Transcript: Postgraduate Journalism and Sports Media

e for journalism and writing.

We’re also joined today by Ms Sita Chopra, director of post-grad coursework,

and very lucky to have with us Alyce Mokrzycki.

Um, who’s an alumni, uh, Alyce I never say your name properly, so you can say it proper later. Alyce is a very good,

um, friend and colleague, and we’re very lucky for us to have her joining us today.

But before I start, I’d like to, uh, do a welcome to country and I’d like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the

Eora nation upon whose ancestral lands, uh, city campus now stands. I would also like to pay respect to the elders,

both present and past acknowledging them as traditional custodians

of knowledge for this land. What we’ll do today is, uh, we will just go through, um, a few kind of basic, uh,

information, uh, regarding the, uh, post-grads, uh, information, um, course that we have.

Um, and also we will be recording today’s session.

Uh, this session will be recorded on all your screen-share and, um, are presented.

So I just needed to let you know that this is for any prospective students who might want to use this, uh, and refer to it.

And also, as you can see in the chat, we are taking Q and A questions,

so questions and that you just put them in the Q and A box, uh, uh, and we can answer them at the end or during the session.

So thank you for coming. So, first of all, I’d like to, um, just explain why UTS and why study journalism and sports

media at UTS. There’s a few things that are quite unique to UTS. First of all, we are focused on practical learning. Uh,

we are focused on our students and our graduates actually making it to a successful, uh,

career afterwards in industry. So you learn to research, interview,

you compile and review key components of this course. And we do also focus on research

and kind of conceptual frameworks and theoretical aspects, but we do that integrated with practical learning.

So we want our students to be able to basically talk the talk and walk the walk. Um,

we have also great industry facilities. So you gain access to facilities which are already used by

industry. For example, for sports media, we have the Sydney Cricket Ground trust and Moore Park facilities.

Uh, one of the things that we are keen on is that our students actually develop their professional portfolio as they go. So even if you don’t have much,

um, experience in journalism, or it’s very basic, we make sure that we build that we work at your level,

and we make sure that at the end you have a professional portfolio that you can then take to industry and, uh,

and apply for jobs. So you will be connected while you’re a student with us,

with outlets such as Central News, which I’ll talk about shortly, UMag and Vertigo. So let me just talk you through,

uh, the courses. So we’ve got the Master of Advanced Journalism Extension.

Now the course totals 12 subjects, and this includes six core subjects that we teach as part of

journalism. And then we have three advanced journalism electives and three

extension electives. Uh, so these could be from other, uh, areas.

So full-time students complete the course in two years and they’re required to undertake three subjects per semester.

So that’s kind of the load that you’re looking at and part-time students can complete the course between 2.5 years and six years,

and can take one or two subjects per semester. And what we’ve had is depending on the student’s life,

they might be parents. They might be working. Um, we kind of cater the course to their, uh,

ability and time. We also have the master of advanced journalism, the course totals nine subjects,

which has six core subjects and then three electives. And these electives can be, uh, electives of the student’s choice.

We tend to advise that, um, depending on what you want to do and what kind of journalist and industry you see

yourself working in, that you actually select your electives accordingly.

Full-time students complete the course in 1.5 years and are required to undertake three subjects per semester,

and part-time students should undertake one or two subjects per semester. So depending on the number of subjects taking, uh, taking the course, um,

usually that part-time would take two to five years. We’ve also got the graduate diploma in advanced journalism, uh,

the course totals six subjects, four core subjects and two electives. So full-time students complete the course in one year and they’re required to

undertake three subjects per semester. And part-time students complete the course in a year and a half to three years,

and then take one or two subjects per semester. So you can see you’ve got that kind of flexibility to see if you’re not quite

sure what to do and what to start with. And you can start with a graduate diploma and then move on to a master’s.

There’s also, um, the idea that you can do a master’s and then if you feel that you can’t

complete, then you can, uh, exit with a graduate diploma. There’s different views, but there are options. And within these options,

there are flexible times. We’ve also got the graduate diploma in sports media.

So this is focusing on sports media, the course, total six subjects, four core subjects, and two electives.

So full-time students complete the course in one year and they’re required to undertake three subjects per semester.

And part time students complete the course in a year and a half to three years, and then take one or two subjects a semester.

So that’s the kind of different courses that you can apply for, for post grad. I’ll tell you a little bit about central news.

So central news is our newsroom. Um, it’s an online platform. If you haven’t already, I really encourage you to go and have a look at it.

It’s our real time newsroom, where students gain hands-on reporting, editing, and other production experience. And you, we have, um,

very experienced, um, editor working at central news, who currently is Martin Newman.

He actually has, uh, editorial meetings with students every morning from 9:30 to 10:30

and this is post grad and undergrad. Uh, it’s where our students can practice and strengthen a use of digital tools,

but also be able to apply different stories. So,

uh, we have a combination of students wanting to come in with stories and wanting to

pitch them and other students. Uh, we also provide a daily kind of agenda and news agenda.

So students can put their hands up to cover particular stories and go out and cover them. Uh, we also have mentors, uh,

that works or you as post-grad journalism students, that UTS can put your hand to be a mentor,

and this is considered an internship. So this is, uh, an internal internship. So, uh, you will be recognized for your work.

And as I said at the start, this is something that kind of can build up towards your professional

portfolios. So the idea is that by the time you graduate, you can actually show a future employee,

your professional portfolio. We’ve also got the foreign correspondence study tour, and this is, um,

Alyce is smiling cause she’s going to tell you about that, but, uh, it’s a, uh, uh, project very close to my heart.

We started it at UTS in 2015, and it’s, uh, funded by the department of foreign affairs and trade.

So the students get to go two weeks overseas, Alyce joined us for a trip to India and also Jordan.

And it is a real experience. So you’re actually a foreign correspondent. We’ve got a partnership with SBS.

So students tend to, uh, submit their stories to SBS. Um, they’re run several times a year, they’re available for undergrad and post-grad,

there are some study tours that are only post-grad, some study tours are combined. And,

um, as I said, they’re published on SBS online and we also publish on central news

students, um, who have gone on these study tours. We, they are selected to go,

it’s partially funded and students who have gone on the study tours have actually got great jobs after. And I know because, uh,

I’ve acted as a referee for many of them. So it’s a really great experience. Uh,

the picture up there is, uh, uh, one of our students in, uh, Tunisia and, uh, the one, the lower one is in Jordan.

So we’ve had students go to India, Philippines, Tunisia, Jordan, uh, and we, uh,

have other study tours coming up now that the borders have opened. I’m going to hand over to Alyce now.

And she’s going to tell you about her experience being a student at UTS. Okay. Um,

so I guess I’ll probably just start from the beginning and put it into a little package. Um, I started, uh,

by doing an undergrad at USYD in anthropology and sociology. Um, and then it took me a few years to figure out I think,

um, what I was good at and where I thought I sort of belonged in the world. So,

um, I knew that I was good at writing and that I had an interest in, um, you know, potentially working overseas. Um, and I think it was, uh,

oh goodness. It was maybe, you know, around the same time that I was, you know, really sort of thinking, well, what am I going to do with my life?

I was actually, um, served a Facebook ad about master’s program. So, um, I enrolled, um, I was, um,

at the time not working in journalism. Um, and then I, uh, did my studies part time.

So I studied from 2016 to 2020. Um, I actually found my sort of first, um,

I guess journalism job or copywriting job, um, through a colleague, um, and a fellow student doing my master’s. Um,

and so I started working for a company called Music Stand in Sydney. So, um, that’s where I was able to, um, try myself out as a journalist.

So I was actually working full time, um, whilst studying. So it’s absolutely something that’s, um, that you can do.

Um, and I still managed to have a social life. Um, and then the two study tours is, um, I think, you know,

part of the reason why someone maybe chose me to talk about, um, my experience at UTS is because those two study tours and doing my masters

completely changed my life. So, um, going from someone who knew that they were good at, um,

knew that they were good at writing and had an interest in, you know, potential interest in journalism. Um,

I did a study tour in India, and so, um, the study showed in India,

probably one of the most valuable experiences was we would drop into a rural town, um,

with one translator and we needed to file before the end of the day. So, um,

experiences like that as something that I was then able to translate, um,

when I got my first sort of serious journalism role, I ended up working as their senior reporter for a paper called, um,

The Centralian Advocate. So that was based in Alice Springs. Um, I’d never been to Alice Springs before. Um, so I think the experience,

um, the experience that I had, you know, in India and then Jordan, that actually set me up to have that self-belief and to know that I was, um,

that I was agile, um, you know, in terms of that travel. Um, and so I worked as a journalist for that,

um, uh, one year and then obviously COVID hit and things changed. And so now I work, um,

as a engagement and communication advisor to a politician up in the Northern Territory. Um, and so every single,

I suppose, you know, the colleagues that I met whilst working, um, while studying at UTS, um,

and then the experiences I got across radio, film, writing, feature writing, um, every base was covered, um,

even just last week. Um, you know, one of the modules is doing, uh, copyright law and intellectual property law. Um,

and that sort of helped me, um, the minister I worked for, we put up a video of him singing along to an Alicia Keys song,

and I was able to use that background and that, um, you know, not only did I think I ended up working for a politician, but I was able to use,

you know, that little, little nugget that I’d learnt during my masters, um, you know, in this role. So I think, um, part of the reason as well,

why I was able to move from working in Surry Hills in Sydney to Alice Springs, um, was because my experience,

uh, in the foreign correspondent studies tour, and also, um, UTS being highly regarded as it is, um,

that all looks good on my CV. Um, and so, you know, being in the industry, I mean, um, because I was working for News Corp as well,

um, that was something that there is that awareness of the students that come out of UTS, um,

which was obviously incredibly important and that translated to my first role.

Um, and then I was scouted for the role that I’m in now, um, by the minister as I was working as a journalist in Alice Springs.

So I suppose, um, that, um, that Facebook ad that I saw or, or going to this, um, talk today,

there were all those little moments that, um, I couldn’t have anticipated back then, but, um,

hands down the lecturers and, um, you know, the students I met and the experiences I’ve had have absolutely built

me up to where I am today. Um, and I think not just professionally, but, um, but personally, I mean, I wasn’t, um,

you know, friends with Saba before I started my masters. Um, and so I think that’s also a testament to, um, you know,

the quality of lecturers and, and the, um, I suppose the intimacy that you are going to have with your lecturers, they are

there to help you. Um, so it’s something that I, I can’t recommend, um, you know, high, highly enough, this experience,

um, but also doing it at UTS. I think I, I researched the masters before I started. Um,

and so this master’s was, um, the best master’s program,

um, in Australia. And so that also, um, you know, added to my decision. So,

um, yeah. Are there any other questions?

Thanks so much Alyce that’s, that’s really great. I’m sure that students will have questions, so, um,

we’ll leave it till the Q and A, uh, yeah. Great. Okay. Um.

Saba I might – Hi everybody. I’m Sita Chopra, I’m the director of postgraduate coursework

here in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. So I’m just going to talk you through the admission requirements to the courses.

So, um, if you’re interested in any of the journalism or sports media degrees at,

uh, UTS, we have a general requirement that you must have completed a UTS recognized

bachelor’s degree or an equivalent or higher qualification or submitted other evidence that shows that you’re capable of pursuing graduate studies.

So for the masters of advanced journalism extension or the masters of advanced journalism, uh,

you need to have a bachelor’s degree in the field of education, management and commerce, society and culture or creative arts. If however,

you have a bachelor’s degree in another field, then we require you to also have two years related professional work

experience, um, in a situation where you may have gone on, uh,

beyond a bachelor’s and you have the grad cert, a grad dip or a master’s, uh, that qualification can be in any field of study.

And if you pop that in your application, then that’s all you’ll need to, um, complete in terms of having your application assessed. Uh,

it’s a little bit different if you’re interested in applying for the graduate diploma in advanced journalism or a graduate diploma in sports media.

Um, so basically again, you need an academic qualification,

but if you haven’t completed an academic qualification, then you must provide a personal statement explaining, uh,

why you wish to study the course. So why you’re interested in advanced journalism or sports media,

and also a resume or curriculum vitae, which will just give us a sense of what paid or voluntary work or other

experiences that you’ve been involved in that could be relevant to,

uh, either of the courses, um, if you’re an international applicant or you’re a domestic applicant, uh,

with an international qualification, uh, there’s also some English language proficiency requirements with which we’ve

just popped there at the bottom of the slide. Uh,

So we just the, into the question and answer part of the evening,

um, depending on the questions, I might take some of them on notice so we can feed them back to Saba and

the journalism team, but I’ll just have a look at what has come through in the chat. Um,

so one of the questions is, does UTS have any industry connections? And, uh, we do. And when it comes to, uh, advanced journalism,

we have quite a lot of connections. So Saba spoke around, um, the foreign correspondent study tour,

which is organized with the department of, uh, sorry with DFAT. And we also have industry connections there with SBS online. Uh,

we’ve had a series called Meet the Journalist over the last couple of years when we’ve brought in practicing journalists, such as, um,

Sandra Sully, Hamish,McDonald, et cetera. So students can really, um,

get an idea of what practicing journalists, um, go through and also ask them questions about how they came up through the ranks

to the journalists that they are today. Um, let’s just see, oh,

sorry. I was just also made to say that even in post-graduate study, if you’re interested in doing, um,

a work integrated learning component or an internship, then that is possible too. Um,

I have a question here for you, Alyce, what was your favorite subject? Um, I just went out and I got like nervous cause I was like,

what was my favorite subject? Um, I’ve thought about it a little bit,

but I have to admit those foreign correspondent study tours, that Saba runs, um, you like,

obviously, you know, um, you partially pay for them, but I guess, you know, the expression goes that you can’t pay for that kind of experience.

I think for me, um, I wouldn’t have had comparable experiences doing an internship at,

um, in Sydney, for example, um, you know, I interned at Elle magazine, you know, uh,

very briefly cause I had a friend there and, um, you just don’t have those same kinds of experiences, I suppose, I think,

um, foreign correspondent, for sure. Um, there was another subject around the theory of journalism that sounded boring,

but I actually ended up doing a piece on, um, Kim Kardashians and the book that she’d released,

which was just that entire book of selfies. And so I think, uh, in terms of, you know,

you really can imbue your master’s degree with, with your personality and you bring who you are to the table. Um, and,

and so pivot those potentially dry sort of assessments in a way that, um, challenges your thinking, or, you know,

if you wanted to write something about Kim Kardashian or, um, whoever you were interested in, you know, there’s opportunities there, um,

that things may seem like they’re going to be theoretical. Um, every, every peace you do, I think that’s the other bit of advice.

Every piece I did, I looked at it as an opportunity to, well, how can I write this in a way that I could potentially move it to be published?

Um, so yeah, so favorite subjects, foreign correspondent study tour,

um, that absolutely helped me, um, in terms of my employments and just my growth as a person and as a

journalist. Um, but then those theoretical subjects were also really valuable because they teach

you how to think, but you can also interpret them how you wish to an extent. So, yeah.

Amazing. Thank you. Um, also just jumping back to that question around industry connection.

So I should have mentioned that in the masters program, there is the journalism major project subject. Um,

so students can undertake an in-depth investigation, um, to create a piece of work. Um,

you’re advised by a journalist mentor that might be some, one of Saba’s colleagues as an academic or somebody from industry as well.

Um, as a student, you have an opportunity to pitch your project. So your final piece to a panel of media professionals.

So I think that’s quite a good subject as well, because you’re really getting that authentic experience. And it’s in,

um, the workplace that you might end up in? Hmm. I think, um, I might just quickly interrupt. One of my colleagues who

did her Masters at the same time as me. Um, she’s just finished up on Junkee TV and she is in the process of

writing a book on, um, her mother has a mental illness and so, you know, she’s probably 28 and she’s writing her first book.

And I think, um, you know, she’s someone that I’ll have to tell Saba about because, um, there’s so many of those kinds of stories with all of us. Um, you know,

which may, may sound a bit cliche, but I think, you know, it’s why I’m so happy to spruik the master’s degree because I can see how much

it’s changed so many of our lives, um, professionally. That’s amazing. Thank you. Uh, I’ve also got a question here about,

can I do this course part-time? Absolutely. So if you’re doing it, part-time, you’d have a reduced, um, study load.

So for instance, if you are, um, a full-time student might do the masters in one and a half

years, a part-time student might take three or longer, but that’s definitely an option.

I also had a question here about if I don’t do the sports media grad dip, but I want to do the masters of journalism,

are the subjects available as electives? And yes, that’s, um, the case that some of them are, I don’t think they all are,

but some of them definitely are available as electives.

Okay, let’s go one more here about if I start the graduate diploma, can I go up to the masters? Uh, definitely.

We have something called, um, articulation here at UTS. So if you do the graduate diploma,

which is one of the lower qualifications, you can certainly then, um,

transfer into the masters of advanced journalism as you’re nearing completion, and you would get credit for the subjects that you’ve already done.

So that would reduce the amount of time that you’d need to do the masters.

Okay. Then I have is this course only suited to people who want to become a

journalist. Um, Alyce would you like to answer that from a position of experience?

Well, um, hands on heart, I, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to become a journalist when I, um,

when I started this master’s degree. Um, I think when I look around at,

um, I think the answer to your question is, you know, no, if, if, um, if being a journalist, um, isn’t, isn’t something you end up,

you know, thinking you want to do. I’ve got friends now that are managing. Um, so that’s another thing I think is important to mention, uh,

digital media and social media is absolutely a component, um, in terms of this master. So I think, uh, the role I do now for, um,

the minister up in Darwin is, um, I look after all of his social media assets.

So I’m still technically using journalism everyday to storytell. Um, I’ve got friends that are with ABC, SBS,

um, that are actually working as journalists, but I’ve also got friends that are head of engagement and social media for

marketing companies in Sydney. Um, obviously the young woman that’s, uh, writing a book currently, um, you know, and I think there’s a,

some of us that’s, um, one gentleman ended up going and working as a journalist in China. Um,

I think even if you don’t want to become a journalist, the foundation that you get in terms of comms, the, um,

networks that you make, uh, and I think the type of content that you’re privy to means that, um, you know,

if you want to end up working for, for a politician in, in communications, or if you want to end up working in copywriting and media, um,

the skills that you get and the contacts that you make, um, I just think the overall experience is something that, um,

I wouldn’t take back for the world. Um, and it’s, um, yeah, it’s, yeah, it’s, um,

it’s something that even if you’re not sure what you want to do to, you know, to start with the person that asked, can you move up, um, you know, start off,

start off slow. Like I did the opposite thing and I was working full time and was studying full time, um, and then realized that I just couldn’t do it. And so I,

I lessen the load and it took me four years to do my masters. Um, so go at your own pace. And, um, you know,

if the master’s is something that, that looks like something you want to do, um, go and do it and then, you know, figure it out as you go along. I think, um,

as a young person, you don’t need to have all the answers, you know, as soon as you start, start studying, not with your undergrad,

not with your masters. Um, so yeah, so if it’s something you think you’ll enjoy, um, and reached out to Saba, um, I’m happy for you guys if my last name is

there, you’re more than welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn or Facebook. Um, I think, uh, if you’re part of the young writers group, um,

Kathy Boris was also, um, part of the masters program when I was there.

Um, she’s now studying law, but she founded one of the largest young writers groups on Facebook in the

country. Um, and so there’s a lot of resources and, you know, we’re all here to help, um, if you’ve got questions. So, um, yeah,

A hundred percent do it. Um, yeah, I think. That’s a really good point about writing as well,

because some of the electives that you choose, they don’t all need to be in the journalism program. So if you’d like to choose something from writing, um, for example,

that’s certainly possible. So there’s also other parts of our school of communication that you might be

interested in just to broaden out your studies. Film, radio. Yeah. There’s so much.

Okay. So that appears to be the last question.

So we’ve just got up there, our contact details. So if you’ve got any other questions that you’d like to send through,

um, Saba will definitely be available when she is feeling better. Um, was certainly very responsive if you want to send through any queries, um,

at all, because we want to make sure that you, you know, choose the course that’s right for you and have a really great experience when

you come on board with us. So thank you once again, Elise, it’s great to have you here tonight. All grids,

but everybody. Bye.