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What makes Journalism at Worcester special?

The BA Hons Journalism course is challenging and exciting and aims to make you highly employable in a range of journalism, media and communications careers.

Alongside learning practical skills and law & ethics, you‘ll have the opportunity to study media strategies, search engine optimisation (SEO), PR, advanced communications and social influencing to help equip you for life in an expanding industry. There are opportunities for work placements with organisations such as the BBC, and a host of guest lectures by high-profile visitors.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Gain an understanding of how today’s media is consumed and how to produce the right content
  • Staff with expertise and industry experience will teach you the core skills of journalism – how to spot, write, produce and sell a story for news, magazine, television, radio and social media
  • You’ll learn the practical skills you need, including recording and editing sound and video using both professional and mobile kit and have access to the University’s radio, podcast, and TV studios
  • You will look at media law, ethical issues and the role of journalism in today’s society including why it matters
  • Study the areas of interest to you, from sport to music to fashion to investigative, environmental and campaigning journalism, or gender, identity and inclusivity
  • Partnerships with media organisations, including the BBC, and PR agencies give you the chance for placements to see what it’s really like to work within the profession

Register your interest

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“Worcester was the perfect fit for me. The course and study were relevant and really helped in terms of vocational skills. My lecturers and staff at the digital arts centre (DAC) gave me the confidence to give it a go.”

Tom El-Shawk, BA Journalism graduate

“It was great to get a job so quickly after finishing university. The expertise of the lecturers, the facilities, the assignments and modules on offer all contributed to me being successful in my job hunt.”

Joshua Godfrey, Journalism joint honours graduate

Entry requirements

What qualifications will you need?

104
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

104 UCAS tariff points (Single or Joint Honours) - for example, BCC at A Level. Although A Level English is desirable, evidence of sound written skills through relevant subjects is acceptable.

T Levels may be used to meet the entry tariff requirements for this course. Find out more about T levels as UCAS tariff points here.

Other information

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from the UCAS website.

Candidates should have good English Language skills.

The IELTS score for international applicants to the Journalism Single Honours programme is 6.5 (or equivalent). For international Joint Honours applicants, the required IELTS score is 6.0 (with no less than 5.5 in each component). Other English Language qualifications will be considered, more information can be found on the university’s English Language Requirements page.

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Course content

What will you study

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Introduction to Journalism
  • Introduction to Feature Writing
  • Introduction to Digital Techniques
  • Introduction to Photojournalism
  • Practical Journalism Skills
  • Journalism Law and Ethics 

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Broadcast & Social Media
  • Developing Your Media Career
  • Journalism Law, Ethics and Society
  • Reporting Politics

Optional

Year 3

Mandatory

  • Final Project
  • Work Placement
  • Podcasting and Live News Production
  • Advanced PR & Comms 

Optional

  • Investigative Journalism and Research Skills
  • Advanced Digital Production
  • Campaigning & Environmental Journalism
  • Gender, Identity & Inclusivity
2 female students and 1 male student working at table

Study Journalism as part of a joint honours degree

As well as a single honours degree, Journalism is also available as part of a number of joint honours combinations, allowing you to combine it with another subject to match your interests and career aspirations:

English Language and Journalism BA (Hons)

English Literature and Journalism BA (Hons)

History and Journalism BA (Hons)

Journalism and Media & Film Studies BA (Hons)

Journalism and Screenwriting BA (Hons)

Teaching and assessment

How will you be taught?

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of:

  • Lectures; seminars; demonstrations; workshops; work simulations (newsdays); tutorials, group and individual project work; supervised independent learning; open and resource-based learning; e-learning; production practice and work experience and placements.
  • Teaching involves large and small group sessions, the latter especially for workshop activities related to the acquisition of production skills.
  • Sessions are a mix of tutor-led, student-led and independent learning. 
  • You will investigate critically and analyse theoretical and conceptual issues central to journalism studies and be able to synthesis and evaluate material. Acquire skills to'originate and develop ideas for editorial content across a range of platforms. Investigate the development of journalism with regard to political, social, economic, legal, ethical and technological considerations.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course, including during an induction session at the start of each academic year.

You have an opportunity to undertake work placements in both your second and third years of the course, as part of mandatory modules on the course.

You use industry-standard equipment and software for all pathways and have access to state-of-the-art TV and radio studios throughout the course.

 

Contact time

In a typical week you will have around 12 – 15 of contact hours of teaching. Practical newsdays in the 2nd and 3rd years tend to run for 6 hours, therefore adding to the usual contact time of 12 hours.

The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year there is normally slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study. Typically class contact time will be structured around:

  • 4 hours of lectures per week
  • 8 hours of workshops / practical sessions

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, students are expected to undertake around 22 - 25 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve reading, research and gathering material for practical work.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources. 

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessment which is graded and counts towards the overall module grade.

Assessment methods include written news stories, features and commentaries; audio and visual news and feature items; portfolios with reflective reports; essays; production tasks involving a range of media technology; group and individually produced projects; research exercises; critical self and peer review; work-based learning reports and external placement opportunities. Tutor observation forms part of assessment for some aspects of group work.

There is an in-class test in the Law in JOUR1010 Journalism Law & Ethics. The assessment criteria for all journalism modules reflect the need for professionalism and a commitment to group activities in the planning and production of work, and this requires good attendance. Attendance at all formal taught sessions and other course activities is expected.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1
  • 1 presentation
  • 1 exam
  • 2 essays
  • 4 portfolios of practical journalistic work and news stories
Year 2
  • 3 essays
  • 5 portfolios of practical journalistic work and reflective reports and original news stories
Year 3
  • Final project
  • Work placement portfolio
  • 2 essays
  • 3 portfolios of practical journalistic work

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. Every member of the team has a wealth of industry experience, including academics with specialist areas and those who combine teaching with professional practice. There are also demonstrators and technicians.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy and all permanent staff on the team are Fellows of HEA and have the post grad teaching qualification.

rachel-ammonds

Rachel Ammonds

Rachel Ammonds teaches a wide range of undergraduate modules and is an experienced broadcast journalist.

She began her career at BBC radio in the Midlands before moving to the BBC in Manchester. She worked in radio and television, and was part of the team that won a Sony Award for coverage of the IRA bombing of Manchester. Rachel moved to ITV in 1997, producing the North West's regional news programme. She then helped set up ITV's health channel before moving into making documentaries for ITV, focusing mainly on its flagship current affairs programme, Tonight with Trevor McDonald, for which she worked as a producer/director.

 

Dan Johnson

Dan Johnson

Dan’s experience as a journalist and broadcaster stretches back 20 years and he currently combines his full-time lecturing role and Course Leader for Journalism with a part-time position as a BBC football reporter.

Christine Challand

Christine is a part-time lecturer in the Journalism department teaching news and feature writing. Her love of journalism began with an apprenticeship at the Nottingham Evening Post and has continued with a succession of posts working for the Birmingham Post and Mail, News Team News and Picture agency and for the national newspapers. She now works freelance for the Daily Mail Group, News Corp UK and Reach PLC.

Journalism is a hugely interesting, competitive and challenging profession and Christine is keen to assist and prepare the new generations of aspiring reporters, public relations officers and social media managers to follow such an exciting and rewarding career path.

Careers

Where could it take you?

Employability

The University of Worcester Journalism course will provide you with practical skills to work as a journalist or researcher, or in related communications jobs such as those in public relations. You will be well placed to progress to postgraduate study in journalism or in a wide range of other areas.

Students have found employment in the following areas:

  • Broadcast journalism
  • Radio presenting and reporting
  • Magazine and newspaper journalism
  • Social media management
  • Public relations and communications
  • Media research
  • Sports journalism
  • Event organising
  • Television
  • Marketing
  • Teaching
  • Further study

Skills gained:

  • Print, broadcasting and web content creation
  • Digital communications
  • Team working
  • Working independently
  • Communicating with others
  • Writing effectively
  • Clear and logical thinking
  • Finding information
  • Evaluating ideas
  • Showing initiative
  • Advance planning and working to deadlines
Two students are walking next to each other and smiling

Careers and Employability

Our Graduates pursue exciting and diverse careers in a wide variety of employment sectors.

Find out how we can support you to achieve your potential
Byrony Hope

Bryony-Hope Green

Bryony, who has taken up a full-time role as Content Manager at British Esports - the UK’s national body for esports, has graduated with a First Class Honours.

“There was so much diversity in the content covered on the course and without that I probably wouldn’t be where I am today. Being able to know what writing style fits me best, as well as the law and ethics side of journalism is incredibly beneficial, especially moving into working full-time in the industry.”

“My time at the University of Worcester really prepared me for taking my career to the next level, and all of the staff in the Journalism department motivated me to keep on going,” said Bryony. “I was faced with many physical and mental health struggles throughout my degree and adding the pandemic onto that made things seem almost impossible at times, but being able to reach out to staff, and have consistent support made a world of difference.”

Journalism degree graduate Adam Chowdhury

Adam Chowdhury

Adam Chowdhury graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism.

“After a lower than expected grade in a first semester module, I thought a First-Class Honours was off the table. So, after all the stresses, late nights and hard work, it was a huge surprise and relief to achieve this honour,” said the 21-year-old.

“When I started university, all I heard from people was that a 2:1 is the goal and would be just fine. I thought getting a First was beyond the realm of possibility. It proves that at university, you get what you put in.”

Read Adam's story.

Journalism degree graduate Tom Davis

Tom Davis

"During the internship I worked one six-hour shift on a Friday, and sometimes at weekends, as a news writer, working alongside a team of sub-editors and other writers to produce new stories, features, match previews and reports and live text commentary. I now work each week, primarily on match days, covering football in the Midlands area. I have attended a range of games including matches in the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup and international fixtures typically writing match reports, providing live text commentary and attending post-match press conferences.”

Journalism degree graduate Justyn Surrall

Justyn Surrall

“I would certainly recommend the University of Worcester to anyone considering studying journalism,” he says. “They are so well equipped to prepare students for the workplace, and the lecturers’ hands-on industry experience helps to create a really positive learning environment, in which students are encouraged to push themselves and get their work out there.”

Journalism degree graduate Rosina Ayling

Rosina Ayling

“My degree is already proving very useful as I'm incredibly proficient in key areas such as WordPress and all aspects of social media.”

“The course at the University of Worcester was interesting, the lecturers were engaging and I felt I learnt an incredible amount in my time there. I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for my course at Worcester, and I’m extremely grateful to the help and support I received there.”

Hayden Atkins

"I feel that the course at Worcester has developed my skills massively from where I was when I started to now. There are things I wouldn't have dreamt I'd been able to do at this point, and its down to the confidence given to me by the staff members.

Their push to get students the best possible work placements is brilliant. Also, they are always trying to get us to publish our material professionally, and when it does happen, it's an excellent confidence boost. 

The equipment is fantastic, the DAC is full of anything you could ever need. The MAC suites are ideal, and the recording studios are state of the art, ideal for any budding reporters!

Also, I chose Worcester because of the excellent Open Day. The tours were great and the student ambassadors keen and friendly."

Journalism degree graduate Josh Godfrey

Joshua Godfrey

“The Journalism course has helped me prepare for these work placements. The broadcasting module was key and having to go out and interview people enabled me to gain more confidence.”

Journalism degree graduate Lewis Edwards

Lewis Edwards

“It’s a great job. Being on the journalism course has given me a great base to work from. Right from the first year I was sent out doing vox pops and talking to strangers. At first you feel very nervous and timid, but the more you do it the more comfortable and competent you become.”

Costs

How much will it cost?

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2024/25 academic year is £9,250 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2024/25 academic year is £16,200 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the academic year 2024/25 are £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20-credit module, £2,312 per 30-credit module, £3,083 per 40-credit module, £3,469 per 45-credit module and £4,625 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Hall' at £131 per week to 'En-suite Premium' at £221 per week (2024/25 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.
How to apply

How do you apply?

Applying through UCAS

Single Honours:

  • Journalism BA - P500

Joint Honours:

Please visit the individual joint honours course pages for UCAS links:

UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.

Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.

UCAS Code

P500

Apply Via UCAS

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.

Admissions office

admissions@worc.ac.uk
01905 855111

Rachel Ammonds

Course leader
r.ammonds@worc.ac.uk

Christine Challand

Admissions Tutor
c.challand@worc.ac.uk
01905 855374

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