duration

12 months. Your final Professional Project is submitted at the end of July and you can complete internships in August.

International Journalism MA

Course overview

The International Journalism MA is designed to enable you to start a career in international journalism, or return to a career with enhanced skills and understanding.

 

It is designed for students who do not live in the UK. You will leave with contacts in countries around the world, with a more profound understanding of other cultures, and with insight into international news.

 

You also benefit from:

  • location. City is based in the heart of London's media district, giving you unrivalled access to the industry for contacts and internships
  • world-famous guest speakers. Visitors to the course have included the Global Managing Editor of Reuters, International Editor of Channel 4 News, Managing Editor of Sky News, Head of News at APTN, and journalists from Reuters Iraq and A-24 African network
  • graduate prospects. Employment rates are excellent, with students working for international news organisations like Al-Jazeera, CNN, APTN, BBC World Service, and Dow Jones
  • international focus. The course follows an international news agenda, and students from all over the world share their journalistic and cultural experiences
  • internship. All students complete an internship, either in the UK or overseas
  • facilities. New state-of-the-art facilities including a TV studio and multimedia newsrooms.

 

Course content

The MA in International Journalism is divided into two pathways: print and broadcast. You learn and develop practical journalism skills according to your chosen pathway.

Modules

 

 

Teaching and assessment

Teaching staff

Industry visitors

The International Journalism course prides itself on its close connections with the journalism industry. Here are some of the high-level industry figures who have contributed to the course in recent years:

  • David Schlesinger, Global Managing Editor, Reuters
  • Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 News
  • Phil Harding, Director English Networks & News, BBC World Service (as External Examiner)
  • Yosri Fouda, London bureau chief and host "Top Secret", Al Jazeera
  • Salim Amin, ceo A-24 African network and head Camera Pix
  • Mark Brayne, Director, Dart Europe
  • Waleed Ibrahim, Reuters Iraq Bureau
  • Tim Lambon, Deputy Foreign Editor, Channel 4 News
  • Gavin McFaydean, Director, Centre of Investigative Journalism
  • David Leigh, Investigations Editor, The Guardian
  • Sandy McIntyre, head of APTN

Teaching and assessment methods

The International Journalism MA is vocationally-oriented with a high emphasis on developing practical skills in print or broadcast journalism. We focus on "learning by doing" - students cover real stories and produce newspapers, run a radio station, broadcast on the internet, and produce television news programmes and multi-media websites.

 

The coursework you produce is in the form of pieces of journalism - news stories, feature articles, radio programmes, tv clips, etc. All written work is word processed in the appropriate professional formats. You use industry-standard software such as Quark Xpress, Adobe Audition and Adobe Premiere.

 

You have opportunities to meet, listen to and question journalists and other people from the media. You are encouraged to reflect on your own experiences as journalists and the ways in which practising journalists do their jobs by developing an understanding of ethical issues in journalism, the media and international reporting. 

 

 

Employment

We know of the whereabouts of nearly 800 of our International Journalism alumni (out of around 1,000 graduates of the course).

 

Of the 790 alumni we have details for, over 600 (77 per cent) are working in journalism or related jobs, including:

  • nearly 80 alumni working for international news agencies such as Reuters, Bloomberg, AP, Dow Jones and AFP
  • just over 100 working for international broadcasters like Al Jazeera, CBC, CNN, NRK, Russia Today and France 24
  • around 100 working for newspapers outside the UK
  • around 28 working for the BBC, either in the UK or overseas

 

Around 60 (8 per cent) are working either for NGOs or in government/politics-related work

Around 50 (6 per cent) are involved in higher education, either as university lecturers or PhD students

Around 65 (8 per cent) are working in jobs outside journalism

 

Alumni in senior positions include:

  • Bureau Chief of CNN Dubai and Editor of CNN.com Arabic Service
  • Editor of Le Journal Hebdomadaire, Morocco
  • Managing Director, Cyprus Mail
  • Editorial Manager, London, for Newsweek magazine
  • Editorial Director & Founder, Legal Week
  • Chief Editor, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
  • Managing editor, Corp Watch 

Internships

The internship (or work placement) is a key component of the International Journalism course, giving you the chance to put your learning into practice and, more importantly, make contacts in the industry.

 

Students have undertaken internships at the following organisations in the last two years:

  • A-magasinet, Norway
  • APTN, London
  • BBC Horizon
  • Biosphere / Bioscience News
  • BMI Voyager - b.there
  • Bocut Audiovisuelle Medien GmbH
  • Commonwealth Secretariat Publications Section
  • Cosmopolitan, India
  • CTV, Toronto
  • DR2 Upland
  • Gay Times Magazine
  • Informa/Agrow
  • Institute for War & Peace Reporting
  • Latin News Daily
  • Newsday
  • Newsweek Polska
  • Pensions Management/Pensions Week
  • Pink Paper
  • Reuters
  • Sky News
  • Stod 2, Iceland
  • SWR German public broadcaster
  • Tageblatt, Luxembourg
  • The Asian Age, Mumbai
  • The Independent, London
  • The Score, Toronto
  • The Times, London
  • Third Sector magazine
  • Vox Africa, The Pan African TV

 

 

How to apply

  • The International Journalism MA is intended primarily for applicants from outside the UK.
    Our MA courses in Broadcast/Television, Investigative, Magazine, Newspaper and Science Journalism are designed for UK students who wish to work within the UK – as such the courses include UK-specific content in the form of UK Media Law and Public Administration modules.
  • The International Journalism course accepts a small number of UK applicants who can demonstrate (i.e. with work/study experience) a strong interest in international journalism and international current affairs.

Entry requirements

  • All applicants must have a degree equivalent to a British Bachelors Honours degree, or a minimum of seven years' work experience in journalism.
  • All applicants must demonstrate commitment to journalism through relevant work experience.
English language
  • Candidates whose first language is not English are required to obtain a minimum overall score of 7.0 in the IELTS English language test. Candidates MUST also score a minimum 7.0 in the Writing element of the IELTS test.
  • Candidates with an IELTS score of 6.0 or 6.5 may also get admission if they successfully complete City's 12-week pre-sessional English course.
  • On completion of the pre-sessional English course, you are still required to take either the IELTS test or City's own Test of English Language Competence and achieve a score of 7.0 or above in order to gain admission onto the International Journalism MA
  • If your IELTS score is currently less than 6.0, we do not advise that you take the pre-sessional English course. Instead, we advise that you reapply for the MA International Journalism course next year, and spend the time improving your English at an approved English language school
  • We do not accept TOEFL or any other English language test.

How to apply

You can apply either in hard copy by post or online. Please follow the instructions below carefully.

  • it is your responsibility to ensure references and other required documents are submitted to the University on your behalf
  • all supporting documents (degree transcripts, samples of journalistic writing etc.) must be officially translated into English
  • places are strictly limited and we strongly recommend that you apply as early as possible, as applications will close when the course is full

Application material

To apply for the course, please submit the following:

 

1. One application form.

You can download a pdf file of our application form (please state clearly your preferred choice of pathway: print or broadcast) or apply online by following the links below

 

2. References

We would like you to submit one academic and one journalism work-related reference.

When you submit an online application form an automated reference request is sent to the referees' e-mail addresses that you have provided on your application form. Please check with your referee, as in some instances your referees may not receive this automated reference request. If this hapens, please download the reference form and e-mail it to your referees. The reference forms that we provide are only available in PDF format. Please make your referees aware that if they choose to use the PDF reference form, they must be hand-written.

 

Whether applying online or by post, please note that it is not compulsory for your referees to use the reference form we provide. References written on headed paper or those that have an institutional stamp are also accepted. If references are not written on headed paper they must be officially stamped. Please note that an institutional stamp (where applicable) and referee’s signature are required. Please remind your referees to include your full name and the course you are applying for in their references.

 

We encourage you to to contact your referees prior to submitting a postal or online application in order to secure references as early as possible.

 

You can post your references with your application (or upload them with your online application). You can also arrange for your referees to forward them directly to us.

 

3. A copy of your degree transcript.

We can accept either a good-quality scanned copy of your degree transcript or an original. If you are admitted as a City student, you will need to bring the original document with you during enrolment week. We are unable to return original documents. If you have not completed your degree please indicate your date of graduation in the ‘Higher Education’ section of the application form. You can submit an application without your degree transcript.

4. The following two articles.

  • article 1: explain in not more than 200 words why you want to come on our course and what you expect to gain from it. (This replaces the "Statement in Support of Application" requested in the application form.)
    Print pathway applicants should write article 1 in the "Statement in Support of Application" section of the application form. Broadcast pathway applicants may, if they wish, read their 200-word script onto a non-returnable cassette (not a dictaphone cassette), mini-disc, CD or DVD.
  • article 2: interview someone interesting in your local area. Based on this interview:
    print applicants should write a 250-word article (online applicants should save this as a separate document and upload as part of your online application or type on a separate sheet and enclose with your postal application). Broadcast pathway applicants may, if they wish, record not more than 5 minutes of the interview onto a non-returnable cassette, mini-disc, CD or DVD. Please ensure your name is on any separate submissions.

 

5. Details of your work experience in journalism.

Applicants should be able to demonstrate commitment to journalism through relevant work experience. Either include these details on a separate sheet with your postal application, or copy and paste them into the "Statement in support of your application" section of the online application form (no word limit)

 

6. Please submit no more than three examples of work done in a journalistic style (published or unpublished), either in printed format or on a non-returnable CD or DVD.

Either include these with your postal application, or copy and paste the articles/web links into the "Statement in Support of Application" section or upload as separate documents as part of the online application.

 

7. IELTS certificate.
Candidates whose first language is not English are required to obtain a minimum overall score of 7.0 in the IELTS test. Candidates MUST also score a minimum 7.0 in the Writing element of the IELTS test. You may submit an application without your IELTS certificate. Please indicate in the “English Language” section of the application form the date you have arranged to take the test.

 

  • Unless otherwise stated you MUST submit all of the above documents with your application (uploaded as part of your online application or enclosed with your postal application) in order to be considered for a place on the International Journalism MA. We cannot process your application without these supporting documents.
  • For those candidates submitting postal applications, please include a checklist of the above documents you have enclosed to support your application.
  • For those candidates submitting online applications for the Broadcast pathway of the course, recordings on CDs, DVDs etc. can be posted to the Journalism Department separately where they will be collated with downloaded applications. Please ensure your name is on any separate submissions.

Application forms

Deadline date

There is no official deadline for applications to the MA International Journalism course. We will continue to accept applications until the course is full. We recommend that you apply as early as possible as this is an extremely popular course.

Return address

Please return your application form and/or supporting documents, marked "Postgraduate Applications", to: Graduate School of Journalism, City University London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK.

 

Fees & bursaries

Fees 2010/11

Please follow this link for details of tuition fees for 2010/11.

 

See our bursaries and scholarships page for details of organisations that have sponsored Journalism students in the last two years.

 

 

News

Student news

Alumni news

The international class of 2009/10

Students making up the class of 2009/10 are from the following 38 countries:

  • Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, China Rep
  • Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark
  • Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France
  • Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary
  • Iceland, India, Iran, Irish Republic 
  • Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldavia
  • Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan
  • Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Russia
  • Saudi Arabia, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States
  • Vietnam, Zambia

 

In previous years, students have also come from the following countries:

  • Afghanistan, Algeria, Australia, Bahamas, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Hercegovena, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, UAE, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe

 

 

further information