Structure of the UWI Certificate in Journalism

The UWI Certificate in Journalism was structured with REAL LIFE in mind.

 

Semester 1 begins in early September, and goes till December. In that semester, you’ll be introduced to what you might call the contextualization courses. These are intended to help you learn about the conditions under which you will be working. There’s a Fundamentals of Journalism course that will introduce you to the principles and concepts that all journalists must know and by which journalists are  (or should be)  guided on the job. A course on Caribbean Media and Society will help you to understand the social and cultural contexts within which events happen, the expectations members of the society have of journalists, and how what you do impacts upon society. Our Law and Ethics course will inform you about your legal rights and responsibilities, and the regulations governing your work as a journalist. As you study this course, you’ll also be encouraged to think about the sorts of ethical dilemmas that you will face on the job, and about how you might want to respond. And finally, your reporting course will introduce you to the skills and strategies journalists need to follow and report on a good story. And each of the other courses will feed into what you’re learning about how to tell a good story.

Semester 2 begins in January and goes till early May. In semester 2, you’ll be doing four courses that are all intensely practical. In addition to the follow-up course on Telling the Story, part of which is an internship experience, you will be enrolled in an interviewing course; in a course that introduces you to Investigative Reporting; and another course on presenting the news story for different media.

In May, our third session begins, and at that time, you will be doing an independent project in investigative reporting, following a story that you have identified and successfully pitched. You will also be enrolled in one of two elective courses that will allow you to focus on an area of study you feel will be useful to you – either a course providing a more in-depth introduction to new media technologies, or a course that focuses on Journalism and Business.

So that by the time the programme ends in early July, once you’ve participated fully in all the programme’s academic activities you should be a competent and ethical reporter, capable of working effectively as part of a team, OR of taking initiative and working independently if required. In fact, you should be an asset to ANY newsroom.