With the aim and destination more or less defined, we moved ahead. Where in UK and what exactly was the subject of my daughter's interest. I started googling 'top colleges for journalism in UK' and kept googling till a few favourites emerged. Not just established sites like 'QS World University Rankings' or the 'Times Higher Education World University Rankings', but I scanned hundreds of forums and chat rooms too. The 'QS' and 'Times' rankings do not cover Journalism as a subject or it's ranking so I needed to use a lot more elbow grease!
I started off by making a note of all the possible names of universities that came up in any conversation/write up/rankings. Then checked individual sites for the subject. These few subjects came up again and again.
1. Media and Communication
2. Media and Cultural Studies
3. Journalism
4. Journalism Studies
5. Broadcast Journalism
6. Multimedia Journalism
(Besides 'Film Making' and related subjects, which my daughter wasn't interested in)
What I eventually found out was that all media related subjects are more generic as well as theoretical and one can study these and move on to a more specific field of interest for post graduation. In a lot of cases 'Journalism' implies print journalism, more for newspapers and magazines and online writing. 'Broadcast Journalism' is specifically for TV/Internet/Radio. 'Multimedia Journalism' is multi-disciplinary combining everything (which is offered by just a couple of universities). All of the later ones (3. to 6.) are very intense and arm the students with advanced technical and practical skills.
After reading the course content under these headings, very soon my daughter reached the conclusion that 'Broadcast Journalism' was what she wanted to do. And maybe I wouldn't spend or send her so far away to study a subject too general like 'media and cultural studies'. In my opinion if undecided, a student should rather go in for Political Science, International relations or the likes for under graduation, to pursue a more professional degree for PG.
The subject chosen, now came the daunting task of which university!
NEXT - Choosing your university
I started off by making a note of all the possible names of universities that came up in any conversation/write up/rankings. Then checked individual sites for the subject. These few subjects came up again and again.
1. Media and Communication
2. Media and Cultural Studies
3. Journalism
4. Journalism Studies
5. Broadcast Journalism
6. Multimedia Journalism
(Besides 'Film Making' and related subjects, which my daughter wasn't interested in)
What I eventually found out was that all media related subjects are more generic as well as theoretical and one can study these and move on to a more specific field of interest for post graduation. In a lot of cases 'Journalism' implies print journalism, more for newspapers and magazines and online writing. 'Broadcast Journalism' is specifically for TV/Internet/Radio. 'Multimedia Journalism' is multi-disciplinary combining everything (which is offered by just a couple of universities). All of the later ones (3. to 6.) are very intense and arm the students with advanced technical and practical skills.
After reading the course content under these headings, very soon my daughter reached the conclusion that 'Broadcast Journalism' was what she wanted to do. And maybe I wouldn't spend or send her so far away to study a subject too general like 'media and cultural studies'. In my opinion if undecided, a student should rather go in for Political Science, International relations or the likes for under graduation, to pursue a more professional degree for PG.
The subject chosen, now came the daunting task of which university!
NEXT - Choosing your university
