BA (Hons) Journalism and Creative Writing
DURATION
3 up to 4 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 13,450 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* international students full time / UK students full time £9250 / EU students full time £13450
Scholarships
Explore scholarship opportunities to help fund your studies
Introduction
"Due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, examinations may be replaced by an alternative form of assessment during the academic year 2021/2022. Please refer to the Programme Specification on these pages for further details."
Why choose this course?
A career in writing enables you to explore the world through your work – discovering people and places, exploring unfolding events, influencing debate, and shaping your own creative voice. In this course, you’ll write for blogs, websites, print, video, audio, and multimedia contexts, developing the skills to research your subject and really engage your readers.
Together, these subjects give you exciting opportunities to develop your voice as a writer and discover ways to publish your work. In journalism, you’ll learn about ethics, target audiences, and the journey from the interview to the finished article. You’ll produce work on a variety of platforms from blogs to print and report on international stories and ones guided by your interests.
In creative writing, you’ll learn important skills for devising, editing, revising, and submitting your work. You’ll analyse texts, explore the effects of the author’s choices and create short stories, drama, poetry, and creative nonfiction of your own. You’ll also have opportunities to work with schools or museums, attend guest lectures, study abroad, or take a year’s work placement.
All our lecturers are active researchers, so you’ll share the excitement of doing original work in a supportive and highly rated academic community. We’re also rated TEF Gold, making us one of the best universities for teaching and support.
You’ll have the opportunity to meet a wide range of authors, journalists and media practitioners through our speaker series. Our Media Matters guest lectures are given by a range of media speakers from top journalists to our recent graduates. You'll have the opportunity to network with inspirational and well-known screenwriters, biographers, poets, novelists, nonfiction authors, and playwrights at our Creative Conversation events.
What's the course about?
In your first year, you’ll explore the basics of journalism, learning about how to tell factual stories in written form, through blogs and podcasting, and video. You’ll also reflect on how journalists should and do behave and their relationship with the government. In Creative Writing, you’ll start learning how to become a writer and how to write for films, as well as gaining a deeper insight into the genre.
In your second year, you’ll start to broadcast, brainstorm ideas for a magazine concept, learn about how journalism changed the world, and gain insights into the fast-paced world of news, while in Creative Writing, you’ll learn about the art of telling non-fiction stories, in a wide range of genres from memoir to food to travel, and how to write for the stage.
Work placement/study abroad option*: Between your second and final year, you’ll have the option to study abroad or complete a work placement for up to a year. Not only will this give you an amazing experience to talk about, but it will also give your CV a boost. If you would rather go straight to your final year, that’s fine too. You can decide in your second year with us, so there is still plenty of time to think about this.
In your final year, you’ll get a wide range of options. In journalism, you will report on international stories, create your own website, have work experience, freelance, or create your own media business. You will also practice writing for a variety of audiences. In Creative Writing, you’ll get the chance to specialise in either poetry, prose, or scriptwriting and look at popular fiction genres and writing TV drama.
Your main campus is de Havilland
You’ll share this campus with students from business, law, sport, education, and humanities subjects. The student housing is close to our Sports Village which includes a gym, swimming pool, and climbing wall. You can get breakfast, lunch, or dinner in our on-campus restaurant or bar (in the newly built Enterprise Hub) on days you don’t feel like cooking. You can also use the common room to play pool, video games or just to hang out with friends. Our Learning Resources Centres are open 24/7, which means you can study whenever suits you best. Want to pop over to the other campus? You can take the free shuttle bus or walk there in just 15 minutes.
This course includes the options of:
- Work placement
- Study abroad
Gallery
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Curriculum
What will I study?
Degree programmes are structured into levels, 4, 5, and 6. these correspond to your first, second, and third/final year of study. below you can see what modules you’ll be studying in each.
Level 4
- Becoming a Writer II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Introduction to Journalism II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Journalism, Law and Ethics II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Genre Fiction: Building Worlds II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Writing for the Screen II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Journeys and Quests: Adventures in Literature II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Journalism Skills: Multiplatform II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Journalism and Government II 15 Credits II Compulsory
Level 5
- Radio Journalism II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Journalism Skills: Features II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Poetry, Prose and Publishing II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Journalism Skills News II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- How Journalism Changed the World: from Watergate to Social Media and Fake News II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Writing for the Stage II 15 Credits II Optional
- Language and Imagination: The Art of the Poem II 15 Credits II Optional
- The Short Story Workshop II 15 Credits II Optional
Level 6
- Tell It Slant: Writing and Reality II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Online Journalism II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Journalism Skills Portfolio II 30 Credits II Compulsory
- Short Story Workshop II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- International Politics and Reporting Global News II 15 Credits II Compulsory
- Creative Writing Project Poetry II 30 Credits II Optional
- Creative Writing Project Prose II 30 Credits II Optional
- Creative Writing Project Script II 30 Credits II Optional
Study abroad
An opportunity for an amazing experience, which will help make you stand out from the crowd. With more and more companies working internationally, the experience of living in another country can make a great impression on future employers.
This course offers you the opportunity to enhance your study and CV with a sandwich year abroad. The University has partnerships with over 150 universities around the world, including the USA, Canada, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, and closer to home in Europe.
If you study abroad between your second and third year of study, you’ll pay no tuition fee to the partner university and no tuition fee to us either. We’ll ask you to make your decision in your second year, so there is plenty of time to think about it.
Work placement
Graduate with invaluable work experience alongside your degree and stand out from the crowd.
This course offers you the opportunity to enhance your study and CV with a work placement sandwich year. It’s a chance to explore career possibilities, make valuable contacts and gain sought-after professional skills.
Our dedicated Careers and Employment team are here to help guide you through the process.
If you take up a work placement between your second and third year of study, at the University of Hertfordshire you’ll pay no tuition fee for this year. We’ll ask you to make your decision in your second year, so there is plenty of time to think about it.
What if I need support?
You will be allocated a personal tutor to monitor and advise on overall academic and personal development supplemented with drop-in skills sessions and specialist tutors to refine and polish your writing.
For help with study skills, including referencing, essay writing, and presentations, you will also have access to our Academic Support Services. You can attend workshops, 1-to-1 sessions, and online tutorials. Both our Learning Resources Centres run drop-in study skills sessions.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
What's next for my career?
Our graduates have an excellent record of gaining employment in media, publishing, teaching, and information management where their skills in analysis, communication, and evaluation are highly valued. Many of our graduates go on to higher levels of study engaging in research in their chosen fields. Whatever your future career plans, what is important to your potential employers is the range of intellectual, transferable, personal skills and experience you have gained and can demonstrate. We ensure our programmes are relevant to the world of work through active links with regional employers across a range of industries and professions.