative individuals who will be as equally at home with the technological aspects of music and new media production as they will be with issues in music composition, arrangement and performance. The MMT programme is a full-time, two year course. The first year is a self-contained Postgraduate Diploma course which provides the necessary music, audio, video, computational and technological skills to allow creative individuals to engage in computer-assisted composition and audio-visual production, apply software tools for the music and media industries and/or enter the arena of new media production. The second year Masters course, which is open to those achieving a sufficient standard in their Diploma exams, provides a number of advanced subject options in related fields and features a greater research orientation, requiring the completion of a Master's level project in the second semester.
The Music and Media Technologies has been successful in acquiring ESF funding support for students entering in 2004. This funding is guaranteed for the 2 years for the M.Phil. programme.