Max Whittle
Graduate
Graduated: 2014
BA (Hons)Sports Journalism
3 years
- 4 years with year in industry
- 3 years
- 4 years with foundation year
- 5 years with foundation and industry years
2023
UCAS code:
SJ01
Institution code: S30UCAS points:
Campus:
Southampton City Centre
Why study a sports journalism degree at Solent University
A sports journalism degree can turn your love of sports into a writing and reporting career. On this degree, you’ll dive straight into the action and gain hands-on experience as a sports journalist.
- 0%overall student satisfaction (NSS 2022)
- 0%of students feel staff make the subject interesting (NSS 2022)
- 0%of students feel staff are good at explaining things (NSS 2022)
- You’ll be a practising journalist from day one, developing skills across print, broadcast, online and social media.
- Taught by professionals with combined experience of more than 200 years, you will benefit from outstanding teaching and industry contacts.
- The course is constantly refined to meet the needs of the modern sports journalism industry, training you to produce a comprehensive news package that will engage and excite your audience.
- Our graduates work at top broadcasting companies including Sky Sports, BBC Sport, ESPN and talkSPORT, national newspapers such as The Daily Mail and The Times, and in the media offices of football, cricket, and rugby clubs.
- You’ll have the opportunity to work with local and national sports clubs and teams.
- Access to industry-standard broadcast facilities including television and radio studios, editing and production facilities, as well as professional grade camera, audio and lighting equipment.
- Solent University is the official education partner of Premier League team, Southampton Football Club, while the nearby Ageas Bowl is home to Hampshire Cricket Club and hosts regular national and international matches.
- Solent is an Adobe Creative Campus. You will have free access to Adobe Creative Cloud, which contains the full suite of Adobe professional software, including Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, Premier Pro, and more.
This video 'Why study BA (Hons) Sports Journalism' is available as a text transcript, with a description of visuals.
The sports journalism course gets you into the thick of the action straight away, reporting on local and national sports for both online and traditional media platforms. You will be a practicing journalist from day one – benefiting from outstanding teaching, facilities and contacts, along with plenty of opportunities to put your learning into practice.
The course has been developed to meet the needs of the modern sports journalism industry, offering a broad spectrum of skills from print or broadcast to online and social media reporting – training you to produce a comprehensive news package that will engage and excite your audience.
The proof is in our graduates. Solent sports journalists operate at a range of top broadcast companies, including Sky Sports, BBC Sport, ESPN and talkSPORT, as well as national newspapers such as The Daily Mail and The Times. Other graduates work in the media offices of football, cricket and rugby clubs, as well as creative agencies and organisations.
At Solent, you'll have access to a dedicated Solent Newsroom, where you can engage in news productions using high-end media equipment. You'll also be encouraged to report on a variety of sporting events.
And the south is a fantastic location to engage with sporting activity. Solent University is the official education partner of Premier League side Southampton Football Club, while the nearby Ageas Bowl is home to Hampshire Cricket Club and hosts regular national and international matches. The Solent itself is a popular race sailing location, hosting major events such as the America’s Cup. Plus, the Universy itself has many successful sporting teams and athletes for you to create content from.
Course features
Additional qualification
This course offers additional qualifications for you to obtain with your degree
Foundation year available
If you're not quite ready for a full undergraduate degree, there's alternative entry through one of our foundation years
Specialist facilities
This course has access to specialist facilities
Further studies
After successfully completing your studies, there's an opportunity to continue your studies at Solent
Who is this course for?
Solent’s sports journalism degree is ideally suited for people with a passion for sport, excited by the prospect of working in a demanding, deadline-driven environment, and looking to build experience in state-of-the-art facilities and using the kind of professional-grade equipment you will find out in the industry. If you want to make an impact on the world, sports journalism at Solent could be the best choice you make.
What does this course lead to?
Graduating with hands-on experience as a practising journalist, you will find many doors open to you when looking for work in sports media. From film making, TV and radio presenting, to writing, editing, creative social media, or media officer roles, graduates have gone on to hugely diverse careers. We have former students working in the media teams of football clubs, presenting TV and radio bulletins on Sky Sports and talkSPORT, creating videos for social media giants, writing for broadsheet newspapers/magazines and much more.
Meet the team
Teaching staff for the BA (Hons) Sports Journalism degree have extensive experience of working in the journalism industry as practitioners and/or are actively engaged with current research within the creative industries. Supporting this, the teaching staff received 87% overall satisfaction in the NSS 2022 survey.
The University cannot guarantee any particular members of staff will teach specific aspects of the course in the future, but will endeavour to ensure the teaching team maintains their balance of experience and qualifications.
Facilities
Sports journalism students benefit from multi-million-pound investment in state-of-the-art media facilities. That means four TV studios and eight radio studios, a wide range of TV, photography and video equipment freely loaned to students, an industry-standard newsroom and dedicated edit suites with the latest software. And as Solent is an Adobe Creative Campus, all students also have free access to Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes the full suite of Adobe professional software, including Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, Premier Pro, and more.
Our vibrant campus brings state-of-the-art facilities to enhance your learning and elevate your student experience. Our award-winning teaching building, The Spark is centred around students and offers a stimulating study environment with flexible learning spaces. Away from studying, why not try out the gyms, fitness studios and sports halls in our £28 million Sports Complex, or watch a blockbuster film at our student-run cinema with Dolby Atmos audio.
Core modules
The Writing Journey Begins
This module will provide you with the building blocks on which your career will be founded. You will learn how to write engaging content for a range of media platforms, specific to sports journalism and discover what sports journalism is all about.
Audio Journalism and Production
This module gives you a grounding in the core skills of audio production and encourages you to be creative and audience focussed as you develop broadcasting confidence.
Sport, Media and Society
This module looks at both continuity and change and considers historical and social factors that help to define the place of sport in the UK and beyond.
Sports Reporting
In this module you will discover how to source stories and how to write and develop them, building on techniques already learned. You will also develop your writing style and overall sporting knowledge.
Video Journalism and Production
You’ll learn how to operate professional camera kit, and how to edit on industry standard equipment. You’ll develop an understanding of how to tell stories, how to present to camera, write scripts, work to deadlines, use pictures to drive editorial and learn just how powerful a visual medium can be.
Media Law
Building upon existing knowledge and understanding of journalism and the creation of news and stories, you will be introduced to the rules and regulations relating to the safe, fair and accurate arena of court reporting and how you are essential for ensuring that court processes are open and transparent.
How you will learn and be assessed
You will learn by:
You may be assessed by a combination of:
- Portfolios
- Individual presentations
- Written exams
- Practical exams
- Essays
Solent’s curriculum framework builds on our unique, creative and applied approach to teaching. The transformation of students’ lives is at the heart of our mission as a university, and our curriculum – informed by the latest theory – reflects this shared educational vision.
Find out more
Study support
The student achievement team are on hand to help you succeed during your studies at Solent. They aim to contact you at key times during your time here with personalised information, advice and guidance, by email or phone.
Access Solent provides information, advice and guidance for disabled students.
All students can access Succeed@Solent, Solent's online guide to getting better grades. It offers extensive, practical information and advice on topics such as academic writing, research and presentations.
Why choose the industry?
Working in sports journalism can carry with it long, demanding and unsociable hours – but there is nothing better than being able to mix your working life with your passions. If you are willing to work hard and you have the right approach, the job satisfaction is huge.
Being a sports journalist gives you a free pass to some of the best events in the sporting calendar and the chance to meet your sporting heroes. Plus you can adapt the skills you learn on this degree to almost any workplace, as we embed in our students a need to question, research, fact-check and network.
Tuition fees
The tuition fees for the 2023/24 academic year are:
- UK, EU (settled status) and Channel Island full-time fees: £9,250 per year
- International full-time fees: £15,000 per year
For further information, please visit our tuition fees page.
Extra course costs
While most course costs are covered by your tuition fees, some essential resources and optional extras may need to be paid for separately. These additional costs are listed below. For advice on budgeting and managing your money, please contact student.funding@solent.ac.uk.
The 2023/24 other costs are not yet available. For guidance, previous other costs have been:
Optional costs:
Purchase of an external hard drive (£50) and SD cards (£6-20) is recommended.
Bursaries, scholarships and financial support
Solent University offers a range of bursaries and scholarships that provide financial assistance or waive fees for tuition or accommodation. Each bursary or scholarship has specific eligibility criteria. Check out our bursaries and scholarships pages to find out more.
Graduation costs
There is no charge to attend graduation, but you will be required to pay for the rental of your academic gown (approximately £45 per graduate, depending on your award). You may also wish to purchase official photography packages, which range in price from £15 to £200+. Graduation is not compulsory, so if you prefer to have your award sent to you, there is no cost. Extra guest tickets will go on sale after results publication and will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis. The cost per ticket is currently £15. Please note, we do not guarantee there will be any extra tickets available to purchase.
Financial information videos
Student finance - bitesize This video 'Student finance - bitesize' is available as a text transcript, with a description of visuals.
Student funding - the essentials This video 'Student funding essentials - Student Funding for 2023' is available as a text transcript, with a description of visuals.
Entry requirements
Please select an option below:
Key entry requirements
104-120 UCAS tariff points from A-levels
- A-levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma at MMM or BTEC Diploma at D*D, a T-Level Merit, or equivalent, which comply with the minimum entry requirement of 104 UCAS points.
- All applicants will be invited for interview.
- Direct entry into the second or third years may be considered for this course.
- Applicants over the age of 21 may be considered based on relevant experience, without having the required tariff points.
- For further information about UK qualifications, please contact admissions.
Key entry requirements
As a general guide, we look for qualifications that are equivalent to the British high school A-levels.
If you are applying from outside the UK, find information about entry requirements, visas and agents for your country here.
For further information about EU qualifications, please contact admissions.
Key entry requirements
As a general guide, we look for qualifications that are equivalent to the British high school A-levels.
If you are applying from outside the UK, find information about entry requirements, visas and agents for your country here.
For further information about international qualifications, please contact admissions.
Note to all international students requiring a visa:
All international applicants need to be aware that the English language requirements to attend Solent University, and the English language requirements to obtain a visa from the Home Office, may be different. This means that if you meet the Solent University language requirement to gain a place on the course, you may still have to meet additional requirements to be granted with a visa by the Home Office.
We strongly advise all applicants to visit the Home Office website which outlines all the requirements for a successful visa application and to take a look at this PDF document which outlines both Solent University and Home Office requirements for a number of language tests.
104-120UCAS points
Any questions?
Contact our admissions team!Call: 023 8201 5066Email: admissions@solent.ac.uk
How to apply
Full-time
Any student applying for the first year of a full-time/sandwich undergraduate course must apply through UCAS (University and Colleges Admissions Service). This includes mature, overseas and EU students.
Nearly all schools and colleges offer their students the facility of applying electronically through the UCAS website using 'Apply'; it may also be used by those applying independently in the UK and overseas. This facility and all course information can be found on the UCAS website: www.ucas.com.
Your application should reach UCAS by 25 January if you hope to enter a course the following autumn. Early application is advised for the most popular subject areas. Late applications may be made until the end of June. The UCAS Code for the University is S30, code name SOLNT.
Find out what happens after you apply
Contextual offers
Solent endeavours to offer learning opportunities to students from all backgrounds. When we receive and review an application, we take into consideration the context and personal circumstances of applicants when making a decision, which means our advertised entry tariff could be reduced.
Language requirements
Applicants who do not have English as their first language will be required to demonstrate an approved level of proficiency in the use of the English language. The agreed minimum requirements for this course are:
- IELTS minimum 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each individual component
- TOEFL IBT minimum 80 with a minimum of 20 in each individual component
- Duolingo English Language Test - 115 overall with minimum of 95 in each component or equivalent.
Qualifications are checked before enrolment, and international students must bring their original certificates or certified copies when coming to study at the University.
Pre-Sessional English programme
The University also offers a pre-sessional English programme for international students who wish to improve their level of English before starting a degree course.
We will prepare you for your future
Graduating with hands-on experience as a practising journalist, you will find many doors open to you when looking for work in sports media. Suitable roles for graduates include
- Broadcast video or audio (sports) journalist
- Reporter/journalist
- Digital content producer
- PR/media officer
- Digital communications officer
- Social media manager
- Sports data journalist
We will help you start your career
The Solent Futures team is committed to getting students into great careers.
While you are studying, the team can help you with finding work experience or placements, link you with a mentor, check your CV, or offer one-to-one guidance.
If you're in your final year, we also have graduate job opportunities just for Solent graduates.
Find out more
Support at Solent
All students at Solent University have access to a range of specialist support services. Whether you are having financial difficulty, need additional help with academic skills or want advice on setting up your own business you'll find that help is always on hand.
Most of our specialist support services are based around the Student Hub, a central space where you can access all the information and support you may need during your time at University. The Student Hub is the first point of contact if you have any queries relating to your course, including questions about your timetable, options, and assessments and extenuating circumstances.
We work in partnership with the University to build a sense of pride and confidence in your Union, University and student experience.
Find out moreFurther study
Thinking about studying further than an undergraduate degree? Alumni can get 20% off their postgraduate study.
MA Sports Broadcast Journalism
Want to bring your sports knowledge to radio, the internet or television screens? Solent’s Sports Broadcast Journalism master’s degree is an advanced course designed to help...
Make your application
- 4 years with year in industry
- 3 years
- 4 years with foundation year
- 5 years with foundation and industry years
