BA (Hons) Journalism (Full Time)

With its reputation for producing graduates who are highly employable, this degree provides a rigorous training in print and broadcast journalism.

Course overview

The BA (Hons) Journalism at Southampton Solent University is designed to equip graduates with the core skills needed to work in newspapers, on television, in radio or elsewhere in the media.

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Finding, gathering and then writing news stories and features to deadline, you will work like a professional journalist. You will be taught to produce text, video and audio content to industry standard. Our cutting-edge, multi-platform website will allow you to publish work online on a daily basis. You will also explore specialist fields, benefiting from our highly successful guest speaker programme with leading industry figures.

Facilities include industry standard multi-camera TV studios with autocue, radio news studios, Reuters and Sky news feeds, the latest print software and a dedicated newsroom.

The course offers a unique balance of practical and theoretical content. Our lecturers include current industry practitioners still working in newspapers, TV, radio and magazines. They will help you find opportunities for work placements that can lead to a job after graduation.

Solent is a Skillset Media Academy which means it is officially recognised as a national centre of excellence in media education. 

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Industrial focus

Students are required to complete a minimum of 120 hours' work placement in industry. They gain positions at national magazines and newspapers, major broadcasters including the BBC and Sky, the trade press, public relations agencies, independent radio stations and news websites. 

Course content

Year 1

Six core modules:

• News Reporting
• Introduction to Radio Reporting
• Contexts and Traditions of Journalism in the UK
• Reporting in Context
• Introduction to TV Reporting
• Power, Money and Democracy. 

Year 2

Five core modules and two options:

• Inside the Newsroom
• Concepts of Digital News
• Media Law
• Media Ethics
• Specialist Reporting
• Choice of two options from a range of units.

Year 3

Four core modules and two options:

• Professional Practice
• Dissertation
• Journalism and Global Issues
• Major News Project
• Choice of two options from a range of units.

Why choose this course?

• Accredited by the BJTC (Broadcast Journalism Training Council) for television and radio.
• On our four-year degree you can spend a year studying at one of our European partner Universities.
• Hosts and prepare students for NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) exams.

Assessment

Coursework, which comprises journalistic writing, essays, group projects and presentations, and workshops assignments, and written examinations.

Key career skills

• Creative thinking
• Writing
• Presentation
• Teamwork
• Working to deadline.

Projects/work experience

Recent study trips to Paris and to New York to get a European and global perspective; work placements at a wide variety of print and broadcast media organisations. 

Graduate profile

Ashley Howe

News Picture Researcher at Sky News

Ashley graduated from Southampton Solent University in 2007 with a BA (Hons) in Journalism and has been working at Sky News since August 2007 and in her current post there of News Picture Researcher since July 2008.
Her role is a very varied one: it includes researching requests and selecting the most appropriate shots to be aired on Sky News to illustrate stories as they happen.

She is also responsible for archiving footage, shotlisting, advising reporters and producers of material available and whether there are any copyright restrictions, editing rushes, dubbing footage onto different formats and digitising tapes. She adds 'Oh, and sometimes I work night shifts too!'
When asked about the best bits of her job, she replied, 'The people that I work with, celebrity spotting and the canteen!'

The thing that she enjoyed most about studying at Southampton Solent University was getting to do things she wouldn't usually have done, like fire walking for charity, learning to surf, volunteering and being on SONARadio every week. Thinking about these things, she asked 'Can I come back?!'

Ashley offered the following advice to current students, 'Get as much work experience as you can in as many different places as you can, and don't worry if you don't get the job you want first time around.”