Cardiff’s Magazine Journalism accredited by PTC
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
The PTC accredited Cardiff for another two years
The Centre for Journalism’s postgraduate magazine courses (Masters/Diploma), have been successfully reaccredited by the Periodicals Training Council (PTC).
The PTC, the training arm of the UK magazine industry, closely examined all aspects of teaching, assessment, guest lectures and graduate employment rates and concluded that Cardiff’s programme warranted its endorsement for the full two years.
Although the full report will be published in due course, after their visit the panel were happy to tweet “Relentless quest 4 improvement driven by @TimothyHolmes pays off - brilliant mag journo course, PTC accredited. Employ Cardiff post-grads!”
Magazine Director Tim Holmes, who has personally overseen the programme’s accreditation since 1995, welcomed the panel’s comments. “I am delighted the panel recognised the enormous amount of work we put into keeping our magazine course up to date but our fantastic results could not be achieved without a massive input from my colleague Jane Bentley, and all the guests from the magazine world who give their time and wisdom.
“The fundamentals of good magazine journalism and storytelling remain constant, which is why we still aim to teach the core skill of writing engaging stories the user will want to read.
“However, it is increasingly important that our students develop multimedia skills so they can utilise the jigsaw of platforms effectively and efficiently. Magazines now encompass print, online, podcasts, video and apps – all things we teach to help the students deliver their content appropriately.
“On top of the technical craft, understanding each magazine’s brand and its identity is a necessary skill each of our students will learn at Cardiff."
Students studying magazine journalism at Cardiff can either opt for the 9 month Diploma option, allowing graduates to tackle the jobs market earlier, or the one year Masters which includes a practice based project to add significant substance to a portfolio.