Program Overview

This course equips you to become a journalist with the news awareness, story-getting and story-telling skills to flourish in today’s multimedia journalism environment.

We live in a connected world with instant access to whatever news we want, whenever and wherever we want it. We don’t have to wait for the newspaper to hit the streets or for the evening news bulletin; anyone with a smartphone can be a reporter, able to record, edit and publish whatever they like.

The challenge for professional journalists in this digital age is to provide news and information that can be trusted, meeting the demands created by new technology and changing habits without sacrificing core professional values. Our degree has been designed with the future needs of this rapidly changing industry at its heart, informing our curriculum, programme design, facilities and staffing.

Led by former BBC News Online Managing Editor Tim Fenton, our course places a strong emphasis on good writing, independence, accuracy and ethical practice, the values that have always underpinned the best journalism. But at Essex we go further, applying those values to the new world of social networks and mobile technology.

You will gain a thorough training in the theory and practice of journalism:

• Benefit from opportunities to work in the field, both independently and alongside practicing journalists across a range of media
• Be mentored by a leading professional in a chosen specialist subject, such as business, arts, literary, political or sports journalism
• Find, tell and publish your own ‘real’ stories across different media, building a substantial portfolio of work to show to future employers
• Study topics including the art of storytelling, the history of journalism, and multimedia production
• Work towards the industry-standard NCTJ Diploma in Journalism as part of your degree
• Gain an essential understanding of media law and how the UK works

As a student at one of the UK’s leading social science institutions and a pioneer of literature and writing, you are uniquely placed to acquire a deep understanding of the world you report on as well as to develop your own powerful journalistic style.

Study abroad

Your education extends beyond the university campus. We support you in expanding your education through offering the opportunity to spend a year or a term studying abroad at one of our partner universities. The four-year version of our degree allows you to spend the third year abroad or employed on a placement abroad, while otherwise remaining identical to the three-year course.

Studying abroad allows you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised.

If you spend a full year abroad you'll only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year. You won't pay any tuition fees to your host university