Meet the student

Thomas Morton is a reporter for The Leader, a three edition regional daily newspaper covering the areas of Wrexham, Chester and Flintshire in the UK.

He trained as a journalist on Glyndŵr University’s Certificate of HE in Journalism, a course which is run in conjunction with NWN Media, an independent media group based in Mold, just 12 miles from the university’s main campus in Wrexham.

The course is setting a blueprint for the future of journalism training. Students undertake academic training at the university and receive regular work experience at one of 14 NWN Media titles across north and mid Wales, Shropshire and Cheshire.

Crucially, the training they receive provides them with a qualification accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) – the benchmark standard for journalists.

In an increasingly competitive industry, the three-way academic, industry and awards body partnership provides graduates such as Thomas with a huge advantage in the graduate employment market.

“The course was absolutely amazing,” says Thomas. “And the work experience was the key thing really. You get a placement on a newspaper for two days a week which is guaranteed when you join the course. That was definitely the course’s main selling point.”

Thomas worked on the County Times, a paid-for weekly covering Welshpool, Newtown, Machynlleth, Llandrindod Wells and Builth Wells in mid-Wales.

The placement ensured he gained valuable experience covering a range of stories – council, court, crime, education and off-diary human interest. It was also the perfect opportunity to put into practice skills learnt in the lecture theatre at Glyndŵr – including media law, public affairs, newspaper writing and shorthand.

“There are a lot of journalism courses out there which give you a one-off two or four week placement once a year but nothing like the placement that you get with the NCTJ course here. When you’re working at the same paper every week you get to become part of the scenery and something more than just the work experience student. You get to build up relations and trust with the editorial teams and that leads to opportunities to cover stories which you might not get when you’re on a short work placement.”

Thomas, 34, holds a degree in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Glamorgan and a Masters degree in Philosophy from Staffordshire University, said: “The college was making massive cuts and my subject area was one of the first to run into trouble.

"People say that journalism is completely different to teaching but it’s not. They’re both about communication and you’ve got to be able to write and speak effectively to people. You learn so much about how the world works when you’re working as a journalist - I’m loving it.”