Entry Requirements and Fees
2020/21 UK fee: £9,250
2020/21 International fee: £13,500
For further details about fees, please see our Tuition Fee page.
Typical Offers (individual offers may vary):
Tariff points: 104 - 112
A Levels: BBC - BCC
BTEC: DMM - MMM
International Baccalaureate: 28 points
Access to HE Diploma: Pass with at least 15 credits worth of level 3 units at Merit
IELTS 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5
Student view
I favoured the more practical modules which allowed me to build some vital skill sets and a portfolio of work that got me a job in the sport media industry.
During my last year at the university, I landed a full-time job at Hawk-Eye Innovations as a SMART Productions systems operator and I now travel the world broadcasting live tennis events.
One of the greatest things about studying at Chichester is that you’ll meet incredible people who will become lifelong friends, especially the students on your course. It’s an amazing feeling when you get to work with your closest friends and succeed all together.
The university has lots of resources available to you and a state-of-the-art tech building on the Bognor campus. The university allowed us to use camera equipment outside of lessons which benefited me greatly as I could develop the skills that I had learned from my lecturers in class.
I got involved in many things as a student. I was part of the cheerleading 1st team for three years and took on the role of chief media officer. I got to film performances and create promo videos. I was also a videographer for one of the men’s football teams. I filmed and edited their weekly games both home and away, which was great fun as well.
My advice to future students doing Sports Media at Chichester University is to not be afraid to get involved with new things.
I’m proud to say that I studied Sports Media at the University of Chichester and I would not be where I am today without the help from the staff at the university who really valued me and went to great lengths to make my experience at the university such an amazing one.
It’s an unbelievable degree that gives you the ability to immerse yourself in the world of sports.
Learning the practical side of filming, editing, lighting etc., is well balanced with other aspects of sport and the media to help develop your understanding of the industry.
The one to one tutoring by the lecturers helps you feel comfortable and there’s a family feel to a course that provides the essentials to help you establish a career within the industry.
The opportunity to be trained on industry standard equipment by people who have been there and done it as professionals was something which really appealed to me.
The new Tech Park is a Rolls-Royce of a building, a facility which can't be passed on if you're interested in sports media.
It didn't matter whether they taught the technical or theoretical side of sports media, the lecturers were all incredibly positive and ensured that every student was supported in their learning.
The staff helped me set up an opportunity to work in the media centre at the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships in London, an opportunity which let me be a part of a professional environment at one of the biggest sporting events in the world!
The students that I undertook the degree with had a wide range of skills and interests, so when we were required to undertake group work there was a real diverse group of students who worked efficiently.
The course gave me confidence in knowing that I would be equipped with the necessary skills to be effective in the industry and inspired me to continue my studies and undertake a masters degree in sports broadcast journalism, an option that wouldn't have been made available to me if it wasn't for the superb teaching on offer at Chichester.
The lecturers on Sports Media are fantastic. It is a good mix between practical and theory, meaning that you learn a lot about the field that you want to work in.
We were very well supported, especially by Ian Worden the lead lecturer on the course. He is a very good lecturer who loves his job and helping others reach their dreams.
I really enjoyed doing Factual Interview Techniques as it gave me the chance to develop my understanding of this. I have interviewed people in the world of sport many times since leaving university. I also enjoyed our final project where we filmed the university’s Sports Awards as it was brilliant to work as part of a team on such a big event.
I played badminton at the university and worked as the media officer for the racquets team. I also reported on Chichester City FC and ran social media for the club.
Since graduating I have gone on to do freelance work for BBC Jersey, Jersey Evening Post, and Bailiwick Express. I have also written for Manchester United’s biggest fan page, Full Time Devils.
Course content
The aim of the course is to give students a real insight into the world of sports media.
Students study media coverage of sport, reflect on the cultural and social significance of sport, explore interdependent relationships between sport and the media, and examine sports communication in the digital landscape.
A significant focus is invested in hands-on experience of working in sports media production.
You're part of a vibrant community of people interested in sport and the media and together we will work on building your skill sets in particular specialisms be that reporting, producing, camera operations, directing, editing, presenting, marketing or working with social media for instance.
In their final year students will engage in a range of independent and group projects and experience working with client-led sports media productions and commissions.
Such enterprises will equip students with necessary skills regarding self-promotion, networking, career portfolio management and ways to showcase talent for prospective employers.
Our facilities
Over the past few years, we’ve redeveloped both of our campuses so that you have the best facilities available for your degree. We pride ourselves on the quality of the learning environment we can offer our students.
The department of Creative and Digital Technologies occupies the new Tech Park on the Bognor Regis Campus, which is where you will be taught. This exciting investment gives students access to professional industry standard facilities and hands on practical learning.
The Tech Park facilites include:
A 300sqm film production studio and sound stage:
9 post production edit suites with‘soho’ standard dubbing:
An 80sqm green screen studio for motion capture and chroma work:
Professional recording studios with Mac and PC suites:
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The Tech Park is situated on our Bognor Regis campus, with our award-winning ‘Learning Resource Centre’ (LRC) at the heart of the campus, which hosts a modern library service with areas for quiet and silent study.
[LRC Exterior]
Also situated in the LRC is the ‘Support and Information Zone’ (SIZ), Costa Coffee and over 80 open access workstations. An equipment loan centre offers laptops, tablets and other electronic devices for short and long-term loans.
Sports Media students will have some sessions on the Chichester Campus.
Where this can take you
The Sports Media degree is a course of study that offers a very strong prospect of graduate employment. The sports media job market is a robust one. Opportunities exist within graduate programmes, trainee schemes and apprenticeships presented by key broadcasters in the sports media-scape across a range of positions. Some students might wish to take post-graduate journalism qualifications and gravitate towards reporting and presenting. Most sports organisations have media officers now and for those interested in careers in marketing, branding, sponsorship or advertising, the sport sector attracts more revenue than any other.
Postgraduate Pathways
Alumni receive a 15% discount on postgraduate courses at Chichester.
Postgraduate study options at Chichester include PGCE and Masters.
- PGCE Primary
- Postgraduate Research (PhD)
Work placements
Work experience, placements and commissioned projects offer Sports Media students opportunities to engage with a range of different media-sport partners.
Regular coverage of university sport emulates professional practice and allows students to develop skills highly valued by graduate employers as they identify links between knowledge gained from their degree and the practices of sports media industries.
Specific approaches students might take as they develop and fashion career paths for themselves are also promoted and ways to showcase skill sets are embedded in the employability strands that feature in the degree.
In 2019-20 Sports Media third year students worked with Chichester City FC as part of their Commissioned Project: External Client module. Photographs from one student appeared in national newspapers; footage shot by the students featured on the BBC, BT Sport and in a COPA90 documentary about the club’s FA Cup run (COPA90 have 1.8m subscribers on YouTube); other footage went viral on social media; two students were given permission by the BBC to produce a behind the scenes film of the Match of the Day live broadcast of the second round draw from Chichester; the students helped organise a news conference with players and staff at the clubhouse attended by journalists and photographers from BBC Sport, The Sun, Sunday Express, the Chichester Observer, the Chichester Post, Spirit FM and a ITV Meridian film crew; their Chichester City YouTube channel has had tens of thousands of views; four students from the course got media accreditation for the FA Cup game against League One Tranmere Rovers to take photos pitch-side and work in the press box; and others have had match reports and features published.
Watch the behind the scenes film of the FA Cup draw live from Chichester City's clubhouse that the BBC gave Sports Media students access all areas permission to shoot.
In 2017 Sports Media students were given a fantastic work experience opportunity at the World Para Athletics Championships and the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in specific roles with sports journalists, photographers and others in sport communications and media relations. One student, who worked as a runner at the Paras in the mixed zone, made an impact on press centre colleagues and was given the responsibility to get quotes from athletes after their track or field events at this event and the IAAFs. This student went on to work in press operations and news services roles at several major athletics events in the UK, notably the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow in 2019.
Two students from the first cohort that graduated in 2019 got accepted on the BBC Kick Off reporter scheme and had work published by the BBC. Three students worked on a BBC World Service broadcast and two had work experience on a Netflix production.
Indicative modules
You will work on building your skill sets in particular specialisms be that reporting, producing, camera operations, directing, editing, presenting, marketing or working with social media for instance.
Year One
Introduction to Sports Media
This module aims to support students in their transition into higher education. It examines sport in various mediated forms to consider the complex relationships between sport, media and society. Sports journalism, televised sport, sport and radio, sport in film, advertising, marketing, branding and sport, sport magazines, sport in other literature and sport and the digital landscape will be explored to develop students’ understanding of the concepts, issues, critical perspectives and methodologies that constitute our approach to learning, studying and teaching sports media in the programme.
Introduction to Sport and Society
The module aims to introduce students to some of the key classical sociological concepts and theories that demonstrate how sport is shaped by social forces. Through a social and cultural analysis of selected themes and issues in sport, the module will also provide students with an awareness of key social identities and how these affect our participation in sport.
Practice Toolkit
This module is designed to provide a foundation ‘toolkit’ of practical skills to aid understanding of current creative media industries. Students will be introduced to a range of technical and procedural skills including audio, video, photography, web and digital design.
Digital Film Operations
This module serves as foundation training for developing a range of professional technical and procedural skills in video production. As such it draws from a broad range of production practice and aims to introduce and develop processes involved in the manufacture of conventional audio-visual productions. It aims to develop transferable skills in team work and planning (time management).
Sport and Television
This module explores various relationships between sport and television. It draws on a range of critical approaches within television studies (and beyond) to examine sports broadcasting, television culture and the global media sport network.
Introduction to Understanding Mega Sport Events
This module aims to introduce students to a variety of social issues in sport through case studies of mega sport events. The module aims to develop an understanding of sport in a sociological context through an investigation of the politics, commercialism, funding and management of mega sport events.
Sports Journalism and News Culture
This module considers developments in sports journalism. It examines the significance of sport for newspapers; addresses news values; explores news production and consumption; and reflects on sports reporting in new mediascapes. The module tackles the way sports narratives are organised, structured and shared and aims to enable students to both analyse and construct sports stories.
Filming Performance
This module examines various methodologies relating to single camera programming, giving students experience of pre-production, studio/location operation and post-production techniques relating to performance.
Year Two
Sport and Film
This module examines films and documentaries that focus on sport, an athlete or a particular event. It locates films in relevant contexts and tackles a range of approaches in film studies, cultural studies and narrative studies.
Sports Media Production One: Indoor Sport
The module covers aspects of sports broadcasting. Students will develop appropriate industry skills in sports media production processes such as directing, camerawork, lighting, sound recording and production management. The focus is on broadcasting indoor sports, for example basketball, badminton and netball. Students will acquire post-production skills in editing, graphics, visual effects and sound design as well as learning about reporting, researching, script supervision, anchoring, commentating and television production management as sport is transformed in the studio and across platforms.
Factual Interview Techniques
The module will address issues that confront interviewers when planning and presenting a factual interview. Students are encouraged to engage with the various styles and techniques that are used by journalists, sports presenters and documentarians, for example. Students will consider the ethical aspects of the process and the practical problems they may face as interviewers and researchers, and the importance of background research when conducting interviews.
MediaSport 2.0 and Beyond
This module examines the significance of the internet and new media technologies in sports media. Key issues concerning production, consumption, identity, political economy, co-optation, participatory culture, user-generated content, convergence, commerce, social media and gaming will be examined in relation to relevant networks, practices and relationships that shape the twenty-first century sports media landscape.
Marketing and Sales in Sport
This module seeks to give students a knowledge and understanding of the marketing and sales process and specifically how to apply it to the sport and physical activity industry. This will be achieved through the study of key marketing principles, functions and other related topics including the importance of sales, branding and social media marketing.
Critical Issues in Sport and Society
This module seeks to provide students with an understanding of more advanced social theories and their application to the study of issues in sport and society. The module will explore how the use of such theories can provide a more critical and insightful understanding of sporting issues and phenomena.
Sports Media Production Two: Outdoor Sport
The module builds on Sports Media Production: Indoor Sport to focus on coverage of sports such as football, rugby, lacrosse, hockey and tennis and further challenges of outside broadcasting. It is delivered through a series of lectures, practical workshops and master classes from visiting television professionals, broadcast journalists and other key figures in sports media and the creative industries. Active learning exercises will be set in response to weekly sports coverage and tutorials will support students in the development of production, post-production and sportscasting practice.
Multi-Camera Live Events
This module expands upon the work produced in Filming Performance by exploring the use of multi-camera recording techniques and the management of various events. It aims to provide students with a range of technical experiences and knowledge of events practice, while developing transferable skills in creating material to a client’s requirements.
Year Three
Independent Project
This module enables students to plan and execute an individual project over two semesters. It gives students the opportunity to work on a research project independently to pursue specialist interests and enhance their knowledge of media-sport relations.
Sports Broadcasting: Skills
This is a practice-based module that builds on students’ production experiences to develop advanced industry-standard skills in sports broadcasting. It feeds into Sports Broadcasting: Studio Production. Students will develop skill sets in factual and sports news scriptwriting; presenting and interview techniques; Steadicam, PSC ops and multi-cam studio set-up; location and studio sound recording; location 3-point lighting, studio lighting and green screen; Autocue and Talkback; post-production sound and vision; and outside broadcasting.
Sports Broadcasting: Series Development and Commissioning
This module enables students to devise, develop and pitch ideas for the sports magazine show. It covers programme development and research as students create their own concepts. Opportunities are provided regularly to share ideas with others in workshops. Students will learn how to create pitch documents, mood reels and ‘bibles’ for TV shows. Specific sessions will explore various approaches to writing factual TV episodic scripts and the dos and don’ts of pitching to a commissioning editor. Health and safety issues, production management and copyright concerns are addressed and a range of case studies will be examined.
Commissioned Project: External Client
This module provides students with opportunities to gain experience of working in client-led sports media production. It also equips students with a range of necessary skills regarding self-promotion, networking, career portfolio management and ways to showcase talent appropriately.
Delivering Sport and Physical Activity in the Community
This module examines the importance of staging community sport events or projects in the context of modern sports development. It addresses the role of the practitioner or manager in these types of events and further highlights the fluid and interconnected functions that exist between the coach and sport managers. In essence, the module seeks to allow potential coach and sport managers the opportunity to understand, in part through practical engagement, the complexity of staging community sport events or projects at all levels and the management and administrative processes associated with them.
Sports Broadcasting: Studio Production
This is a practice-based module. The sports show affords all sorts of creative opportunities and enables students to develop relevant skill sets in planning and completing broadcast activities and cross platform content under appropriate conditions and time constraints. Students will gain essential TV studio production experience working in a team and taking on particular roles and responsibilities with respect to directing, producing, managing, script writing, presenting, autocue, set design, studio lighting and vision mixing.
Commissioned Project: Internal Client
This module provides students with opportunities to gain experience of client-led production in other dimensions in the world of sport, for instance the sport awards show. It also equips students with further skills in events practice and marketing.
International English Studies
International English Studies
Teaching and assessment
The student experience is central to our teaching philosophy.
Students are taught by staff with expertise in media, film and creative and digital technologies and staff from the Institute of Sport.
Most of your sessions will be in the Tech Park but some lectures are delivered on the Chichester campus.
We will create a stimulating learning environment for you that will generate relevant knowledge to help students find their place in diverse media-sport professions.
You will also learn from visiting sports journalists, professionals in television sport and radio, digital media specialists, sports marketers and advertising creatives.
A number of speakers have worked with students on the Sports Media degree including Match of the Day commentator Steve Wilson; 2015 broadcast journalist of the year Mike Costello, the BBC athletics and boxing correspondent; presenter, journalist and commentator Matt Chilton who has worked at every summer and winter Olympics since 1992 and is well-known for his coverage of skiing, triathlon and tennis; Vivien Morgan, a pioneer in video and mobile journalism; Sam Mason, previously at Chelsea TV and Sky Sports but now working for television sport graphics company Reality Check Systems; Tom Bristow, formerly an online sports writer for the Mirror now deputy football editor at Manchester Evening News; Jono Holmes, a BBC Radio Solent presenter; Ryan Morgan, Bristol City’s social media executive; Zia Khalid, a marketing, advertising and sales specialist at Burton Albion FC; and Andy McMenamin from Pearce International who specialise in media operations at the world’s largest sport events.
