Second NCTJ course falls victim to Government spending cuts

A second NCTJ-accredited journalism course has fallen victim to Government further education funding cuts.

Holdthefrontpage reports that the NCTJ pre-entry course at Warwickshire College is to close with three lecturers being made redundant. The lack of subsidy has sent course fees up from £1750 to £3700, and insufficient students have signed up to make the course viable.

The same issue left the only NCTJ-accredited photojournalism course, at Norton College in Sheffield, also facing the threat of closure. Although that course is now going ahead, albeit with increased fees.

NCTJ-accredited FE courses have provided a far more cost-effective, and quicker, route into journalism than more expensive MA degrees.

A typical NCTJ FE course costs around £1,000 and takes 20 weeks, giving students the essential core skills of shorthand, media law, public affairs and news writing. MA courses can cost up to £10,000 and take a whole academic year.

The closing off of these cheaper routes into journalism is only going to make it harder for those from less well-off backgrounds to make it into the profession.

UPDATE (6 August 2010): In response to the comment below I’ve checked the last Press Gazette Journalism Training Supplement, and those course fee figures are a little wide of the mark. Expect to pay typically £5,000 for an MA and £1,500 to £3,000 for an FE course.