Students will be able to study for a degree in journalism at Edge Hill College of Higher Education from September 2001.

Applications are now being accepted for the new BA (Hons) Journalism course, run by the institution’s Department of Media and Communication.

The Department, part of Edge Hill’s School of Humanities and Arts, already offers degree courses in Media and Communication and New Media.

The course is being organised by Tony Turjansky, a lecturer in Media and Communication at Edge Hill, who has 18 years of radio production experience at the BBC World Service.

He said: “There is a vibrant media scene in the North West of England, and by developing good industrial links we aim to give our students a ‘real-world’ experience of journalism which will be supported by up-to-date college resources in broadcasting and IT.”

Carol Poole, Head of Media and Communication at Edge Hill, added: “This is an exciting development which responds fully to the challenge laid down to universities and colleges to devise degree courses which are vocational, as well as academic.

“Graduates of all three of our media programmes will have a relevant preparation for the world of work.”

The journalism degree course is designed to focus on the practical and theoretical skills required by students to compete for jobs in newspapers and magazines, broadcasting and online journalism.

Accreditation is being sought from the three main industry training bodies – the National Council for the Training of Journalists (newspapers), the Periodicals Training Council (magazines) and the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (radio and television).

Enquiries about the course can be made to Tony Turjansky at Edge Hill on 01695 584066, or e-mail [email protected]