A league table of NCTJ preliminary examination results has shown Nottingham Trent University's postgraduate MA/diploma in newspaper journalism was the best performing course during the past year.

According to the National Council for the Training of Journalists, 57 per cent of students on the course passed all their exams across all seven subjects, including shorthand at 100wpm.

Robin Staniforth, director of the centre for broadcasting and journalism at the university, said: "We are thrilled by our results this year as everyone has worked so hard.

"I have a very professional and committed team of journalism staff, and we set very high standards for ourselves as we do when recruiting students with the talent and potential to be successful journalists.

"We also benefit from being in an excellent news area. Nottingham is a vibrant and exciting city, an ideal centre for students to study with lots of newspapers and other media and opportunities to apply their skills."

The February-July 2006 18-week fast-track course at Lambeth College came second in the league table, with 43 per cent of students achieving passes in all seven subjects.

The best performing magazine journalism course was the fast-track course at City College, Brighton and Hove. 52 per cent of students passed all six subjects.

The league table results provide a benchmarking tool for the 38 universities, colleges and commercial providers which currently run NCTJ-accredited courses.

They are also used to assist with NCTJ accreditation and to monitor standards.

In 2005-6 the number of people studying NCTJ-accredited journalism courses was 1,326, up from 1,198 in 2004-5.