The National Council for the Training of Journalists has re-accredited 21 of its journalism courses at 14 centres across the country.
However the industry training body decided not to renew accreditation for London-based NoSweat Journalism Training’s full-time and part-time newspaper journalism courses.
The training centre’s two-year accreditation had expired last month and the NCTJ said its directors had decided the courses did not fully meet its standards.
NoSweat will now appeal to qualifications watchdog Ofqual. Course founder Stephen Ward said: “We feel we have been unfairly treated and didn’t get a chance to answer the criticism.
“They did not seem to have an appeal procedure which is why we asked the regulator to give us a fairer crack of the whip.”
The centre had been NCTJ accredited since 2001/2. Course starting next month will go ahead as normal.
An NCTJ spokesperson said: “The NCTJ decided not to renew accreditation when it expired in July 2011 for full-time and part-time newspaper journalism courses at Nosweat.
“The directors agreed that these courses did not fully meet the NCTJ standard, aims and performance indicators.
“All NCTJ students currently on courses at Nosweat that were previously accredited will continue to be supported by the NCTJ until they complete their studies. Students currently on the magazine journalism courses which were not previously accredited by the NCTJ will also be supported.
“The re-accredited courses continue to show a commitment to providing the gold standard qualification and delivering high-quality journalism training to students who have the talent and dedication to succeed in their journalism careers.”
Courses accredited for the next two years are:
Brighton Journalist Works
Fast-track Diploma in Journalism
City College Brighton & Hove
Academic Year Multimedia Journalism; Fast-track Multimedia Journalism
City of Wolverhampton College
Academic Year Newspaper Journalism
Glasgow Caledonian University
BA (Hons) Journalism
Glyndŵr University
Certificate of Higher Education in Print Journalism
Harlow College
Fast-track Diploma in News Journalism; Fast-track Diploma in Magazine Journalism; Academic Year Diploma in News Journalism; Academic Year Diploma in Magazine Journalism
Kingston University
MA/PGDip Journalism
News Associates Manchester
Fast-track Newspaper Journalism
Press Association London
Multimedia Journalism Foundation course
Press Association Newcastle
Multimedia Journalism Foundation course
Teesside University
MA Journalism
University of Central Lancashire
MA/PGDip Newspaper Journalism; MA Magazine Journalism
University of Kent
BA Journalism; MA Journalism
University of Sheffield
BA Journalism; MA/PGDip Print Journalism
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So many courses…so few jobs at the end…
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It does seem strange that the NCTJ does not have any kind of appeals process for a situation like this and strikes me as being high-handed. If you Google ‘accreditation appeals process’, you’ll find dozens of organisations similar to the NCTJ that allow apeals. Why not the NCTJ? Or are the scrutineers wary of being scrutinised?
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I went to NoSWeat and found it to be good.
But like any course (I imagine) you have to have determination, otherwise the tutors will not encourage you.
I think this is right actually, this is a competitive industry and there are not many jobs out there.
If you don’t act interested, why should the college be interested in you?
I couldn’t comment on the reasons accreditation has been dropped, but my experiences of the place were possitive and for me it’s sad news.
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