BA (HONOURS) Multimedia Journalism with Foundation Year at Sheffield Hallam University

• Get ready for a full degree by taking an extra foundation year at the start.
• Learn the practical, technical, writing and research skills that you'll need for undergraduate studies.
• Choose from a wide range of digital media, media arts and communications topics.
• Develop your portfolio and professional and academic skills.

The foundation year is designed especially for students who need additional skills or experience to begin a full BA Journalism degree. The course is suitable if you don’t meet the entry requirements for our full degree course, or you want extra preparation before starting degree-level study. You'll learn with experienced practitioners and develop your interests. After completing your foundation year, you’ll have the skills and knowledge you need for full honours degree study, and progress directly onto the full degree.\

The course is designed to allow you to begin to specialise in journalism, and also to be an effective communicator. There are four modules — the first three provide you with the contexts, concepts and skills to help you choose your final project. 

For instance, in the media project module, you will work with a project supervisor to develop and complete a communication or creative project reflecting your own interests and focused towards your chosen degree route.

You’ll learn to work confidently and creatively across a wide range of digital media, media arts and communication disciplines before specialising in your chosen area in your second term.

You learn through:

• lectures, seminars and workshops
• media project
• guest speakers
• careers events
• field trips
• direct contact with the BA course lecturers

Work placements

You will have the opportunity to arrange a year-long work placement in between your second and third years of the full undergraduate degree. This gives you a real-world experience to prepare you for your future career.

Live projects

After your foundation year, you have opportunities for work experience throughout your course, through our strong links with the creative industries. Previous students have helped produce programmes for Radio 5 Live, worked at BBC Radio Sheffield, ran the website for Doncaster Rovers, worked as editorial assistants for the Independent, Vogue, Heat and Gay Times, written for the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed, and have covered elections for TV station Sheffield Live.

Field trips

On the full course, we have students working at Sheffield Doc/Fest – one of the top three documentary film festivals in the world – attending exclusive workshops with international industry experts. Our annual Creative Industries Pathway event brings you face-to-face with leading figures across the media industry, while our annual Grad Talk connects you with recent journalism, media and PR graduates who can pass on invaluable tips about how to progress from university to career.

Networking opportunities

The full course has a lively guest lecture programme, where our contacts across the media give one-off talks. It's been described as one  of the best in the country by the magazine industry body the Professional Publishers Association. Recent guest lecturers have come from online and print magazines, radio and television newsrooms, local and national newspapers, PR companies and marketing agencies. 

Future careers

The full honours degree course perapres you for

• newspaper journalism
• broadcast journalism
• public relations
• online journalism
• magazine journalism

Recent graduates of the full undergraduate course have gone on to work 

• as feature writers at magazines including Closer, Which? and Gay Times, as well as at a variety of B2B magazines
• for broadcasters including BBC World Service, BBC local radio, ITV, Liverpool FC TV, Sky and TalkSport
• in PR and marketing roles for Sheffield Wednesday FC, Everton FC, Manchester, Warrington and Nottinghamshire councils, Oxford University Press and HRH the Prince of Wales
• in social media and digital roles for Amnesty International, Irwin Mitchell and Johnston Press
• as freelance journalists