Preston is the administrative centre of Lancashire and the city gives you the chance to cover busy courts and councils as well as dealing with the headquarters of the county police and fire service. Students will cover live news stories and real issues in the area.

You will spend several weeks producing competitive newspapers containing the stories and features you have written.

As the course nears its end, your tutors will be available to advise on job applications.

Modules on the course include:

Project:

This Masters level project gives students the chance to develop their writing skills and demonstrate their abilities as reflective practitioners. Students produce a 2,000-word proposal, five 2,000 word features on a related subject suitable for publication in a national newspaper and a critique.

Law and Public Administration for Journalists

These two subjects are tailored to give students the theoretical and practical knowledge they will need to carry out their jobs as journalists. You learn about the legal constraints within which you will have to work. There is special emphasis on defamation and contempt. You will also study the politics of a range of decision-making bodies, from parish councils to parliament and the European Union.

Shorthand

For most of the course every day will start with one and a half hours of Teeline shorthand.

In the law and public administration modules you will be continuously assessed on your coursework. The grades you achieve will form a half of the final assessment for the Masters, with the other half coming from final exams in each subject.

The newspaper journalism, production and digital modules are assessed on coursework. To gain the award you must pass the coursework and exam components in all modules and achieve 80 words a minute in shorthand.

You will also be encouraged to take the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) five preliminary exams which most regional newspaper editors prefer.

Extra and related information

Our print and broadcast courses are accredited by the The Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Our MA Magazine Journalism is accredited by the Periodicals Training Council.