The number of journalists sitting NCE exams set by the National Council for the Training of Journalists fell again in November.
Concerns were raised about recruitment in the regional newspaper industry in July when the number of junior reporters applying to sit the NCTJ National Certificate Examination fell to its lowest number for several years.
The NCTJ awarded NCE certificates to 74 trainee reporters of the 117 candidates that sat exams in July – last month that had fallen to 53 successful candidates out of a total of 86. In November last year, 209 journalists took the NCE exam.
Commenting on the November, 2010 entry numbers, the chief examiner said: ‘The smaller entry was expected as the impact of the recession continued to have an effect on recruitment in the industry.”
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Despite the low number of applications for the professional training exam, the pass rate of 62 per cent was just one per cent lower than that achieved in July – which marked the highest pass rate for two years.
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