Is is Worth Doing a Journalism Degree or is a Short Course Better?

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In spite of the state of the economy degrees in journalism continue to be particularly popular in the UK.

University applications service UCAS says there has been a 51% rise in the number of students wanting to study journalism in the 5 years in between 2002 and 2007. But is a degree in journalism worthwhile or simply a waste of time?

Nicely, firstly there is the expense to believe of. A student on a three-year UK BA degree will usually have to get at least 40,000 pounds when tuition fees, accommodation and maintenance expenses are taken into account. Surely it is far greater to do a degree in a subject other than journalism first and then do a brief course or an online journalism course. That way, if you choose that journalism is not for you you can switch career alot more effortlessly. If you only have a BA Journalism degree then you are considerably much more restricted.

Need to journalism courses be vocational or academic in nature? In my view journalism is a craft and the fundamental abilities can be learnt in a matter of weeks - at a fraction of the cost of a degree.

If you are established in your career and thinking of switching to journalism then a brief course in how to turn out to be a journalist is quite possibly your ideal bet. This will only expense a few hundred pounds, rather than the thousands needed to do a full 3-year degree. A short course, no matter whether in a group or web based, will present you with the basics of news and feature writing and advise you on how to get commissions.

So, when thinking of journalism, instead of turning straight away to a university or college course appear around as there may perhaps be improved options for you.