Applications for undergraduate journalism courses were down by nearly 20 per cent this year, with some aspiring journalists questioning the value of academic three-year courses.

Students, tutors and journalists have put the decline down to a number of factors, including fee increases, the non-vocational nature of some courses and competition in the job market.

The 18.95 per cent dip in course applications – a figure provided by the University Colleges and Admissions Service (UCAS) – far outweighs the general decline in university applications, which has seen a loss of just less than 7.5 per cent.