Online journalism courses at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston have broken new ground with the award of accreditation from the Broadcast Journalism Training Council.

The industry training organisation accreditation is the first for an online journalism course in the UK.

Senior lecturer Alan Rawlinson said: "It's great news for our students. It means they can walk into job interviews with skills and an education the industry recognises, as well as knowing while they study that the work they do is what the industry wants."

The one-year MA course, with an optional exit point after nine months at the postgraduate diploma stage, has a strong emphasis on core journalism skills and also teaches students how to make an impact in the online medium.

He said: "We believe that content matters and we encourage the students to believe that, too.

"Having a site that looks good and works well is only part of the battle for readers - give them something worth reading and they're likely to hang around for a while and to come back for more."

Graduates have found employment with the BBC, Sky News, Guardian Unlimited, Jane's Defence Weekly, Ananova and other leading online news providers, and among those providing placements to students are CNN Europe, Vogue Online, the Independent Online, the NME and Mersey Television.

The BJTC accreditation also goes to the online option on the university's three-year BA (Honours) Journalism course.

More information is available on the Journalism Department's new web site: www.ukjournalism.org.

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