Sports Journalism with Integrated Foundation Year

Sports journalism sits at the meeting point of two demanding fields. Journalism requires the ability to gather information accurately, write to deadline, understand what an audience needs and operate with integrity under pressure. Sports knowledge opens doors into one of the most popular and commercially significant areas of media, where the demand for live coverage, analysis, features and digital content continues to grow.

Together they form a degree that prepares you for a career in a competitive sector where both craft and specialist knowledge matter.

This four-year programme at Sunderland begins with an integrated foundation year, which provides the academic grounding needed to succeed at degree level. This is particularly useful if you are returning to study, approaching from a non-traditional background, or if you did not quite meet the standard entry requirements. The foundation year builds your writing, research and academic skills alongside an introduction to journalism and media, preparing you well for the main degree years that follow.

A year abroad is also included in the programme, giving you international exposure and the opportunity to experience sports journalism and media culture in a different context.

Across the degree you will develop practical journalism skills, including writing, interviewing, digital content production and broadcast techniques, alongside a deep engagement with sport as a cultural, social and commercial phenomenon. You will work to real deadlines and produce work for real platforms, building the portfolio that employers in sports media look for.

Graduates move into roles across sports broadcasting, digital media, print and online journalism, content creation, sports public relations and communications. The combination of journalistic skills and sports expertise is valued by broadcasters, publishers, sports organisations and media agencies. Some graduates pursue further study in journalism or media.