The Web Journalism MA/PG Diploma course at Sheffield University has won full accreditation from the Broadcast Journalism Training Council.

A panel of inspectors visited the department earlier this month and ended the day with what the department is hailing as a "glowing assessment" of the qualities of the course.

The assessors saw the local election project where the MA students in web, print, broadcast and political communications worked together in a combined newsroom to create television programmes, radio bulletins, a website and two newspapers.

The full accreditation means that the three applied MA/PG Diploma courses in Print, Broadcast and Web are all fully accredited by industry bodies – either the BJTC or the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

The Sheffield course is one of only two web courses in the UK to have full accreditation.

The inspectors said: "The panel would like to enthusiastically endorse the course – there were two items of particularly good practice that we would like to commend – firstly, the integrated project on the local elections whose development we were able to witness through the day of our visit, and secondly, we were impressed with the range and quality of the final projects."

Course leader Bill Carmichael said: "It is excellent news for the department that a respected industry body such as the BJTC should enthusiastically endorse the web course.

"It means prospective students interested in becoming web journalists can apply to Sheffield safe in the knowledge that the teaching here is of the highest standard and will equip them to operate in the demanding environment of the modern newsroom."