Journalism students at The Surrey Institute of Art & Design University College were today due to watch their first newspaper roll off the presses.

A team of second year students from the institute's BA honours journalism degree course have spent the past few weeks gathering news stories for inclusion in the paper.

And after being printed at the Surrey Press Centre in Bentley, with an initial print run of 3,000, the 24-page paper will be distributed to students across the institute campus.

It is the first time that a live project like the newspaper has been part of the print journalism option of the degree, and sessional tutor Steve Usher said it had been of tremendous benefit to the students involved.

He said: "This has been a fantastic learning opportunity for the students. There is no substitute for working on a live paper when you are training to be a journalist.

"Having spent twelve weeks in total on the publication, I can honestly say that I have aged twelve years in the process!

"However, despite the steep learning curve, this is a tremendous achievement for the students, and a great boost for the Institute."

If the newspaper proves popular it could become a regular feature at the institute.

Back to the training index