XCity – City University Journalism Department Magazine 2010

City abandons postgrad diplomas for MAs

Journalism head Adrian Monck says the move will increase City’s international standing but some students are angered by syllabus change

© The Guardian

After more than 30 years, City’s postgraduate journalism diploma is to be scrapped, writes Martina Booth.

Prospective students will now only be able to study for a masters degree. An MA has been offered alongside the diploma for the past two years, but in its first year only 18 per cent of students chose this option.

Professor Adrian Monck, head of Journalism and Publishing, said that although students received thorough training during the diploma course, the Masters qualification would give City students the edge over their peers.

He said: “The diploma is very well taught, but traditionally it hasn’t had the same academic recognition as the masters. Why should journalism only be considered as a diploma and not as a masters?”

Monck added that the qualification would go further to establish City’s standing on an international playing field, with graduate journalism schools in the United States, such as Columbia University in New York.

However, some current students have been angered by the plans. The new MA will cost £7,495, which is £500 more than the diploma cost this year.

Oliver Shah, a Newspaper diploma student, said: “The diploma was good enough to see people like Will Lewis through to editor-in-chief of the Telegraph. I don’t see how paying an extra £500 and writing a few thousand extra words on your final project is going to equip you better for a newsroom.”

Students who are studying for an MA this year are also perturbed. Next year, an MA from City will both cost less and demand less work than it has this year.

The price of an MA has been lowered from £8,500 to £7,495 for next year’s intake. The new magazine cohort will complete a 5000-word journalism project to earn their masters, rather than the 8-10,000-word project, plus a 3,000-word dissertation that this year’s students will produce over the summer.

“As someone who is still struggling to pay for this year’s course, I find it pretty galling that City would decide to lower both the fees and the requirements for the MA next year. Next year’s graduates – with whom I will soon find myself competing for jobs – will have to do less to achieve the same qualification” said Chris Hall, an MA Magazine Journalism student.

Barbara Rowlands, programme director MA Journalism, said she had some sympathy the 2008/9 group. “It’s very sad for this year’s MA students, but unfortunately we can’t change it mid-stream,” she said.

Despite the introduction of masters courses at City and other universities, Rowlands said that the diploma would remain an industry-important qualification.

“The diploma is well-known and remains the gold standard at the moment; in the future it will be superseded by the masters,” she said. “I don’t know if people in the industry are that concerned whether students have an MA or a diploma. They just want graduates from good institutions with great skills”

This is echoed by The Daily Telegraph editor, Will Lewis (Periodical, 1991), who said to a City postgraduate student last year that when it came to recruitment “it was irrelevant whether somebody had the MA or the diploma – as long as somebody has the core skills.”

Related posts:

1. City to launch masters in financial journalism
2. Mail on Sunday bursary gives postgrad a taste of authentic reportage
3. All change! Fresh outlook for City