School of Journalism, Media and Performance

Online Events
Apply before the UCAS deadline, chat to us to find out more

The vision of the School of Journalism, Media and Performance is to prepare students to become the next generation within the creative industries. Whether you want to be a theatre practitioner, filmmaker, journalist, musician, web-designer, animator, screenwriter, publisher, games designer, media producer, music producer, dancer, photographer, TV producer and music theatre performer or maker, the school offers courses at all levels to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to enter your chosen profession. Through practice-based study in modern teaching studios using the same resources that are used by industry, we prepare our students to be successful in a huge range of key creative roles.

About the School

Many of our undergraduate courses hold professional body accreditations, including those by Apple, Avid, Creative Skillset and ISMETA. The ILC encourages the development of student collaborations as well as working with other courses within the School, reflecting the way that the creative industries operate.
Professional body accreditation is also essential to our Journalism courses. We have two professional bodies accrediting BA (Hons) Journalism (Broadcast Journalism Training Council, National Council for the Training of Journalists).

We understand the importance of strong industry links and have developed these over many years. Our academics are practitioners with many years of professional experience therefore our professional development courses, workshops and networking events are current, relevant and supported by industry. Guest speakers regularly visit us to give students an insight of working in the industry and allow them to make valuable contacts for when they enter the world of work.

Our Courses

The School offers courses at all levels to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the creative industries. The School’s connection with industry means that our courses are all created and updated to be in line with what employers require. Practice-based teaching ensures that students experience study in ways that replicate how the various creative industries operate.

Outstanding Specialised Facilities

Our £15 million Media Factory contains excellent modern television, film, sound, photographic, music and theatre facilities. Performances and workshops also take place in St Peter’s Arts Centre, a beautiful converted former church.

Invaluable Experiences

Take advantage of our excellent industry links, we offer multiple opportunities to work on live briefs and client-based projects, providing you with a chance to enhance your skills alongside industry professionals and collaborate on cross discipline projects with students on other courses

Head of School

Dr Andrew Churchill

The School brings together multiple, but related disciplines. My role is to facilitate the creativity, knowledge and skill of the staff and students within the School to enable them all to work as effectively as possible. As well as ensuring quality oversight and enhancement of the all of the processes of the School, key to my role is the generation of an atmosphere where significant levels of research, collaborative partnership, innovation and industry liaison occurs.

Dr Andrew Churchill

Research

The School is research-active and has a vibrant research community, whose work earns significant sums of external research funding annually. All of our keynote research feeds directly into our teaching programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level and ensures that students get the advantage of being tutored by people who are at the cutting edge of their subject areas.

The Media Innovation Studio was set up as a research centre and learning lab. Our staff are engaged in a broad range of media activities spanning community and industry media research, progressive digital teaching and developing new technology.

Film and Media

Film and Media

Journalism research

Journalism

Media Innovation Studio

Media Innovation Studio

Research Exchange Blog

Senior Lecturer in Journalism

Caroline Hawtin

Whether it was interviewing celebrities like Victoria Wood, hermits or bovine hairdressers, Caroline’s career in BBC Local Radio more than prepared her for the eclectic and demanding task of leading would-be journalists through their three-year degree course.

Find out more

CJAM

Final year undergraduate and postgraduate students have the opportunity to get involved in our annual cJAM employability event. cJAM shakes-up the traditional career fair format and gives UCLan students face-to-face time with up to 30 successful industry professionals all of whom have come to the event with the offer of valuable work placement opportunities.

The cJAM event format consists of four main components:

Students hear from keynote industry speakers who share their personal career journey and how they got to where they are now.
The industry Q&A session allows students to ask questions to gain further advice and insight.
Informal networking opportunities during the breaks and lunch.
The key element of cJAM is the giant speed pitching session. The students have eight minutes one-to-one time to pitch to selected industry guests to try and win a placement. Students can choose to pitch an idea, their reasons for wanting a placement with that particular company or to showcase their enthusiasm, skills and talent. Immediately following the pitching session, placements are decided on and the event closes with all the winning students being presented with their placement awards.

cJAM: Journalism

View Press Release

cJAM: Performance

View Press Release

cJAM: Media

View Press Release

Facilities and Resources

Media and performing arts courses are housed within our purpose-built £15 million Media Factory with its excellent industry-standard facilities, including rehearsal rooms, theatres, recording studios, dance studios, television studio, film and photographic studios, and computer suites. Our Journalism teaching spaces closely represent how professional newsrooms for TV, radio, on-line and print journalism are constructed and operate.

UCLAN PUBLISHING

UCLan Publishing is the Times Higher Education (T.H.E.) Excellence and Innovation in the Arts Awards 2018 winner. UCLan Publishing is breaking the mould of how a publisher usually operates, empowering students to ‘learn on the job’. This year the team has enlisted big name authors such as Jaqueline Wilson, Jane Johnson and A J Hartley, to give the students experience of big trade, commercial publishing. A J Hartley’s book, Cold Bath Street, was promoted through UCLan Publishing PR and has become a national bestseller, with Waterstones taking it as a promotional title nationally.”