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What does a jobs crisis mean for journalism education?

Future journalists should be informed of the 'jobs crisis' within journalism, said Adrian Monck, the former head of Journalism at City University, at the 'Is World Journalism in Crisis?' conference last month.


"Almost every single publication across the UK has probably lost journalists (...) that’s not an inspiring landscape if you're a young aspiring journalist."

But while there are fewer jobs on the market, this year there has been a 15.7 per cent rise in the number of students on undergraduate journalism courses and an apparent rise in postgraduate admissions.

Although there are no official figures on postgraduate study, City University, Birmingham City University, Sheffield and Kingston have more students than ever on their courses and applications have reportedly risen across the board.

The courses in journalism at a post-graduate level are also rapidly increasing. But Tim Luckhurst, head of Kent University's School of Journalism said the majority of courses 'at an undergraduate and post-graduate level are essentially worthless' and need higher entry requirements.

The number of journalism courses had increased as universities were 'market driven' added Paul Bradshaw, head of Birmingham City Universities new Online Journalism MA. 

"Universities are under pressure to put bums on seats. It's not the responsibility of a university not to do the course if some people will be disappointed."

In response to our conversation, he wrote a post defending the study of journalism at the Online Journalism Blog, saying degrees in journalism were also educational.

According to Chris Rushton, head of journalism and PR at Sunderland University and a committee member for the Association of Journalism Education the purpose of studying journalism was not purely vocational and provided students with transferable skills.

"It is a difficult time out there (...)The idea that you're failing if you don't become a journalist after doing a journalism degree is silly.”

But the website untistats.com's data on the employment of those with journalism undergraduate degrees reveals some worrying statistics.

It surveyed students six months after graduation and found that, other than graduates from Bournemouth and Kingston, no course had over 40 per cent of journalism graduates working in 'media associated professions'.

A quarter of the graduates from the University of the Creative Arts were working as sales assistants or retail cashiers, as compared to only 15 per cent who had secured jobs within the media or associated industries.

Student optimism
Journalism students, however, remain optimistic about their chances of securing work within the industry.

Alicia Weeks, a second year journalism undergraduate student at Westminster, said she believes she will find work as a journalist. Her coursemate, Radmila Loncar, was also positive about her employment prospects: 

"I chose to do an undergraduate degree in journalism because I really wanted to focus on a vocational degree. I thought I'd learn how to write, and I'd wanted to be a journalist since I was 13."

"There's too much competition around but I think if you work hard you'll get a job".

But many lecturers and course leaders have raised issues about whether all these students will find work in the media.

One lecturer, who teaches postgraduate and undergraduate students at two universities, said that it was clear that 'the majority of journalism students won't get jobs in the industry'.

"You've got thousands of people chasing fewer jobs. I don't think the standard of students in some courses is good enough."

Sara McConnell, who runs the Journalism MA at Kingston University agreed that there were 'too many' journalism courses within the UK and there needs to be a 'serious debate' about the future of journalism education:

"Some universities are looking to get income from students and unscrupulous universities might be dishonest about job prospects. It would be irresponsible for us to pretend that an MA is a gateway to a job."

And Josh Halliday, a third year undergraduate journalism student at Sunderland University said he worries about the type of students accepted onto journalism courses, whether for education or training: "A lot of people go into undergraduate degrees with no idea what goes on in the news."

Paul Bradshaw suggested that whatever the numbers on courses, there will always be 'disappointed' students: "People who graduate with journalism degrees get jobs. Whether that's in the news industry is another thing."

Dina Rickman (@dinarickman) is a newspaper journalism postgraduate student at City University.

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
adrian monck | journalism education | paul bradshaw | tim luckhurst | training |

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