10 months
Full-time: £10,000
Full-time: £20,000
Northampton Square
This course is suitable for anyone with a first degree in any subject who wants to be a first class magazine journalist. Students must have excellent general knowledge and be prepared to work across print and digital platforms with a variety of content. Students will have passion for communicating in words and pictures - and an appetite for fun and hard work is essential.
Magazine Journalism students write, design and produce the department’s showcase magazine XCity and its website Xcityplus.com. Read the latest digital edition and check out the listings at the back to find out where our graduates are working now.
City's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Paul Curran, says this about Journalism courses at City:
"Journalism at City began as a postgraduate department in 1976 and has developed some of the most respected MA Journalism courses in the country. Alumni include the BBC¹s Sophie Raworth and BBC Head of News James Harding, Sky News' Dermot Murnaghan, Editor of The Sun Tony Gallagher, Justine Picardie, Editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar UK, Channel 4's Ramita Navai and Al Jazeera's Barbara Sheera. Recent graduates are reporters, producers, editors and web content providers, across platforms ranging from the Financial Times and the BBC to Buzzfeed and Vice TV. "
This hugely successful and well-established course prepares students for a wide range of careers in magazine and features journalism, both print and online, from glossy consumer titles to international news journals.
Skills taught range from writing long form investigative features to arts and culture reviews; polished profile pieces to podcasts and video editing for online; designing and subbing print and online pages and picture editing.
There is a strong entrepreneurial angle to the course and students learn how to research, create and launch new media products and to engage audiences. Accredited by the Professional Publishers Association, students learn from magazine and specialist journalists and around 30 visiting editors, commissioning editors and editorial directors from the UK’s leading publishing houses.
Graduates from the course have won the Professional Publishers Association’s ‘Most Promising Postgraduate Student of the Year’ for the last 12 years.
We have been running Journalism courses at City since 1976. In the years since, over 5,000 students have graduated and are now working in the media in the UK and internationally.
This degree is accredited by the Professional Publishers Association (PPA). Alumni from this course have won the PPA New Talent Postgraduate Magazine Student of the Year Award for 12 consecutive years, including a unique joint top prize for two City Magazine students in 2018.
You should hold an upper second class honours degree or the equivalent from an international institution.
You should also have a minimum of four weeks’ work experience in magazines or newspapers. Student journalism or self published journalism, such as a good quality blog, is also considered relevant and may be enough to secure a place on the MA.
Don’t meet the entry requirements? INTO City, University of London offers a range of academic and English language programmes to help prepare you for study at City, University of London. You’ll learn from experienced teachers in a dedicated international study centre.
These programmes are designed for international students who do not meet the required academic and English language requirements for direct entry. To prepare for this degree course, learn more about the Graduate Diploma in Journalism.
As well as new graduates, we also welcome mature applicants with substantial work experience in the industry.
If English is not your first language, you must get a minimum overall score of 7.0 in the IELTS English language test, including at least 7.0 in the writing component of the test and no lower than 6.5 in any other component. Students from outside the UK might wish to apply for the International Journalism MA, which is specifically designed for a global cohort.
Don’t meet the English language requirements? INTO City, University of London offers English language programmes to help prepare you for study at university. These intensive and flexible courses are designed to improve your English ability for entry to degree courses.
If you are not from the European Economic Area / Switzerland and you are coming to study in the UK, you may need to apply for a visa or entry clearance to come to the UK to study.
The way that you apply may vary depending on the length of your course. There are different rules for:
For more information see our main Visa page.
Applications for 2018 are now being considered.
Apply now: Magazine Journalism
Once applications open, all applications are to be submitted online. Your application must include:
Fees in each subsequent year of study (where applicable) will be subject to an annual increase of 2%. We will confirm any change to the annual tuition fee to you in writing prior to you commencing each subsequent year of study (where applicable).
The following organisations have supported students in the Department of Journalism in the past. This is not a guarantee of future sponsorship, and you are advised to check the websites of these organisations for details of future bursary and scholarship schemes.
Future Finance offers students loans of between £2,500 and £40,000 to help cover tuition fees and living expenses. All students and courses are considered. All loans are subject to credit checks and approval for further details please visit the City Finance website.
As part of our support for future journalists we have teamed up with big industry leaders (Guardian Media Group Scott Trust Bursaries, The London Evening Standard, ITN, The Daily Mail and the Marjorie Deane Foundation Trust to name a few) to provide funding opportunities to help our students fund their postgraduate studies with us. This year we hope will be no exception (though we cannot guarantee future sponsorship). We announce all our scholarships on our website.
To receive email alerts for scholarships sign up here.
Without the Stationers’ Foundation Bursary I would have found it very difficult to study at City, University of London. Having the scholarship has meant that I have had the time to focus on my studies properly and has meant that I have been able to really engage with the course. It has meant that I could afford to spend late nights at university doing work, or do work placements, without having to slot it in around a job. I would highly recommend it to anyone considering applying for journalism but who is terrified by the financial implications of doing so.
Joe C. Evans –MA Magazine Journalism
MA Magazine Journalism alumni Selena Randhawa and Joseph Evans explain how their experience at City helped kick start their careers.
We actively encourage all our journalism student to undertake work placements during their studies with us. Placements are an essential step in developing their career in journalism as they help students put their learning into practice and make contacts in the industry.
Work placements are not formally assessed or arranged as part of the MA Programme but your personal tutor can advise you of suitable organisations to approach.
You will gain practical skills in our state-of-the-art digital television studio, digital editing suites, radio studios and broadcast newsrooms.
In 2014 we completed a £12m development projects for our Journalism facilities. These facilities were developed in consultation with experts from the BBC and ITN, and were praised by the BJTC. Our facilities include:
We offer a variety of accommodation options and support services for postgraduate students.
Read more about our postgraduate halls.
Our Accommodation Service can also help you find private accommodation.
We offer a free language course for City, University of London students.
Course timetables are normally available from July and can be accessed from our timetabling pages. These pages also provide timetables for the current academic year, though this information should be viewed as indicative and details may vary from year to year.
Please note that all academic timetables are subject to change.
We offer an extensive support network during your time here at City, University of London – from Learning Support (including disability support) and counselling to financial and career advice – leaving you free to enjoy every opportunity campus life has to offer.
Find out more about the different types of student support available.
Some modules are taught in lecture theatres, but most are small-group workshops that allow you to develop your journalistic skills and knowledge with the support of our expert academics.
Our students have the option of taking part in a Teeline shorthand course alongside their studies. This costs £100 (refundable if you reach 100 words per minute) and runs across two terms.
All MA Journalism courses at City are practical, hands-on courses designed for aspiring journalists. As a result, much of your coursework will be journalistic assignments that you produce to deadline, as you would in a real news organisation.
Assessment is part of learning, and course assessments vary to reflect the learning being achieved. They include workshop exercises, studio work, oral presentations, essays, reflections, exams and production (making journalism products), and different forms (written, oral, visual, aural), as well as being individual and team-based.
The magazine industry has never been more exciting and challenging. This course prepares you for the exciting world of magazines which may be more varied than you imagine - whether it’s writing a feature for a glossy men’s magazine or a lifestyle website, podcasting an interview, or researching and crafting a story for the newsdesk of a business-to-business publication.
All of our MA Journalism students must undertake underpinning core modules in Ethics, Rules and Standards, and a Final Project.
Choose one of the following three modules:
Choose one of the following specialisms:
The programme specification contains more information on how the course is organised, the requirements for progression for each part and credits required for awards.
Alumni of City’s MA Magazine Journalism course occupy top positions in:
Applications for 2018 are now being considered.
Apply now: Magazine Journalism
Once applications open, all applications are to be submitted online. Your application must include:
Find out more about City and all our postgraduate degree programmes.
