BA (Hons) in Sport Journalism
Luton, United Kingdom
DURATION
3 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
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EARLIEST START DATE
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TUITION FEES
GBP 15,500
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Introduction
BA (Hons) in Sports Journalism in the growth and commercialization of sports and the rapid development of digital and social media tools make sports journalism an exciting and fast-moving branch of the industry. This specialist course gives you the skills you need to be a 21st-century sports journalist.
Learn the core practical skills of journalism and how to apply them to a sports specialism using traditional research and writing as well as new and developing media forms.
Sharpen these skills with an in-depth understanding of the political social historical and economic sporting environment - as well as the legal and ethical frameworks journalists work within - adding depth and authority to your reporting.
You benefit from studying with a team of industry specialists in both sports reporting and general journalism across a range of platforms and have opportunities to hear from leading academics sports participants and masterclass speakers from the worlds of both sports and media.
Why choose this course?
- Gain core communication and multimedia skills that are highly valued across a range of graduate industries
- Put your skills into practice via real-life sports reporting assignments
- Explore opportunities for work experience within radio television print and online journalism
- Develop a portfolio of work and contacts while honing your skills through regular new days
- Report from your first year for our new website and present your show on our community radio station Radio Lab
- There’s the option to take this course over four years and benefit from a fee-free industry placement where you gain experience build your CV and make contacts for the future
- If you need a step into the full degree you can start with a Foundation Year which guarantees entry to the Undergraduate course
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Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
For students starting in September 2024
If there’s one thing that concerns most students, it’s the idea of debt and how to cover the cost of university, particularly with the cost of living rising. However, for you, it need not be a worry. Here at the University of Bedfordshire, we offer a wide range of scholarships, bursaries, and other funding to support your studies - and that’s cash that you don’t need to pay back.
Undergraduate EU qualifications bursary
The EU qualifications bursary provides students entering an Undergraduate programme solely on the basis of an eligible EU qualification with a tuition fee reduction in the form of a bursary of £4500 per academic year for each year of study.
A level and IB Scholarship for International Students
The University of Bedfordshire's A level and IB scholarship is worth £3000 off international tuition fees for each year of study for students who achieve an IB Diploma score of 33 points or more, or A level grades of ABB or higher.
International Undergraduate Merit Award
The University of Bedfordshire consistently endeavours to attract high-calibre students. In line with this commitment, we have a scholarship for high-performing students not eligible for other University of Bedfordshire schemes. The International Undergraduate Merit Award entitles recipients to a £1000 reduction in international tuition fees for each year of study.
Prompt Payment Discount
A £500 discount is accessible for promptly settling each year's fees in full, prior to or upon registration, for both undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes.
Curriculum
English Language Foundation
This unit focuses on your ability to understand and use the English language accurately when you read, speak, listen, and write. We will concentrate on the English you need for undergraduate-level study in your chosen subject area, covering grammar, subject area vocabulary, and the four language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
A key element of the unit is the grammar of the language, and particularly the verb tense system in English because your ability to use the verb tense system accurately will be extremely important when you come to writing essays and reports. This unit will focus in particular on the grammar of the language.
We will also focus on reading, listening, and speaking skills in the context of your chosen subject area. Beginning with short texts, we will practice each skill and practice it again, so that gradually you will see, hear, and feel that your command of the language is improving.
A recurring focus of the unit will be your acquisition of 'learner autonomy'. This means your ability to acquire the language yourself, without needing a teacher's help. This is important because from next year you will not have an English teacher to help you. So we will consider and practice strategies to help you gain confidence in your ability to increase your knowledge of and ability to use the language, including, for instance, guessing the meaning of difficult words, deciding which words are important in a text, recognizing differences between formal and informal language, and other strategies, so that as the first semester continues, you begin to feel more confident in your use and experience with the English Language.
Academic Skills Foundation
When you begin your undergraduate level studies, you will be expected to have knowledge of and the ability to use a large range of 'study skills'. You will also be expected to have some knowledge of the subject area you will be studying. This unit deals with both of these aspects of your preparation for undergraduate-level study.
All of the academic skills are practiced in English, so you will use your developing acquisition of the language from the partner unit 'English Language Foundation' to practice and gain mastery of these skills. You will also use your language and study skills as you learn the foundation of your subject area, putting the skills into practice as you learn.
Developing English Language Skills
This unit builds on the progress you made during its partner semester 1 unit 'English Language Foundation' and increases your level from that which you had achieved by the end of semester 1.
We will recycle the tense system in English and other elements of the grammar system, but you will now learn how to use other aspects of the grammar, including the passive voice, as well as linking words and phrases and devices that enable you to write longer sentences but retain grammatical accuracy.
You will notice that we gradually introduce more specialist language that you need in preparation for your degree and we will expect you to use and develop the skills that you gained in the previous units so that you can work more independently.
Academic Skills Development
This unit builds on the skills learned and practiced in its partner semester 1 unit 'Foundation Academic Skills'. We will add more skills to the list, including summarizing and synthesizing, argumentation, critical thinking, and referencing and citation skills, as well as several others, and practice and test them in the same way as with the semester 1 unit.
We will also investigate the research skill and you will learn how to prepare a research proposal and conduct a literature review, and how to plan a research project, learning about the research tools available and how they can be used to conduct research in your chosen field.
You will continue to broaden your knowledge of key current issues and theory in your chosen subject area and apply the critical thinking and argumentation skills you acquire in this unit to argue for and against propositions you have studied in the form of both essays and presentations and seminar situations, ensuring that you are ready to step up to your chosen undergraduate course with a base level of subject area knowledge from which to continue your academic development as you progress to level 4 study.
Inside The Journalism Industry
This unit will introduce you to the political, commercial, and regulatory contexts within which the journalism industry operates and the ethical and legal foundations of sound journalistic practice. You will learn to critique the industry and demonstrate your understanding of key regulatory, legal, and political & economic pressures.
Reporting And Writing
This unit teaches the researching and writing of news stories and feature articles. You will learn how to identify what is newsworthy and then how to write for a series of platforms across several subjects, ethically and professionally.
Sport In Society
This unit provides you with an introduction to sport and its place in our world, now and in the past. It is a key building block to your study of sports journalism. It introduces some socio-cultural, historical, and philosophical theories and analyses that help develop an understanding of sport in society. It covers the origins, history, and development of various individual sports and issues arising, including relations with the media and media practices. This knowledge will inform your own sports reporting and analysis of sports journalism
Introduction To Digital Storytelling
The purpose is to equip you with practical digital storytelling skills. You will learn to record and edit audio and video, use them to develop your storytelling skills and upload them online.
Radio, Audio And Podcasting
This unit enables you to expand your radio, audio production, podcasting, and presentation skills base. You will develop various types of program content through the use of studio and location recording techniques alongside building your abilities about digital audio editing.
Multimedia Newsdays
The purpose of this unit is to enable you to put your broadcast & online skills and your journalistic knowledge into actual practice in an environment that replicates industry practice. As such, it not only hones your skills and develops your knowledge but prepares you for placement work over the summer break and during your final year at University.
During a series of 11 production days, some of which will be consecutive, you will find your own news stories, and produce your news programs and online news.
You will be required to engage professionally with news sources and providers outside of the university environment.
Public Relations And Marketing
This unit will provide you with an understanding of the role of public relations as a key tool for reputation management, and the role that communications play within the marketing communications strategy of any organization. The unit will enable you to understand the main functions of the marketing communications mix including key areas of integrated marketing communications systems: public relations, advertising, and digital media.
The Art And Craft Of Journalism
Students preparing for a career in Journalism, and a successful final year, need to be aware of the art and craft of writing beyond what is required for an academic degree. This unit broadens the students’ critical awareness of fine journalism, and the craft required to produce it.
This unit is designed to accomplish two goals: first to improve the students’ awareness and critical appreciation of fine journalism; and second, to improve their writing. Exemplar examination and editing workshops will occur throughout the term, and result in the long-form piece(s) of journalism that displays this newfound knowledge. The students are assessed on the overall quality of writing that results from this new appreciation of writing and the application of best practices. Formative feedback will be conducted during the term in the form of editing and review workshops.
This unit, delivered in the second half of the second year, prepares students for their third year, where they should display a higher level of writing and journalism competence than that produced during the previous terms.
Practical Sports Journalism
This unit gives you the chance to learn how to – and then practice – a range of sports reporting, broadcasting, writing, and editing skills in live situations. It is based on contemporary journalistic practices in print and multi-platform sports journalism. You will examine, understand, and deliver different types of sports stories, ranging from routine match reports to in-depth investigative features and the different reporting strategies employed accordingly. This also includes audio-visual material and broadcasting.
Law, Regulation & Public Administration
This unit both deepens and broadens the basic legal, civic, and regulatory knowledge you acquired in the unit Introduction to the Journalism Industry. The knowledge you acquire in this unit will enable you to report confidently on civic structures and to do so in a legally safe, regulatory-compliant manner.
Practical Special Project - Cnc
This unit allows you to demonstrate the skills, ideas, and learning acquired during your degree in an extended piece of work that is self-initiated managed, and supported by your assigned supervisor. The project needs to be in one of the areas of your degree and have a clear and strong link to it. The project content should be taken from your main area of interest within your course. The topic will require the prior approval of the unit coordinator.
In this unit, you will develop your practical project, individually or in groups. In the area of radio&audio, media communications, and journalism: the project can be undertaken individually or as a group.
In the area of video/television: the project can only be undertaken as a group activity.
The project is the bridge between your studies and the world of work, and you should approach it professionally and demonstrate independent thinking, responsibility, perseverance, and high standards, all necessary to enter your professional life or postgraduate study.
Dissertation Special Project - Cnc
This unit allows you to demonstrate the skills, ideas, and learning acquired during your degree in an extended piece of work that is self-initiated managed, and supported by your assigned supervisor. The project needs to be in one of the areas of your degree and have a clear and strong link to it. The project content should be taken from your main area of interest within your course. The topic will require the prior approval of the unit coordinator.
In this unit, you will develop your research project, in the form of an undergraduate dissertation. Your project will follow the guidelines of ethical practice for the British Sociological Association, confirmed through the compilation and approval of the CATS ethics form.
The project is the bridge between your studies and the world of work, and you should approach it professionally and demonstrate independent thinking, responsibility, perseverance, and high standards, all necessary to enter your professional life or postgraduate study.
Sport, Media And Culture
This unit studies the relationship between sports, media, and culture. It examines the complex interdependence of sport and media and the ethical implications as well as the links between sport and sponsorship, advertisers and stakeholders. It will enable you to understand how the industry of sports and sports media functions as a commodity in the modern globalized world.
Advanced Multimedia Journalism
This unit builds on your Newsday unit from Level 5, enabling you to develop your broadcast and online skills in an environment that continues to replicate industry practice. To that end, you will complete 15 news days, five of which will be consecutive.
The aim is to help you – in a professional setting - build the skills necessary for your final special project. Therefore the focus of the content will be on longer-form radio and television pieces and more complex digital work than that you completed last year.
In the process, you will strengthen your critical understanding of all forms of radio, television and online news and improve your craft skills, leaving you well placed to embark upon your final special project.
Once again, you will be required to engage professionally with news sources and providers outside of the university environment.
The assessments will give you the opportunity to present prospective employers with a show reel of high quality varied work.
Radio 24/7 For Journalists
This unit enables you to produce a variety of journalistic radio programming and other audio content to a professional industry standard. You will develop your ability to formulate, develop and deliver your ideas whilst working within professional production constraints.
How will you be assessed?
Assessment methods vary across the course enabling students to develop strategies for a range of tasks methods of evaluation and presentation giving them valuable employability experience. At all stages students receive formative feedback with every formative assignment and summative feedback is given within 20 working days of submission for levels 4 and 5 and 15 working days for level 6.
Individual tutors all offer the opportunity to discuss any feedback in more detail at each level of study. As student skills and subject knowledge develop throughout their course it is expected that they will develop increasingly sophisticated responses to assessment and employ increasingly effective methods of peer and self-review.
Program Outcome
- Produce professional, publishable, accurate, correct, ethically and legally sound news output for radio, print and online platforms, from a variety of sources to given outlines and deadlines, understanding the differing demands on journalists of changing platforms and audiences and how to react to those demands.
- Critically evaluate, analyse and employ a variety of news and feature-gathering techniques, working across multiple platforms
- Apply critical analysis of theories of journalism and sport media to the industry and to your own work
- Have a thorough knowledge of appropriate organisations, powers, responsibilities and workings of UK civic governance and of the EU and a working knowledge of law, including court reporting, defamation, contempt and other areas essential to effective journalism.
- Apply a systematic understanding of key aspects of the journalism industry, its regulation and its place within society and within the global economy and to be able to effectively critically evaluate the way in which journalism has and is developing
- Demonstrate a professional and self-disciplined approach, exercising initiative and personal responsibility in your work both as an individual and in groups, which should be performed in accordance with professional and ethical standards and conventions.
- Critically analyse the role of sport in society placing it in its cultural, economic and political context
- Demonstrate the ability to complete a placement, in which you demonstrate both professional behaviour and produce appropriate professional work, in accordance with professional and ethical standards and conventions. Apply the same approach to your work within university.
Career Opportunities
Career opportunities for graduates of this course include sports journalism publishing copywriting public relations media research and digital media.
Rosie Bonass graduated and went on to be Women's Football Social Lead at UEFA. Rosie says "I was given the opportunity to work at Luton Town FC as part of my course, which helped me to land a job as Media Executive at Tottenham Hotspur FC and then my current role as Women's Football Social Lead at UEFA. I can't thank the University of Bedfordshire enough."