Journalism with Foundation Year

The highlights

• Study our brand-new curriculum, which has been updated to keep pace with the industry. Exciting new modules include Live Radio and Podcasting, The Newsroom, and Fashion Journalism.
• Through coursework and placements, you’ll gain direct experience of producing stories for online, print and broadcast formats.
• Learn from tutors that are highly experienced and well connected, having worked in online, print and broadcast roles for organisations like the BBC, ITV News, and local media outlets.
• Hear the latest insights, get advice from the best in industry and build contacts. We recently visited the BBC’s flagship political programme, Sunday, and took part in a Q&A with Laura Kuenssberg.
• After the first year, choose many of your modules and focus on areas that interest you, such as PR and social media, politics, live radio and podcasting, or data journalism.

Foundation Year - helping you to achieve more

Including a foundation year as part of your four-year study programme will give you a head start in your academic and professional life. The foundation year offers the chance to strengthen your skills, knowledge and confidence – with extensive support from our expert staff – before you advance to stage one of your honours degree. It could also be beneficial if you are planning a career change and want to get to grips with aspects of subjects which are new to you.

Our degrees with a foundation year are continuous, meaning that you won’t need to apply again once you have successfully completed the first year.

Explore Journalism courses at Derby with alumnus Baasit Siddiqui

Join TV personality, Educator and Alumnus Baasit Siddiqui for an in-depth look at the Journalism courses we offer. Baasit is joined by Professor Katharine Cox, Head of School of Humanities and Journalism and Interim Head of School of Arts, to gain an insight into the choice of courses and joint honours options available. Baasit also catches up with Max, BA (Hons) Football Journalism student, to hear about the real-world experience and transferable skills Max has already gained on the course.

A global journalism degree

Journalism is a global, multiplatform industry that evolves as quickly as the technology that supports it does, so we've ensured our course evolves too.

Take our new Podcasting and Live Radio module — an optional module in year three. There’s been a huge growth in podcasts and smart-speaker journalism over the last few years, so we’ll teach you how to have fun creating niche podcasts and how to monetise these in a saturated market.

Then there’s our core modules in year two, The Newsroom and Future Trends in Journalism. In The Newsroom, you will take part in ‘news days’ across all platforms of journalism (broadcast, online, and print) working in groups to meet the challenges of a live scenario with fixed goals and a strict deadline. Meanwhile, in Future Trends in Journalism, you will learn how to use smart devices (e.g. phones and speakers) and associated technologies to tell the story and understand how your audience views content on those devices.

We’ve also given the course a more global outlook, considering journalism’s role in global affairs, politics and international relations, and decolonisation.

Find the stories that interest you

This degree starts by teaching you the essential knowledge and skills that all journalists or content creators need today — skills in researching, sourcing interviewees, writing news articles, producing online content (including search engine optimisation: SEO), and recording and editing audio and video. We’ll also cover an essential element of all journalism degrees, Media Law, but you’ll study this in a creative and fun way.

From year two onwards, you will have more freedom to determine the content you want to create and the format you want to make it in. Through optional modules and assignments, you can set your own agenda and go out and find stories to report on, whether those are about politics, business, fashion, sport, music or food. We'll also provide opportunities for you to cover local events, such as fashion shows, sports competitions, music concerts and more.

Publish your work

We give all journalism students an online platform for their work: the StoryHub website and Twitter feed, so you can publish as frequently as you want. You’ll also get the opportunity to gain work experience, and even paid work, with media outlets such as Reach plc and the BBC. Every year, our students cover the unique Ashbourne Shrovetide Football event, producing content that is often used by the BBC and Sky.

Plus, if you choose to join our student-run communications agency, you can get extra experience of working for real clients and further insight into how content is used for PR and marketing purposes.

Amy's experience of having her work published

A Media Literacy Symposium run by Derby College and held at Britannia Mill aimed to help children in Derby spot fake news. The event was covered by second year Journalism student and StoryHub reporter, Amy Tomkinson, with the article also being published on Derbyshire Live. Amy describes the event as being, "an impacting, immersive experience which was enlightening and heavily educational" along with the following insight on covering this story.
 
"Debbie Painter, of Derby College, and the young ambassadors of the programme spared little detail for the guests and shared such insightful information regarding the issues surrounding fake news and the troubles young people face with the modern world and knowing what information can be trusted. Important faces representing Derbyshire - such as Derby North MP Catherine Atkinson and former BBC correspondent and now freelance journalist Simon Hare - were also in attendance, which is thrilling to see when it comes to sparking conversations regarding critically important matters within our city and its communities.
 
Following this event I participated in a news day, where I used the content and materials obtained from reporting and covering this event to create news content. I was determined to get the programme's mission out there for people to see, as I believe this programme to be an asset for the future of the young minds of Derby. 
 
It felt surreal to me, when it was finished and published to the University reporting platform StoryHub, to find it had been considered good enough to publish on Derbyshire Live. It is a moment I will never forget and has ignited a fierce passion within me to tell people’s stories. I am thankful to have been given such an incredible opportunity."

Take a look at Amy's full article on StoryHub.

Building industry knowledge and contacts 

This BA (Hons) Journalism features a packed programme of guest speakers and events designed to boost your industry contacts and career prospects. For example:

• We visited the BBC’s flagship political programme, Sunday, and took part in a Q&A with Laura Kuenssberg.
• We hold an annual Employability Day. This gives you a unique opportunity to speak one-to-one with media and journalism professionals and ask them anything you want.

Outstanding facilities

You'll be based at our Markeaton Street and Kedleston Road sites, which have everything a journalist needs. Our facilities include three radio studios, a fully equipped television studio, video editing suites, Mac suites and a newsroom featuring the latest software, including Adobe Creative Suite.

Our radio studios have recently been refurbished and fitted with Calrec technology — a leading range of broadcast audio mixing consoles and equipment. All large media companies are now migrating to this technology, so we're ahead of the game.

All of this means you’ll be confident using industry-standard technology, giving you an advantage when you're looking for a job.

Study abroad

We can offer opportunities for you to spend time in another country, including studying at our partner universities or working on a placement or internship.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

During your foundation year you will be assessed mainly by coursework, and with some in-class tests.

For the rest of your degree you’ll be assessed in several ways, including academic essays, audio and video reporting, case studies, editing skills, examinations, extended reports, journalistic writing, presentations, process analyses, production design and content production, production skills in image manipulation, reflective diaries, report writing and self-evaluation. 

This course develops the broad range of knowledge and skills you need to become a multimedia professional, adept in the production of content for print, online and broadcast outlets. Our graduates have gone on to work for magazines and local newspapers; BBC, commercial and community radio; and BBC and commercial TV. Others have set up their own digital businesses or worked for online agencies.

You’ll be prepared not only for a career in journalism, online or broadcast media production but also for roles in PR, advertising, corporate communications, law and public administration or politics. The research and communication skills of a journalist are highly transferable to a huge variety of graduate level jobs.

2025 entry

These are the typical qualification requirements for September 2025 entry.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

Offers will be made initially based on your application, including predicted grades and/or grades you have already achieved. You may be given the opportunity, within your offer letter, to submit a portfolio. If you submit a strong portfolio we will make you an unconditional offer, to reflect the quality of your work and your potential.

Additional entry requirements

• Portfolio: Recommended - view portfolio details

2025/26

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to.

Additional costs and optional extras

Additional information about your studies

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.