June 5, 2023 (Updated )
Fully funded trips to New York and Shanghai, fantastic (and well-paid) job prospects, and the chance to apply for a generous tuition scholarship. These are just some of the advantages offered by the Global Financial Journalism MA at City, University of London — and there are still places available for study this autumn.
City’s course has a remarkable employment record with nearly everyone who has done the MA going straight into a journalism job, with alumni taking up their first roles at the BBC, The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg in London, Frankfurt, and New York.
One of the most attractive aspects of the MA is the knowledge that the skills and expertise learnt are highly likely to lead to a journalism job at a high-profile publication. Students not only learn the skills to work in fast-paced multimedia newsrooms across the globe, but also hone a specialism around business, finance, and the economy — skills that are highly sought after by publishers.
There’s no need to have a previous financial background and the course also offers generous scholarships and bursaries.
Archie Mitchell, who graduated from the course in the difficult summer of 2020, is now a political correspondent at The Independent. Having been awarded part of the UK scholarship from the Marjorie Deane Foundation, he graduated straight into a job as a general and business reporter at The Daily Mail.
Archie Mitchell (L) and Amy Borrett (R)
He tells Journo Resources: “Given the economic climate, I worried about getting a job as a journalist after graduating, but gaining knowledge and insights into an area in such high demand made finding a job much easier.
“The course was a fantastic opportunity to gain hands-on experience while being taught by the best in the business. As well as outstanding teaching and challenging practical assignments, the course offered massively important networking opportunities which allowed me to gain work experience at national titles while completing the course.
“From my first day on the job, I felt confident spelling out complex stories about business and finance in simple, engaging terms.”
One common misconception is that financial journalism is just about numbers. Professor Jane Martinson is the head of the course and a columnist at The Guardian, where she was formerly the women’s editor. She explains that often the best reporting is about stories and people, from breaking global finance news to consumer affairs, as well as investigations into companies and financial markets.
“Nearly all the biggest, most important stories in the world involve money and finance in some shape or form. Too many people are scared of numbers, yet the world is crying out for journalists who can understand what makes them into a good story.
“Learning how this world works is a fantastic way to gain an understanding of people and power — the essence of so much good journalism.”
Martinson stresses that you don’t need to have a background in finance to do the MA — you might just want to cover stories such as the cost-of-living crisis, fat cat water and oil bosses, or how people are coping with Brexit and the recession. Other students will have a finance or economics background and want to learn all about how to be a successful journalist.
But whatever your motivation to join the course, it’s the prospect of getting a well-paid, high-profile journalism job at the end of the 10-month course that makes the MA stand out. The team at City analysed all publicly listed jobs on Cision between April 2019 and May 2021, finding that the single most in-demand journalism role was “financial journalist”.
As well as learning skills in reporting and writing for digital and print publications, students gain experience in producing journalism for TV and handling data stories.
This certainly held true for Amy Borrett, who went on to work at the New Statesman and Sky News straight from the MA. She is now the FT’s data correspondent.
She says: “The course at City taught me so much about finance and business journalism, covering everything from reporting the global economy to understanding company accounts. It was great to learn from industry experts and study alongside students from all over the world. It opened lots of doors and led me to my current role at The Financial Times.”
To help get to grips with global economics and world markets, students on the Global Financial MA also take two funded trips as part of their MA (flights and accommodation are paid for), usually to New York and Shanghai.
The course is supported by the Marjorie Deane Foundation, which offers two generous scholarships providing full fees for a home and international student. High demand for journalists with business and financial understanding means that other scholarships have been made available in the past including one from capital.com. You can keep up to date on the City website.
Graduates from the programme are highly sought after by some of the best-known news organisations in the UK and beyond, while others will work for governments and financial institutions.
About three-quarters of the graduates stay to work in London, while others relocate to financial centres including New York, Mumbai, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
• Students take part in two fully-funded trips to New York and Shanghai to help them get to grips with global economies and stock markets. You’ll meet leading journalists, businesses, and academics, as well as get hands-on experience of reporting.
• The Marjorie Dean Foundation offers two generous scholarships for both home and international students, which cover full tuition fees.
• Students study both the essentials of multimedia journalism and the highly sought-after skills of finance, economics, and data.
To find out more and apply, head to the MA’s homepage on the City website.
“After spending much of my career writing about the media for the Guardian in both New York and London, I worried, like so many others, about the declining number of jobs in journalism and its impact on new recruits,” Martinson reflects. “The continued demand for journalists with financial knowledge has surprised even me.”
Martinson believes the course is unique in the UK, both for British students and those from overseas who want to study in “one of the world’s greatest financial centres”.
Mitchell concludes: “I was so happy to be appointed to the lobby working in the House of Commons for The Independent, a title I really admire. And I owe so much of it to doing the masters in financial journalism.”
City’s world-renowned journalism department, ranked first in the UK for graduate prospects in media and communications, is currently accepting applications for the Global Financial MA and interviewing applicants for the MA that starts on September 25, 2023.
Anyone who wants to become a journalist and has an interest in the world and how it works is encouraged to apply. You could be a third-year undergraduate, a career changer, a professional who has worked overseas for a few years and understands how London’s financial centre works — or something else entirely!
Apply before August 1, 2023 for a place on the 2023/24 course.
Professor Martinson is also happy to take any inquiries about the course via her email jane.martinson@city.ac.uk.
