Sports Journalism with Integrated Foundation Year
UCAS Code: P504
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
GCSE/National 4/National 5
Normally a minimum of three Level 2 qualifications (NVQ, GCSE or equivalent), including Maths and English at grade C or above. If you have studied for a GCSE which has a numerical grade then you will need to achieve a grade 4 or above. Equivalent alternative qualifications are also accepted, such as Level 2 Key Skills in Communication and Application of Number. If you have not achieved a grade C in Maths and English we may be able to work with you to ensure that you are able to gain these in the first year of the course, depending on your experience.
UCAS Tariff
A minimum of 40 UCAS tariff points from Level 3 qualifications (e.g. A or AS Levels, BTEC certificates/diplomas, access courses or equivalent)
About this course
**This is a four-year version of our popular BA (Hons) Sports Journalism course, with an integrated foundation year. Combine your passion for sport with a highly rewarding career working for newspapers, radio, TV or online platforms. Take on reporting, editing and managerial roles on SportsByte. Significantly boost your employability as a journalist with an NCTJ Diploma.**
Sky Sports News, BBC Sport, West Ham United FC, golf’s European Tour, the Williams F1 team, national newspapers . . . the career path to all these sports media destinations have begun for students on our BA (Hons) Sports Journalism degree course in the last few years. Whether you want to go into broadcast or print sports journalism, or into the press office of a top-end sporting organisation, our NCTJ-accredited course will give you the employability skills you need to work with, and for, the very best in the business.
Report from the press box at Wembley Stadium, interview Premier League chief executives, visit some of Europe’s finest football stadia, report on professional county cricket and rugby union, produce your own website or series of investigative sports articles - all while learning the latest techniques in digital, video and broadcast sports journalism and studying for UK journalism’s gold standard qualification, the NCTJ Diploma . . . our students gain thorough training for life at sports media’s cutting edge while studying Sports Journalism at Sunderland.
In the first year – the foundation year – you will study five modules; a module about the foundations of humanities, journalism and media theory, an essential study skills module, a foundation project module, practical numeracy skills, and a multimedia communications module. After completion of this foundation, you will then move onto the Sports Journalism honours degree course.
Throughout your course, you can build both your practical experience and portfolio of published work by taking on reporting and/or editing roles on SportsByte, our student-run website covering sport across the North East, in our innovative mediaHUB - BBC Newcastle’s home in Sunderland and host to visiting journalists from organisations such as Trinity Mirror (Newcastle Chronicle, Journal) and Johnston Press (Sunderland Echo). You can also benefit from our exclusive link-ups with Sunderland AFC, Durham County Cricket Club and Newcastle Falcons rugby club to gain invaluable matchday reporting experience of big sporting stages.
Modules
Please see the course details on our website for up to date module information.
Assessment methods
Please see the course details on our website for up to date assessment information.
Tuition fees
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How do students rate their degree experience?
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Journalism
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What do graduate employment figures really tell you?Journalism roles are very sought after, and competition fierce, and with the Internet disrupting business models, this is likely to continue. It's not impossible to get into roles with a first degree — quite a few do - but they can often be insecure or on a freelance basis, and a lot of jobs in journalism go to postgraduates. Unpaid work is not the norm for new journalists, but it’s rather more common than for other roles, as personal contacts and work experience are important ways for would-be journalists to get their target jobs. The skills you can gain from a journalism degree can be useful in a range of industries, and so grads from these courses can be found in a wide range of jobs - first degree graduates often get jobs in marketing and PR where their skills at drafting copy to deadlines are appreciated. London tends to dominate the jobs market for journalism graduates - a quarter of journalism graduates went to work there - but 2015 graduates found opportunities elsewhere, particularly in larger cities with good local media.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Journalism
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£18k
£19k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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