BA Honours Creative Writing and Journalism

Our Creative Writing and Journalism programme offers the unique experience of combining both subjects to enable you to fully explore and develop your skills across different styles of writing such as fiction, screenwriting, short story, long-form journalism and multimodal journalism.

You will learn how to critically examine different types of writing and be given plenty of opportunities to experiment with language, styles and formats. You also learn about the life of a journalist – whether you want to write for a newspaper, magazine, or online platforms.

The course will provide you with a solid foundation to enter a variety of industries of which require excellent writing, research and analytical skills.

Course Highlights

This course is ideal if you want to improve your skills as a writer and develop a theoretical foundation of best writing practices. You’ll study all forms of writing, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as drama and screenwriting. You’ll also take an in-depth look at the way journalism and various other writing industries are growing and changing.

Learning to communicate effectively, you’ll learn creative writing skills such as narrative, character, developing dialogue, creating conflict, along with essential journalism skills such as investigative writing and research.

Later in the course, you’ll undertake a work placement in order to put your new skills to practice in a work environment. Previously, we have placed our students with some of the most prestigious media outlets in the UAE and beyond.

Mode of Study Options: It is expected that by September 2021 we will have In-person classes and these could be supported by an online element. It is too early to commit to a 100% Online at present as it will depend on the Health & Safety situation and KHDA permissions. We can say at present that if the Health & Safety situation warrants it there could be a 100% online along with in-person classes.

Teaching

Classes are held at our Dubai Knowledge Park campus from Sunday to Thursday between 8:30 am and 6:30 pm. Additional sessions may be scheduled over the weekend or holiday periods and you should expect to receive notice of these in advance.

You will be actively involved in a range of learning, teaching and assessment approach as part of your programme. These approaches ensure that you are involved and engaged by placing you at the centre of your own learning. You will be required to actively participate in learning activities and engagement with your fellow students, both individually and collaboratively. Faculty increasingly use existing and emerging technologies and your programme will be facilitated using a variety of media and online tools (My Learning on UniHub, podcasts, wikis, etc.) which will allow you access to a diverse range of online resources and learning materials. By engaging in e-learning you will also be developing skills of which are essential for your learning and highly valued by employers. Such skills including flexibility, communication, IT skills and teamwork.

Virtual Open Days

Take part in our Virtual Open Days, where you can speak to faculty and staff to find out more about our wide range of programmes, entry requirements, scholarships, study modes, and get a feel for what it’s like to study at a world-class UK university in Dubai.

Register Here

Programme Content

The BA Creative Writing and Journalism programme will give you a solid grounding in language and communication across a range of creative and journalistic genres and through a variety of media. You will also explore the worlds of media, journalistic and literary employment.

The first year of the course introduces you to essential creative writing and journalism skills that you can apply across a range of media, including narrative storytelling, finding your voice and exploring character, dialogue and conflict.

In the second year you will have the opportunity to develop your creative strengths in such fields as fiction, scriptwriting (with the opportunity to have your script turned into a short film by BA Film students), and storytelling for games, as well as to develop and deepen your journalistic knowledge and skills across print, broadcast, online mobile and emergent technologies.

The third year gives you the opportunity to work in-depth on an independent project, as well as to boost your employability through our innovative Entrepreneurship and Work Placement modules.

Year 1

• Journalism Skills (30 Credits) - Compulsory
• What is Journalism? (30 Credits) - Compulsory
• Character, Conflict and Dialogue (30 Credits) - Compulsory
• Writing Creatively (30 Credits) - Compulsory

Year 2

• Multimodal Journalism (30 Credits) - Compulsory
• Political Communication (30 Credits) - Optional
• Arts, Lifestyle and Sports Journalism (30 Credits) - Optional
• Storytelling for Games (30 Credits) - Optional
• Fiction: The Short Story (30 Credits) - Optional
• Screen Writing for Shorts (30 Credits) - Optional

Year 3

• Working as a Writer (30 Credits) - Compulsory
• Creative Writing Project (30 Credits) - Compulsory
• Global Journalism and News Cultures (30 Credits) - Optional
• Long-Form Journalism (30 Credits) - Optional
• Popular Non-Fiction (30 Credits) - Optional
• Genre Fiction (30 Credits) - Optional

Teaching

Classes are held at our Dubai Knowledge Park campus from Sunday to Thursday between 8:30 am and 6:30 pm. Additional sessions may be scheduled over the weekend or holiday periods and you should expect to receive notice of these in advance.

You will be actively involved in a range of learning, teaching and assessment approach as part of your programme. These approaches ensure that you are involved and engaged by placing you at the centre of your own learning. You will be required to actively participate in learning activities and engagement with your fellow students, both individually and collaboratively. Faculty increasingly use existing and emerging technologies and your programme will be facilitated using a variety of media and online tools (My Learning on UniHub, podcasts, wikis, etc.) which will allow you access to a diverse range of online resources and learning materials. By engaging in e-learning you will also be developing skills of which are essential for your learning and highly valued by employers. Such skills including flexibility, communication, IT skills and teamwork.

Graduates will be well prepared to go on to careers in creative writing and/or journalism, and across a wide range of industries wherever, good writing and critical thinking are valued. The course is also particularly useful in areas where work on analysing and producing language is central. This could include roles in screenwriting, playwriting, copywriting, advertising, website management, PR, marketing, branding, and journalism. Students are also able to use the skills they’ve developed to work on their own short stories and/or novels.