Double success for university at NCTJ course awards

Nottingham Trent University scored double success with two accredited courses topping the tables at the annual NCTJ course provider awards.

Awards for the top five NCTJ-accredited courses for 2013-14 were presented during an awards dinner held at the Sheffield City Hall ballroom on 27 November.

The journalism courses were presented with awards for the highest percentage of students achieving the NCTJ gold standard: A-C grade passes in all exams plus 100 words per minute shorthand.

Nottingham Trent’s MA course had 83 per cent of their students achieve the gold standard and was named the best course overall, while their BA honours in news journalism topped the undergraduate table with 49 per cent of students reaching the gold standard qualification.

BBC sports presenter Dan Walker who hosted the awards congratulated all the course providers, saying it was “no mean feat” to achieve and maintain the high standards the NCTJ set on behalf of the industry.

Harlow College topped the table for the accredited fast-track courses at further education colleges with 44 per cent of their news journalism students meeting the industry standard.

 The best performing further education academic year course was City of Wolverhampton College for the fourth year running with 39 per cent of students in 2013-14 achieving the gold standard.

The final award, for best performing independent fast-track course, went to News Associates’ London-based multimedia journalism course with 82 per cent of students meeting the gold standard.

Detailed exam results for all NCTJ-accredited courses will be published on the NCTJ website in December.