NEWS RELEASE
Date: 27 May 2011
The world’s oldest journalist professional body, the Chartered Institute of Journalists, has given its support for a new University Technical College in Harlow. The Institute hopes to work closely with the management and teaching staff to develop the college and its journalism and media courses.
The Chartered Institute of Journalists is a membership organisation which has been protecting and serving the best interests of journalists and journalism for more than 120 years. Training is a key interest, and one specified in the Institute’s Royal Charter, granted by Queen Victoria in 1890.
Norman Bartlett, CIoJ president, explained: “The Institute wants to ensure that budding journalists get the best education and training possible. Better qualified journalists will improve career prospects, and in so doing enable the quality of journalism to improve and expand.
“The Internet and other technologies have changed the face of journalism, and it is important that this is reflected in the courses that are provided by colleges.”
The Institute will be the link for the new college to the industry. It will provide advice and assistance to the management as it develops the new college, to the teaching staff when they are devising journalism and media courses, ensuring they match the needs of the industry.
Norman Bartlett continued: “We will also provide a conduit for the college to secure wider help and support from the industry, opening doors for students to visit real workplaces, secure work experience placements and hopefully valuable jobs in the industry.
“We want to help Harlow UTC students to get the best education, the best training, and the best opportunities.”
Robert Halfon, the Member of Parliament for Harlow and a member of the Institute, said: “I have worked very hard on this for over a year, helping Harlow College with their plans for a new University Technical School.
“If we get this, it would transform the lives of young Harlow people. I have done this because I am passionate about apprenticeships. They are not just about economic efficiency, they are about social justice as well, and will give our young people opportunities and skills. That is also why I employed probably the first ever MP’s Apprentice – a local lad from Harlow called Andy Huckle.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Formed in 1884, the Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ) is the world’s oldest established professional body for journalists, and a representative voice of media and communications professionals throughout the UK and the Commonwealth.
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