Two journalism courses have been accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists prior to their launch.

Kingston University in Surrey and the University of Teesside in Middlesbrough have both had courses which are due to begin in September rubber-stamped.

Kingston will be offering an MA/PgDip Journalism course, which it hopes will attract up to 20 postgraduate students, while the University of Teesside will offer a BA (Hons) in Multimedia Journalism Professional Practice.

The three-year undergraduate programme has been designed in collaboration with Trinity Mirror and students will work closely with staff from the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette on online projects.

NCTJ chief executive Joanne Butcher said: "We are delighted at the opportunity to work in partnership with Kingston and the University of Teesside to help them produce skilled and highly-employable young journalists.

"We were particularly impressed with the positive, realistic and accommodating approach of both universities towards the NCTJ's requirements.

"Rather than focussing narrowly on the marketing advantages of accreditation, both centres recognise that the greatest benefit of working in partnership with the NCTJ stems from being able to offer students not just an academic award but also our professional qualifications which most editors regard as the clearest indication that a journalism student is properly equipped to work as a newsroom trainee."

The latest accreditation brings the number of universities providing industry-approved journalism courses to 23, alongside 13 further education colleges and six commercial or company training centres.

At a meeting this month the NCTJ board also agreed to grant accreditation to the University of Salford's MA/PgDip journalism course, which has been running for the last two years.