Journalism training body the National Council for the Training of Journalists has revealed where its trainees studied for their qualifications.

It has published a list of where trainees who have qualified – or are soon to qualify as senior reporters – did their pre-entry training.

Of the 184 candidates who sat the March 2008 NCE, most completed NCTJ-accredited journalism courses and sat the preliminary examinations while they were on their training course.

The centre with the most trainees who sat the NCE was Sheffield College, with 18 of its alumni taking the exam. Sheffield College was top of the NCTJ’s exam league table last year. Highbury College had 17 candidates who sat the exam and Harlow College had 13.

The higher education centre with the most NCE candidates was the University of Central Lancashire with 11 trainees taking the exam.

The details are:
7 – Bournemouth University
7 – Cardiff University
11 – City College Brighton and Hove
7 – City of Wolverhampton College
1 – City University
6 – Cornwall College
1 – Central Sussex College
11 – Darlington College
6 – De Montfort University
1 – East Surrey College
1 – Edge Hill University
3 – Glasgow Caledonian University
13 – Harlow College
4 – Harrow College
17 – Highbury College
10 – Lambeth College
1 – Leeds Trinity and All Saints
8 – Liverpool Community College
8 – NoSweat Journalism Training
8 – Nottingham Trent University
4 – Scottish Centre for Journalism Studies
18 – Sheffield College
1 – Southampton Solent University
1 – South East Essex College
1 – Staffordshire University
11 – University of Central Lancashire

Candidates sitting the NCE would have completed their training at least 18 months ago and so courses accredited more recently will not feature in the list.

The number of students graduating from courses at each centre varies greatly. For example, some college courses have three intakes per year for fast-track courses and others have just one small academic year cohort.

Some of the higher education institutions listed may run both undergraduate and/or post graduate NCTJ-accredited courses.

A spokesman for the NTCJ said: “Only seven trainees secured a job without doing an NCTJ-accredited course.

“Of these, six did the NCTJ’s distance learning course and one completed a post-graduate course at City University.”

The NCTJ is now inviting all trainees to provide more details and their views about their education, training and qualifications. The results will be published to help students make choices about their preferred routes into journalism.

Candidates are being asked about their A-level and degree subjects as well as what advice they would like to give to students about career paths and their opinions of the NCTJ’s training scheme.