Journalism School/Education

A journalism school is a school or department, usually part of an established university, where journalists are trained. An increasingly used short form for a journalism department, school or college is 'j-school'. Many of the most famous and respected journalists of the past and present had no formal training in journalism, but learned their craft on the job, often starting out as copy boys/copy girls. Today, in many parts of the world it is usual for journalists to first complete university-level training which incorporates both technical skills such as research skills, interviewing technique and shorthand and academic studies in media theory, cultural studies and ethics.

Historically, in the United Kingdom entrants used first to complete a non media-studies related degree course, giving maximum educational breadth, prior to taking a specialist postgraduate pre-entry course. However, this has changed over the last ten years with journalism training and education moving to higher educational institutions. There are now over 60 universities in the UK offering BA honours degrees in journalism. Postgraduate courses are more well-established, some of which are either recognised by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) or the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ).

History

The first program for journalism education was introduced by former Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, during his presidency at Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, in the 1860s.The world's first journalism school was founded by Walter Williams as the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in 1908. Since then the journalism school has become standard at most major universities.

Top journalism schools

There have been various attempts to rank journalism schools, and the question of which are the "best" or "top" journalism schools is frequently raised on the internet by students. Many institutions claim to be leading schools of journalism, and there is inevitably debate about which are the most appropriate criteria with which to evaluate and judge journalism schools. Awards are obvious indicators of a quality J-school, as are the quality of school graduates. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_education)