A Masters course in financial journalism is doubling its student intake this autumn.

The postgraduate MA in Financial Journalism degree, which was launched at City University London last year with 13 students, will have 24 students in 2011/12.

They will include four Financial Times Group journalists, including three from the newspaper and one from the Financial Adviser, part of the FT magazine group.

The FT is providing financial support for the four journalists to complete the degree part-time.

City has a well established relationship with the Financial Times Group, with the publisher already employing a number of students who studied at City last year.

This year all students on the course will be offered work placement opportunities within the organisation.

Programme director and professor of financial journalism Steve Schifferes said:  “I am very pleased by the show of support by the Financial Times Group for our course.

“It demonstrates that we are providing quality academic education which meets the highest professional standards.  This is reinforced by the fact that more than 75pc of our students are in paid financial journalism jobs just two months after graduation.”

As well as a number of graduates working at the Financial Times, last year’s students from the MA in Financial Journalism have secured jobs at media outlets including Bloomberg and the BBC.

Emily Blewett, who graduated from the course this year is now working at Reuters, said:  “This course provides a launch pad into the world of financial news.
I would recommend this course to anyone who is serious about writing the financial headlines of the future.”

Hal Austin, editor of Financial Adviser said:  “The Financial Times Group is a strong supporter of the new City University London post-graduate degree in Financial Journalism.

“We believe it will set the benchmark for the future training of financial journalists.”