Journalism - BA (Hons)

Course structure

Duration: 3 years full-time, 6 years part-time

Modules

The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.  

On most programmes, you study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also be able to take ‘elective’ modules from other programmes so you can customise your programme and explore other subjects that interest you.

Teaching and assessment

Each day in the Centre for Journalism begins with an editorial conference. Students and staff gather in the newsrooms to discuss the top stories on the local, national and international news agendas and to consider how they have been reported in newspapers, by broadcasters and online.

Teaching is by a variety of methods including masterclasses, lectures, seminars, films and small group discussions. Professional skills are taught in a live newsroom environment, which replicates the atmosphere of a working multimedia newsroom. You participate in regular Live News Days, during which you work to deadline to produce live radio and television bulletins and newspaper pages, and to update websites. There are frequent guest lectures and masterclasses by working journalists and editors, including network broadcasters and editors of national and regional newspapers and magazines.

Assessment includes coursework (such as academic essays, television, radio and online news reports and newspaper articles) and examinations. Students compile portfolios of reports. In your final year, you complete an extended project in journalism, which may take the form of a television or radio documentary, an extended newspaper or magazine article, or a web report. You may also choose to write an academic dissertation.

There is a minimum of 21 hours contact time per week in your first and second year, in addition to which all students receive guaranteed one-to-one feedback on their assignments and have regular meetings with their personal academic adviser. You should expect to do a minimum of 15 additional hours personal study per week.

Students undergo assessment for the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism via examinations set by the NCTJ. There is a fee for each of these examinations, which students must pay in addition to their tuition fees. See the Journalism website for current NCTJ exam fees.

Contact hours

For a student studying full time, each academic year of the programme will comprise 1200 learning hours which include both direct contact hours and private study hours.  The precise breakdown of hours will be subject dependent and will vary according to modules.  Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.

Methods of assessment will vary according to subject specialism and individual modules.  Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.

Programme aims

The programme aims to:

• produce graduates with a courageous and principled vision of the purpose of journalism, who have an informed, critical and creative approach to its role in contemporary society
• enable students to acquire the skills and aptitudes to practise the convergent skills of print, broadcast and internet journalism in a supportive and responsive  environment
• develop a detailed and systematic understanding of particular forms of journalism and their historic and contemporary role in the shaping of culture and society
• encourage students to think critically about the ethics and responsibilities of journalism and to relate academic study of the subject to questions of public concern
• describe and comment upon aspects of current research into the impact of new technologies on journalism
• provide a curriculum supported by scholarship and a research culture that promotes breadth and depth of intellectual debate and enquiry.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

You gain knowledge and understanding of:

• key concepts, practices and methods used in the production of multimedia journalism
• the economic forces which frame the news industry and the role it plays in specific areas of contemporary political and cultural life
• the political, social and cultural histories from which modern journalism and its practices and structures emerged
• the possible future development of journalism in a national and international context
• the legal, ethical and regulatory frameworks which affect journalism
• the ways in which specific technologies enable different kinds of journalism
• the processes linking the production, circulation and consumption of news
• how news operations operate and are managed.

Intellectual skills

You develop intellectual skills in:

• the ability to gather, organise and deploy information, images and data from a variety of primary and secondary sources
• the ability to engage critically with major practitioners, debates and paradigms within the subject area and put them to productive use
• how to carry out various forms of research for essays, presentations, documentaries and dissertations involving sustained independent inquiry
• the ability to reflect upon the relevance of your own cultural commitment and positioning to the practice of journalism.

Subject-specific skills

You gain the ability to:

• understand the significance of journalism to political democracy, its powers, duties and responsibilities
• analyse closely, interpret and show the exercise of critical judgment in the understanding and evaluation of various forms of journalism
• consider and evaluate your own work with reference to professional issues, debates and conventions
• describe, evaluate and apply different approaches to presenting and analysing factual information as news
• produce work of publishable quality for regional, national and international newspapers, websites and broadcasters.

Transferable skills

You gain transferable skills in how to:

• gather, organise and deploy information in order to formulate arguments cogently and communicate them fluently in speech and writing
• work to deadlines in flexible and innovative ways showing self-direction and self-discipline
• work productively in a group or team showing the ability to contribute, lead and  collaborate with others in the pursuit of common goals
• use information technology to perform a range of tasks ranging from basic word-processing to deployment of complex web-based multimedia technology
• identify and define problems, assess possible solutions and discriminate between them
• take accurate shorthand notes at a speed of at least 100 words per minute.

Careers

Graduate destinations

Our graduates have gone on to work for employers including:

• Sky News
• Daily Mail
• The Sun tablet edition
• BBC Newsround 
• BBC World Service
• Jeremy Vine Show BBC Radio 2
• Financial Times
• Euronews
• South China Morning Post
• AOL
• Huffington Post
• The Kent Messenger Group
• Peston on Sunday
• Associated Press TV News
• Express Newspapers
• Guardian Labs
• Bloomberg TV
• ITV Meridian.

Other graduates have secured positions in communications roles for charities, NGOs and campaign groups or political parties. 

Help finding a job

The University’s friendly Careers and Employability Service offers advice on how to:

• apply for jobs
• write a good CV
• perform well in interviews. 

Career-enhancing skills

This degree prepares you to work across the broadcast, print and online media. You learn to communicate with non-specialist audiences and to present your opinion coherently and with passion. The abilities you gain include:

• working under pressure to strict deadlines
• writing accurate, balanced reports
• analysing complex material. 

Alongside specialist skills, you also develop the transferable skills graduate employers look for, including the ability to:

• think critically 
• communicate your ideas and opinions 
• work independently and as part of a team. 

You can also gain extra skills by signing up for one of our Kent Extra activities, such as learning a language or volunteering. 

Professional recognition

This degree is accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and all students sit the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism exams.  This valuable professional qualification is recognised as a key entry requirement to careers in newspaper and broadcast journalism.

Graduate profile

Kent graduate Victoria Polley explains how her Journalism degree from the Centre for Journalism helped her to get her dream job as a radio sports journalist.