A newspaper publisher has set up an ‘innovative’ partnership with a college to launch a new journalism degree – with jobs at the end for the two best students.

Archant has joined forces with City College Norwich to train budding journalists with a two-year foundation degree, which will start in September.

Not only will the company offer editorial jobs to the two best students, it will also repay their fees from the course.

Archant has been working for a number of months with the college on the new degree course, which aims to prepare students for the modern newsroom.

Staff from the Norwich-based Eastern Daily Press have been working on the project and editor Peter Waters said he believed it was a good time to join the newspaper industry.

He said: “There have been many stories about the demise of newspapers, but that is simply not true of the best ones.

“Nonetheless, journalism is changing, becoming more diverse in its delivery and more technologically enriched, and to that end we need new talented people who will help us develop our products to meet the requirements of a rapidly evolving media scene and changing lifestyles.

“This new degree course has been designed to achieve that.”

The course will be taught within the college’s school of creative arts by former journalists with more than 50 years’ experience between them in the news industry.

It will teach students about all aspects of journalism including finding and writing stories, media law, public affairs, shorthand, writing for websites and filming and editing videos.

Skills for broadcast journalism will be included so graduates could work in radio or television.

The students will also be given work experience at some of the publisher’s titles in Norwich and beyond, while there will be regular visits to the college by members of Archant’s team to discuss the industry.

Robin Ghurbhurun, the college’s vice principal for innovation, added: “This innovative partnership with Archant continues to build upon our commitment to developing real work-based qualifications alongside leading employers who can provide the best possible placements.”

Comments

Paul Deighton (20/08/2010 14:00:53)
I’d rather try and wrestle an premenstrual crocodile than work for Archant

Paul Webb (23/08/2010 09:18:13)
Paul: Perhaps someone at Archant could have told you that “try and” is a common but poor use of English. You “try to”.

Jaded Hack (23/08/2010 11:20:34)
I wonder if this is another classic piece of short-termism from Archant, a firm which doesn’t hire Senior Reporters from outside its group as a money-saving measure? I think we should be told!

Mr Hobbs (23/08/2010 12:19:49)
Can’t comment on Archant’s newspaper employment practices, but on the face of it this seems a good idea; in a small way, the industry taking back its responsibility for training, rather than off-loading it on the tax-payer.