There is no formal qualification required to work as a journalist but, in practice, almost all new entrants have completed a higher or further education course.
The National Union of Journalists approves courses offered in six colleges. These range from Post Leaving Certificate courses to postgraduate masters programmes. There is competition for places on all of these courses with the cut-off points for the undergraduate courses usually coming in at more than 450 in DIT and DCU. For Griffith College, which is a private fee-paying college in Dublin, the cut-off points were considerably lower at 280.
At postgraduate level, NUI Galway offers a higher diploma in applied communications and An tArd diploma i chumarsaid fheidhmeach. DCU has a postgraduate MA in journalism and a master's in science communication (jointly with Queen's University Belfast). DIT has an MA in journalism while Griffith has a graduate diploma in journalism and media communications. DCU, DIT and Griffith have degree programmes.
Michael Foley, senior lecturer in journalism at DIT, is pragmatic about the options facing school-leavers. The undergraduate and postgraduate routes are equally valid, he says, so apply for both. He says a degree has become the de facto entry standard.
The advantage of getting on to an undergraduate degree directly is that you are already on the path, whereas if you do a degree in a different discipline you still have to compete for a postgraduate place.
Foley warns prospective students that journalism is a very difficult degree. Students have to jump from highly academic language to a journalistic way of expressing themselves. For instance, on any one day, they might have to produce a paper on some area of cultural theory while writing an article for a newspaper or magazine. "It's very disparate and very crowded ranging from law to history to politics to radio programmes to subbing and layout to online" he says.
Bernadette O'Sullivan, course director of NUI Galway's higher diploma in applied communications (print, broadcasting and public relations), advises school-leavers thinking of going the post-grad route to choose a course they are passionate about and that they're good at. "It could be any discipline from archaeology to science to legal studies to business. It doesn't have to be English," she says.
You should get involved in extracurricular activities while you are in college, O'Sullivan advises, join societies and take on the position of PRO, get involved in college media, look for opportunities to contribute to local papers or radio stations.
Colleges report excellent employment prospects for journalism graduates. Muireann Ni hUigeain, careers adviser at DCU, says all of the BA graduates who wanted work have found it. Of the 1999 graduates, 11 were employed, one went on to teacher training, three went to further research and others have gone abroad. Graduates of the two postgraduate courses are also being snapped up, she says.
An unusual option is to study journalism as Gaeilge. Brian O Donnchadha, director of NUI's ard diploma, says 75 per cent of graduates find work in Irish language media including TG4, Foinse and Radio na Gaeltachta. The course includes a four-week work practice and this year TG4 will broadcast the inserts that students make in conjunction with An Fhiontarlann, a production company in Carraroe, Co Galway.
