Preparing our students for life after university

The world of journalism and media is constantly changing so how do we prepare our students for a career in these industries?

A big part of the answer is making sure students don’t just learn the theory, but also get the chance to develop practical skills that will help them when they begin their future career. That’s why at the School of Journalism, Media and Culture, some of our postgraduate courses offer modules that allow students to develop their practical skills as part of their studies.

These courses include our Digital Media and Society (MA) programme and our International Journalism (MA) programme. Both programmes offer a module called Short Form Video Production which is designed to help students tell stories using video. During the module, the students learn how to identify audiences and key messages and how to tell stories in a video format.

Students also develop a number of other skills during the module. These include practical skills such as video production and video editing skills, where students learn about the techniques for filming professional-looking footage on mobile phones and how to edit video footage on laptops, as well as other skills such as teamwork, scriptwriting, and marketing and market research skills.

One student who has completed the module is Damilare Williams-Shires. Talking about the module, Damilare said: “This module helped me gain vital commercial filmmaking experience. We were given skills and trusted to work as a team independently to deliver a real product. I enjoyed working with my team immensely and the experience was as fun and practical as it can get.”

The module is run by Bafta winning filmmaker, Nick Skinner. Nick said: "Media jobs today are dominated by commercial media production – particularly video production. I developed the module so graduates would have skills in planning, filming, and editing video content. It's great that some of their films have been so good they are being put to use by organisations already."

For further information about our Digital Media and Society (MA) programme, please visit our website.

For further information about our International Journalism (MA) programme, please visit our website.