Overview
Just as printed newspapers, radio and television at one time changed the purpose and ways in which people engaged with news, so too digital, mobile and social media have transformed the way journalism is practised in modern society.
Increasingly working on a freelance basis, 21st century journalists are expected to produce material for a variety of outlets simultaneously; our course is designed to empower you to become ambitious, informed, efficient media practitioners who can add value to any digital platform, newsroom or media organisation.
Why Coventry University?
An award-winning university, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching, and resources and support designed to help them succeed. These range from our modern library and computing facilities to dedicated careers advice and our impressive Students’ Union activities.
Global ready
An international outlook, with global opportunitiesEmployability
Career-ready graduates, with the skills to succeedTeaching Excellence
Taught by lecturers who are experts in their fieldCourse essentials
A degree which offers you more, at no extra costAccreditation and Professional Recognition
This course is accredited and recognised by the following bodies:
Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC)
What our students say...
Having spent three years building my skills within the media industry, developing strong people skills and confidence, and gaining valuable experience both in class and doing work placements, I came out with a fantastic degree and started a job related to my interests within two weeks of finishing
Course information
With the concept of fact-based storytelling at its heart, our professionally accredited BA Journalism degree aims to develop graduates who can operate across multiple platforms, are context aware and equally comfortable in a traditional journalism environment as they are working with disruptive forms of media practice.
The focus is on core news-gathering techniques and storytelling, at the same time providing a wealth of transferrable skills including excellent written and verbal communications that can be applied within broader communications contexts.
Coventry is ranked among the 15 best universities in the country for ‘Journalism, Publishing and Public Relations’ (Guardian University Guide 2019). Here, you’ll be taught by journalists with experience of working for national publications and news corporations, including print and digital journalists with global experience, an ITV Central journalist, the editor-in-chief of Classics car magazine and a BBC Radio 3/World Service presenter. You’ll have the opportunity for industry placements (subject to application and availability) and hear regularly from expert guest lecturers, recently by documentary filmmaker Paul Berczeller.
91%
of students agreed that our staff made the subject interesting
NSS, 2017
Course Specification
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Modules
We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.
Our Journalism courses are ranked 14th in the UK by Guardian University Guide 2019
In more detail...
If you have a passion for writing, presenting or reporting and a nose for news, our professionally accredited course will immerse you in the world of contemporary journalism with lots of opportunities for location work, site visits, live projects, inspiring talks from visiting media professionals and exciting professional placement opportunities (subject to availability).
Accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC), our forward-looking degree aims to anticipate and respond to trends within the media environment by offering a multi-platform approach to journalism in order to better prepare you for this dynamic industry. Our graduates can be found working for Sky News, the BBC and a range of newspapers and magazines, as well as careers beyond traditional journalism in emerging digital fields such as social media management and content creation.
It is designed to prepare you for an exciting and evolving environment that, while still offering traditional journalism opportunities, increasingly expects those operating within the field to move into new areas, display entrepreneurial innovation and respond to the emerging needs of both audiences and industry.
Described by the BTJC during accreditation as a “cutting edge” course, which will “revolutionise the way the next generation of journalists gather and distribute news”, it is hands-on from the start, with many of our students working at a professional level, for example, for the ITV Central television news team, getting paid before they graduate.
Ever watchful for new and emerging forms of practice, you will be expected to seek out and interpret stories for new and disparate audiences, developing your professional networks, producing news and features for mobile, online and broadcast platforms while also experimenting with new forms of practice across new technologies.
You’ll have the opportunity to participate in ‘news days’, which test your skills in a live environment so you can experience the excitement of news production; in 2016, for example, our students reported on Brexit from three different locations in Malaga, Bristol and Coventry.
To recognise the fact that, in the real world, journalism is increasingly produced on the move or filed from location, we provide you with your own mobile technology pack* featuring a high-end laptop with the latest industry-standard software to give you 24/7 access.
Our partnership with the BBC and other organisations means you can have access to a range of targeted work experience opportunities, which has led previous students to work for Daily Mail’s video department, BBC radio and CBS Investigates. You can also produce a diverse range of content for our student-run website iCov (ww.icov.co.uk) or support the Student Union’s flagship radio station.
- Access to professional broadcast equipment via our dedicated Media Loan Shop and studios.
- 92% of students said staff were enthusiastic about what they teach in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2016.
- Ranked 14th in the UK for ‘Journalism, Publishing and Public Relations’ in the Guardian University Guide 2019.
- Extensive specialist resources include a wireless suite of newsrooms, TV studio, video editing suite and radio studio.
- Excellent graduate employability – 100% of students in work or continuing their studies six months after graduation (DLHE 2014/15), almost two-thirds of those employed in professional level roles.
- Links with employers nationally, including the BBC and Sky, and internationally in places as far afield a Europe, South Africa and the Falkland Islands, many of whom offer professional experience opportunities
- Successful student track record in national competitions – with past students winning Journalist of the Year, Best Website (www.icov.co.uk) and Best Documentary awards from the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC).
Access to professional broadcast equipment via our dedicated Media Loan Shop and studios.
Your main study themes are:
- Making journalism: We consider how and why journalism is put together. What makes news, where does it come from, how is it produced? You will be introduced to content production for print, web and broadcast news by studying the work of others as well as your own practice in a critical context.
- Media law: You will be introduced to the legal, professional and ethical codes which underpin how journalists in the UK practice, including the Contempt of Court Act, the Magistrates’ Court Act, Defamation and examples of current professional ethical standards exemplified in codes of conduct, producers’ guidelines and style guides. The aim is to ensure that your work as a journalist meets the legal guidelines needed to avoid prosecution.
- Journalism and society: Focuses on understanding the complex relationship between the practice of journalism and broader society. Theoretical sessions will explore the context of the production of a range of journalism artefacts in historical, contemporary and emerging media landscapes to question the role and purpose of journalism in society.
The course can be studied over three years full-time, starting in September, which can be extended by an additional year if you choose the optional sandwich year.
Based on a series of lectures, seminars, workshops, practical classes and one-to-one tutorials with teaching staff, we provide a focused approach to journalism which is underpinned by in-depth exploration of core traditional news-gathering, continuous production and experimentation in new and emerging forms of journalism. Collaborative learning across year levels helps to cement the foundations of your skills and knowledge in more sophisticated ways, facilitating support from your peers. In addition, your personal tutor will review and discuss your progress with you and will be available for advice.
We cover the core principles of journalism – including storytelling, selecting, editing, explaining and interpreting information – preparing you to practise journalism or a specialist area as part of a freelance or portfolio career. Our staff can share their professional experiences and keep you up-to-date with the latest research, with expertise in areas such as new media and society and ICT in Africa, virtual reality, news games and gamification, local news history and development, entertainment journalism and global media.
Real experience of working as a journalist is embedded into our teaching activities through our partnerships with organisations in Coventry and beyond, including opportunities to collaborate with local news organisations, for instance covering the local elections for ITV. There will also be an opportunity to practice court reporting, attending legal hearings in the Magistrates’ or Crown courts and producing your own reports of legal hearings or current issues in media law.
You will be taught in our wireless-enabled newsrooms, radio and television and state-of-the-art specialist TV studio, The Tank, featuring large cameras, mixing facilities, fibre optic wiring throughout and triple glazing provides professional grade soundproofing, with the option of privacy and darkness provided by unique light blocking curtains set up around the room.
Our excellent industry links enable us to host an exciting programme of guest speakers covering topics such as documentary film-making, TV news production, branding and magazine journalism. You will also have opportunities to take part in educational and cultural visits at home and abroad, where you will be able to develop your knowledge and skills through fieldwork and group projects. For example, we have organised trips to BBC Birmingham and the Houses of Parliament in London. A group of third year students recently attended the premier journalism conference, Rewired, in London and Cardiff will be the setting for a pop-up magazine production project.
This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will could vary depending upon the module. Assessment methods include coursework, tests, essays, practical or project work, group work and presentations.
The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards the achieving the intended learning outcomes. Assessments may include exams, individual assignments or group work elements.
On successful completion, you should have knowledge of:
- The practice, production, context, consumption and distribution of journalism.
- Intercultural awareness in the context of global journalistic practice and society.
On successful completion, you should be able to:
- Apply a breadth of journalism and communication skills and knowledge to professional situations.
- Work creatively, sustainably and independently within professional situations, employing a range of journalism strategies and techniques.
- Critically evaluate and analyse the broad range of factors that impinge upon professional and creative activities within journalism and the broader communications industry.
- Demonstrate the ability to engage with diverse communities across a range of media platforms.
- Identify and evaluate developing/emerging forms of journalism and communication.
In a typical teaching week, you will have up to 15 ‘contact’ hours of teaching. This generally breaks down as:
- Personal tutorial/small group teaching: 2 hours of tutorials each week.
- Medium group teaching: 10 hours of practical classes, workshops or seminars each week.
- Large group teaching: 3 hours of lectures each week.
In addition, you will be expected to undertake a further 20 hours of self-directed studying each week, including guided study using handouts, online activities in your own time.
Our course is designed to reflect the increasingly international context of journalism; reflected strongly in the course curriculum and the extensive international experience of the teaching team which includes staff who have lived and worked in South Africa, India, Ireland and America.
You will be given opportunities to engage with international students from at home and abroad. Coventry is one of only two UK universities to have participated in the Pop-Up Newsroom, a global cooperative project which brings together students from the UK, Netherlands, Bulgaria, India, the United States and Lebanon in a virtual newsroom to report on issues of global significance at a local level. Our first and second year students have previously taken part with news days focusing on the refugee crisis and an international women’s day. Second-year students also collaborated with students from 13 universities in seven different countries as part of the Global News Relay initiative (globalnewsrelay.wordpress.com), an international collaboration of college journalism, multimedia and public relations students which broadcasts news live across the world.
We strongly encourage you to broaden your theoretical, cultural and practical references, providing opportunities to broaden your horizons by studying abroad on a sandwich year. Past students have studied media and journalism at universities in Spain, Sweden, the United States and France, among others. We also offer a range of short visits and field trips abroad, which are reviewed annually. Recent fieldtrips have included Amsterdam and Malaga (subject to availability and additional costs).
At Coventry University, you can enjoy a whole host of multicultural and multilingual activities, such as the international film club and the French and Spanish conversation clubs. You can learn another language with the university-wide Add+vantage Scheme or the Linguae Mundi programme.
Global ready
Did you know we help more students travel internationally than any other UK university according to data from the experts in higher education data and analysis, HESA?
In 2016/17, we were able to provide a total of 3,482 experiences abroad that lasted at least five days.
Much of this travel is made possible through our Global Leaders Programme, which enables students to prepare for the challenges of the global employment market, as well as strengthening and developing their broader personal and professional skills.
1st for
international experiences
Sending more students overseas than any other UK uni (HESA 2016/17)
3,482
Student experiences
The number of student trips abroad for at least 5 days in 2016/17
21,000
and counting
The number of students we’ve helped travel internationally so far
12
global programmes
As well as trips, we offer other opportunities like language courses
What our students say...
The course is a good mix of practical journalism and theory, taught by professional, friendly people in an environment that feels simultaneously welcoming and challenging
Entry Requirements
Unconditional offers
We want to recruit the best students to Coventry and having assessed applicants' past, current and predicted performance and commitment to the course we feel that it is appropriate to reward consistently high-achieving students with an unconditional offer from a top university. It is a commitment from us with regard to an applicants’ potential as an excellent undergraduate and we hope that this will encourage such applicants to join the Coventry community.
Personal statements and references will also be taken into account and, for some degree courses, an interview will form part of the assessment. The criteria for unconditional offers will vary across the University as entry requirements for specific courses differ and not all degree courses will be taking part in the Scheme. The unconditional offer will be confirmed once a selected applicant has made Coventry their firm choice.
Coventry University has assessed that you are capable of achieving excellent grades and we have demonstrated this belief by making you an unconditional offer. This is our commitment to you so then we ask that you reciprocate this commitment by selecting us as your ‘firm’ choice and activating your unconditional offer.
We will consider other qualifications for a pre-result unconditional offer providing that you have an appropriate proven performance at GCSE (or equivalent) level and predicted grades in line with grades that we expect to see at A-level. Other qualifications that we may consider for a pre-result unconditional offer include: the International Baccalaureate Diploma, BTEC Level 3 qualifications, Cambridge Pre-U and combinations of qualifications (e.g. BTECS plus A-levels).
An unconditional offer is what it says it is. So if you don’t meet your predictions then your place at Coventry is still guaranteed. However we would hope and expect that you continue to work hard to make the most of your potential and be best prepared to study at university level.
We can’t but our experience over the years has shown us that students like you with a track record of high grades and excellent predictions are very likely to achieve those grades. Our assessment takes into account all elements of your application to allow us to take a holistic view of your potential. There is still the opportunity to gain one of the Coventry University Scholarships if you achieve the required grades so there is a financial incentive to aim high. Unconditional offers are only made to individuals who have demonstrated their commitment so we believe their focus and determination is unlikely to waver in the final stages of their qualifications.
No, the unconditional offer is only available to those who will take up their place in 2019.
What our students say...
I very much enjoyed my time on the Journalism course. There are regular visiting speakers from across all sectors, all of whom bring their own experiences and ideas, and work with students on projects. Last term, our year worked on CoventryTV, a new hyperlocal TV station
Tuition Fees
We pride ourselves on offering competitive tuition fees which we review on an annual basis and offer a wide range of scholarships to support students with their studies. Course fees are calculated on the basis of what it costs to teach each course and we aim for total financial transparency.
For more information, please visit our Finance pages.
Course essentials at no extra cost
We're committed to communicating study costs clearly to make sure you're not faced with having to make any unexpected payments.
This is why our ‘Flying Start’ package provides you with a few course essentials. Your full-time fee for an undergraduate degree will cover the following:
UK field trips
Any mandatory site visits and trips within the United Kingdom.Key material
This can include core textbooks, software and equipment.Laser prints
1,000 A4 sides of black and white laser printing credits per year.Optional year
Pay no tuition fees for optional work placements or study abroad trips.What our students say...
I very much enjoyed my time on the Journalism course. There are regular visiting speakers from across all sectors, all of whom bring their own experiences and ideas, and work with students on projects. Last term, our year worked on CoventryTV, a new hyperlocal TV station
Career prospects
From the outset, this course aims to prepare you for a successful career in the media. The learning environment recreates a working rolling news environment, complete with live assignments and deadlines; it is purposefully designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary to work in such a professional multi-media newsroom.
We can give you guidance and support to find and produce real stories by covering a range of off-diary events, from Morris dancing festivals to local gigs, council meetings and protests, as well as traditional ‘beat’ reporting. The strong journalism and communication skills you will have the opportunity to develop throughout the course should prepare you for a wide range of careers in other areas, such as politics, commercial business, publishing and research.
Our FAH Futures employment team is on hand to offer tailored career and enterprise support if you wish to gain employment or take advantage of professional practice opportunities within course specific industries. Our dedicated enterprise officers also offer valuable assistance on how to begin as a freelancer/entrepreneur.
Where our graduates work
Recent graduates of the course have gone on to work for a range of broadcasters, newspapers, magazines and online publications, including Sky News and the BBC.
Our graduates earn an average salary of £18,000 six months after the course (DLHE 2014/15)
What our students say...
Having spent three years building my skills within the media industry, developing strong people skills and confidence, and gaining valuable experience both in class and doing work placements, I came out with a fantastic degree and started a job related to my interests within two weeks of finishing
Disclaimer
By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the University. A copy of the 19/20 Contract can be found here. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the University will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the University.
The University will charge the tuition fees that are stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study. The University will review tuition fees each year. For UK and EU students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, the University may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase for UK and EU Students is expected to be in line with inflation. For international students, the University may increase fees for each subsequent year of study but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation.
