Select your course options:
Summary:
Applying through UCAS? Apply here (C08F)
Course Code: C08F
Applying through UCAS? Apply here (P590)
Course Code: P590
Where Are You Applying From?
How Would You Like To Study?
When Do You Want To Start Your Studies?
Which Campus Would You Like To Study At?
Which Options Would You Like With Your Course?
Why choose the School of Arts and Creative Industries
Opportunities for practical professional live sports coverage (radio, TV, print and online) including through our Education Partnerships with Luton Town FC and Bedford Blues RFC.
Work experience opportunities with the BBC, Luton Town FC, MK Dons FC, Bedford Blues RFC, to name a few.
Industry links with the BBC, ITV, MKFM, Reuters, Bloomberg and leading UK newspapers.
About the course
Learn the core practical skills of journalism and how to apply them to a sports specialism using traditional research and writing approaches as well as new and developing media forms. Sharpen these skills with an in-depth understanding of the wider political, social, historical and economic sporting environment - alongside the legal and ethical frameworks journalists work within - adding depth and authority to your reporting.
Industry links
We are the official Education Partners of Luton Town FC and Bedford Blues RFC Foundation, giving you opportunities to put your journalism skills into practice covering live events.
Facilities and specialist equipment
- Mac-equipped newsroom with radio news booth and transmission gallery
- High-spec multi-camera television studios
- Industry-standard radio facilities
- Outside broadcast (OB) recording equipment
- Netflix-standard film cameras
- Digital video-editing suites with Adobe Creative Cloud software
Student experience
Benefit from studying with a team of industry specialists in both sports reporting and general journalism, across a range of platforms.
Develop a portfolio of work and contacts, and hone your journalism skills through regular news days, developing your skills via real-life sports reporting assignments.
Develop live projects for industry organisations including Coolr social media agency, Pooja Studios, Luton Town FC’s Media and PR department, MK Dons FC and MKFM radio station.
Work for our in-house sports TV channel, Bulls TV, and provide sports coverage for our University’s Bedfordshire Bulls sports teams.
Hear from leading academics, sports participants and masterclass speakers from both the worlds of sport and media. Past guest speakers include Keanu Rattray, Digital Content Manager at FIFA, and Mick Payne, Match of the Day producer.
Report from your first year for our news website and present your own show on Radio LaB, our University’s community radio station.
Take advantage of field trips to studios and course-related destinations including MKFM, Luton Town FC, MK Dons FC, BBC Broadcasting House, BT Sport, and Sky.
with Professional Practice Year
This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.
There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.
*Only available to UK/EU students.
with Foundation Year
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.
Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.
The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.
This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?
- Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
- Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
- Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
- Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees
The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.
During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.
Course Leader - Jon Boyle
Jon is a creative, competent and enthusiastic sports journalism lecturer who joined the University of Bedfordshire in May 2014 after five years as course leader of foundation degree journalism at Milton Keynes College.
He started his journalism career as a news reporter for the Leighton Buzzard Observer – covering crime, council news, cinema, music, computer game reviews and features – before progressing to the role of senior reporter at its larger sister newspaper The Milton Keynes Citizen.
Course Leader - Jon Boyle
Jon is a creative, competent and enthusiastic sports journalism lecturer who joined the University of Bedfordshire in May 2014 after five years as course leader of foundation degree journalism at Milton Keynes College.
He started his journalism career as a news reporter for the Leighton Buzzard Observer – covering crime, council news, cinema, music, computer game reviews and features – before progressing to the role of senior reporter at its larger sister newspaper The Milton Keynes Citizen.
Course Leader - Jon Boyle
Jon is a creative, competent and enthusiastic sports journalism lecturer who joined the University of Bedfordshire in May 2014 after five years as course leader of foundation degree journalism at Milton Keynes College.
He started his journalism career as a news reporter for the Leighton Buzzard Observer – covering crime, council news, cinema, music, computer game reviews and features – before progressing to the role of senior reporter at its larger sister newspaper The Milton Keynes Citizen.
What will you study?
Studying our Sport Journalism BA (Hons) course will equip you with the knowledge and expertise in the specialist area of sports media, journalism and sports reporting. In theory, you will critically examine the political, commercial and regulatory contexts as well as ethical and legal journalistic practice in our Inside the Journalism Industry unit. With a focus on sport, our Sport in Society unit will introduce you to the origins, history and development of various sports and its relation to the media. Similarly, you will examine the complex relationship between sport and media in our Sport, Media and Culture unit to understand the link between sport, sponsorship, advertisers and stakeholders as well as the ethical implications for this. In areas of journalism, you will learn to identify newsworthy stories and subsequently write news stories and feature articles for a series of platforms in our Reporting and Writing unit while also considering elements of professionalism and ethics in your work. To support you with this, our unit in The Art and Craft of Journalism will improve your awareness and critical appreciation of fine journalism and in doing so, improve your writing. You will have the chance to participate in editing workshops and create long-form pieces of journalism so you can demonstrate and develop your writing skills.
Whether you are interested in print, digital, online or broadcast, this course aims to equip you with the various practical skills for the journalism industry. You will develop the digital storytelling skills to record and edit audio and video in our Introduction to Digital Storytelling unit. With a focus on sport, you will be able to practise a range of sports reporting, broadcasting, writing and editing skills in live situations in our Practical Sports Journalism unit. Here, you will have the opportunity to explore various types of sports stories from match reports to investigative features. If you are passionate about broadcast, our Digital Production Skills unit will build on your digital broadcast news skills for television, radio and online platforms while also refining your editorial and voice skills. This will be particularly helpful for you during your Multimedia Newsdays where you will get the chance to put your broadcast and online skills along with your journalistic knowledge to actual practice. In this unit, you will engage with real-life, on the grounds reporting where you will find your own news stories, engage with sources and produce your own news programmes and online news content.
Building on newsdays, you will also have the option to develop these skills further in our Advanced Multimedia for Journalism unit across 15 newsdays where you will work on more complex and longer form radio and television pieces. Moreover, if you are passionate about radio, our Radio 24/7 for Journalists unit will equip you with the skills to produce a variety of radio programmes and audio content to an industry standard under professional work environments. Similarly, if you have a particular interest in audio storytelling, then our Radio, Audio and Podcasting unit will enable you to develop your digital audio editing skills by producing various types of content using studio and location recording techniques. This extends into areas of PR studies where you will learn to use public relations as a tool for reputation management and marketing communications in our Public Relations and Marketing unit. You will integrate concepts from public relations, advertising and digital media to form effective marketing communication strategies. To ensure that you are engaging with legally safe and compliant practice, our Law, Regulation & Public Administration unit will introduce you to legal, civic and regulatory knowledge.
More importantly, you will also have the opportunity in to showcase your knowledge, skills and ideas acquired from this course in our Practical Special Project – CnC unit. Here, you will be able to conduct your project within an area of your interest that is also relevant to your studies, and this may involve exploring topics within radio and audio, media communications and journalism. Alternatively, you can undertake a major research project into a topic of your interest that is strongly relevant to your field of study in our Dissertation Special Project – CnC unit.
How will you be assessed?
Assessment methods vary across the course enabling students to develop strategies for a range of tasks methods of evaluation and presentation giving them valuable employability experience. At all stages students receive formative feedback with every formative assignment and summative feedback is given within 20 working days of submission for level 4 and 5 and within 15 working days for level 6.
Individual tutors all offer the opportunity to discuss any feedback in more detail at each level of study. As student skills and subject knowledge develop over the duration of their course it is expected that they will develop increasingly sophisticated responses to assessment and employ increasingly effective methods of peer and self-review.
Careers
Career opportunities for graduates of this course include sports journalism publishing copywriting public relations media research and digital media.
Rosie Bonass graduated and went on to be Women's Football Social Lead at UEFA. Rosie says "I was given the opportunity to work at Luton Town FC as part of my course, which helped me to land a job as Media Executive at Tottenham Hotspur FC and then my current role as Women's Football Social Lead at UEFA. I can't thank the University of Bedfordshire enough."
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
- 112 UCAS tariff points including 96 from at least 3 A-levels or equivalent
Entry Requirements
- 112 UCAS tariff points including 96 from at least 3 A-levels or equivalent
- 112 UCAS tariff points including 96 from at least 3 A-levels or equivalent
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
Virtual Tour
