Guidance Notes - TV Production and Broadcast Journalism

About the Bursary

The Royal Television Society is investing £60,000 a year to support UK students studying full-time accredited degree courses in either Television Production or Broadcast Journalism. We have 20 bursaries each worth £3,000 to award to students who have a place to study on a course listed at the end of these Guidance Notes, all of which are accredited either by Creative Skillset or the Broadcast Journalism Training Council. Bursaries are available to students from households with an income of less than £25,000 a year. They are to support living expenses and will be paid in 3 instalments of £1,000 cash a year.

This prestigious award also offers a real opportunity to gain insight into the Industry and build a network of key contacts. As a bursary recipient you will also benefit from free membership of the Royal Television Society and membership of The Hospital Club while studying, one year's free membership of the Royal Television Society when you graduate, and in the final year of your course we will aim to set up a mentoring or placement opportunity with one of our many industry members.

These awards are discretionary. The Royal Television Society will bring together a panel of industry experts, who will decide the awards based on their judgement of the students who will most benefit from this investment. They will use the criteria listed below when making their decisions. Please make sure you read these and use them to make your application. There are a limited number of bursaries available, and the decision of the panel is final.

The Award in Summary

• £3,000 cash

• Paid over three years in instalments of £1,000 in the February of each academic year

• The bursary is to support your living costs while you are studying.

• Free Royal Television Society membership and membership of the Hospital Club whilst studying

• One year free membership of the Royal Television Society after graduation

• Offer of placement or mentoring in your final year

Who Can Apply?

To be eligible for this award you need to meet all the criteria listed below. If you are not sure what we mean please see our Frequently Asked Questions for further information

• The RTS bursary is for people who are new to higher education, if you have previously studied a higher education course you will not be eligible for this scholarship.

• This bursary is for 'Home' full-time undergraduate students starting in Autumn 2015. Students from the EU and from Overseas are not eligible for this scheme

• You must have accepted an offer as your 'firm choice' to study full time on one of the Creative Skillset or Broadcast Journalism Training Council undergraduate programmes listed within these Guidance Notes.

• You must apply for this bursary by the application deadline of midday on 15 June 2015.

• You must have a household income of £25,000 or less. You will not need to provide evidence of this at the point of application, but bursary awards will not be confirmed until you have sent us confirmation from the Student Finance (or relevant body for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) that your household income is below £25,000 per annum. The evidence we will normally require is notification of your entitlement to a loan or maintenance grant.

• You must have applied to Student Finance before you submit your application

How Do I Apply?

You will need to complete the application form on the Royal Television Society website, which includes your UCAS personal statement. You should also include a link to an example of your work or attach a file. The application form also asks you for contact details for a referee who would support your application. This should be a school or college tutor or someone you have worked for. Family members are not acceptable. You will need to get the referee's agreement to put their details on this form.

Please note, all applications must be submitted electronically. If for any reason this is not possible please see the further advice listed in our Frequently Asked Questions.

Applications must be received by midday on 15 June 2015. Any applications received after this deadline will not be eligible for consideration for this award. Please do not leave this until the last minute, as IT systems are likely to be busy, and it may take some time to upload your application.

Consent to Retention and Use of Personal Data

The Royal Television Society will retain your name and contact details, which it may use to stay in contact with you during your studies and after graduation. We will also wish to publicise the names and courses studied of successful applicants. Application for this award will require your consent to the retention by Royal Television Society of your application and personal details and their use for this purpose.

On the application form we ask you to write a statement explaining why you want to study the course, why the Royal Television Society should invest in you and the difference this bursary would make.Please read the short-listing criteria below and use these as a guide to writing your paragraph.

Short-listing Criteria

We want to invest in talented applicants from diverse backgrounds who intend to pursue a career in Television. We will shortlist eligible applications against the following criteria, based on the information provided in your application form, any additional evidence submitted, and your UCAS personal statement.

• Enthusiasm for Television

We are interested in your passion and enthusiasm for television and broadcast media. Please be sure to tell us why you want to study your chosen course, your career aspirations and any evidence you can give us of your enthusiasm for the subject.

• Any Related Experience

We are interested in any related experience you have – for example, at school, a youth club or drama group - or any individual work you have done that demonstrates your commitment to a career in television. For example this could be back stage crew work, script writing or use of multi media technology.

• Ability to Study

Please tell us about any ways in which you have demonstrated your ability to study. This could include GCSE grades, predicted A Level grades, success in School or external prizes or competitions, or feedback on a specific piece of work.

• Barriers to Learning

Please tell us if you have had to overcome any personal barriers to achievement – for example, if you are the first in your family to go to University, if you have been resident in Care, if you have a disability which has affected your study, if you have been a carer or overcome any other difficulties which you would like us to take into account.

• Motivation

We want to support individuals who will make best use of the opportunities presented by this bursary and who are keen to be active members of the Royal Television Society.

• Geographic Spread

We are will also seek to achieve a spread of awards across a range of different Universities and geographies of the UK. We will try to avoid making a high number of awards at any one University. You don't need to tell us anything about this in your statement, but we may use this criterion to make final decisions between applicants.

Additional evidence

We would like you to submit an example of your work that can be viewed electronically. This may be a piece of coursework or something else you have done. If it is possible to view it on a website or YouTube, please include the web address. Please do not send us any hard copy DVDs or other evidence, as we are not able to return these, and wish to receive all materials electronically. If you are attaching a file, please use a common file format.

Please submit your application by midnight on 15 June 2015. Please remember to attach a copy of your UCAS Personal Statement also.

What Happens Next?

• The Royal Television Society will assess applications against the eligibility and short-listing criteria listed within these Guidance Notes. We may contact your referee for further information at this stage. We may also contact you to arrange a short telephone interview.

• The top 20 applications as determined by our panel will be awarded the bursaries, subject to meeting the conditions of any University offers, and successfully enrolling on their undergraduate programme in Autumn 2015. We will also create a reserve list. Where students from the shortlist do not meet the conditions for the offer of a bursary, these will be offered to students from the reserve list. If you are on the shortlist for a bursary we will contact you about providing confirmation of your place and household income. Please note: We will expect you to provide both of these by 30 September 2015 at the latest. If these are not provided, we may withdraw the offer of a bursary.

• We will inform all applicants of the outcome of their bursary application by 31 October 2015. Successful applicants will receive the first instalment of their bursary payments in February 2016.

Please note The Royal Television Society have a limited number of bursaries during the academic year 2015/16, therefore meeting the eligibility criteria and applying for a bursary does not guarantee that an application will be successful.

Eligible Institutions and Courses

We will only consider students enrolling for full time study on the following programmes with an Autumn 2015 start date for this bursary. Students enrolling on any other course that is not listed below would not be eligible to apply.

University	UCAS Code
Aberystwyth University
BA (Hons) Film and Television Studies	W620
University of Bedfordshire
BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism	P503
Birmingham City University
BA (Hons) Media and Communication (Television)	P9WP
Bournemouth University
BA (Hons) Television Production	W621
BA (Hons) Scriptwriting for Film and Television	W620
BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism	P500
University of Bradford
BA (Hons) Television Production	P311
University of Brighton
BA (Hons) Multimedia Broadcast Journalism	P501
Canterbury Christ Church University
BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism	P501
University of Central Lancashire
BA (Hons) Journalism (Broadcast pathways)	P500
BA (Hons) Sports Journalism	P501
Coventry University
BA (Hons) Journalism and Media	PP53
University for the Creative Arts (Farnham)
BA (Hons) Journalism	W900
BA (Hons) Sports Journalism	W803
Edinburgh College of Art (Screen Academy Scotland)
BA (Hons) Film and Television	P390
Edinburgh Napier (Screen Academy Scotland)
BA (Hons) Television	P301
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
Glasgow Caledonian University
BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism	P500
University of Gloucestershire
BA (Hons) Television Production	P311
BA (Hons) Journalism	P502
University of Hertfordshire
BA (Hons) Film and Television Post production	W601
BA (Hons) Film and Television Production	W602
University of Huddersfield
BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism	P501
University of Kent and Medway
BA (Hons) Journalism and the News Industry	P500:K
Leeds Beckett University
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
Leeds Trinity University College
BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism	P501
University of Leeds
BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism	PJ59
University of Lincoln
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
Liverpool John Moore’s University
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
Middlesex University
BA (Hons) Television Production	P311
Northumbria University
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
Nottingham Trent University
BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism	P500
University of Portsmouth
BA (Hons) Television and Film Production	W612
Ravensbourne
BA (Hons) Editing and Post Production	PJ90
Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen)
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
University of Sheffield
BA (Hons) Journalism Studies	P500
Southampton Solent University
BA (Hons) Television and Video Production	P390
BA (Hons) Television Post Production	P318
BA (Hons) Television Studio Production	P311
BA (Hons) Journalism/ Sandwich course	P500/ 1
BA (Hons) Sports Journalism	P590
BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism	P593
University of South Wales
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
Staffordshire University
BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism	PL52
BA (Hons) Media / Film Production	W600
University of St. Mark and St. John
BA (Hons) Sports Media Journalism	P314
University of Sunderland
BA (Hons) Broadcast Media Production	HP63
BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism	P501
Teesside University
BA (Hons) Broadcast Media Production	P314
BA (Hons) Television and Film Production	P331
University of the West of England
BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism	P500
BA (Hons) Film-making and Creative Media	W293
University of the West of Scotland
BA (Hons) Broadcast Production	P391
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
BA (Hons) Sports Journalism	P501
University of Westminster
BA (Hons) Television Production	P311
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Practice	W900
University of Winchester
BA (Hons) Journalism	P500
University of York
BSc (Hons) Film and Television Production	W600

 

 

Every effort is made to ensure that all details included in these Guidance Notes are correct at the time of writing. They are intended to act as an information source for potential bursary applicants and in no way should they be considered to be legally binding or guarantee an award of a bursary. The Royal Television Society will not be deemed to be in breach of any Terms and Conditions due to changes to eligibility criteria beyond their reasonable control. It should be noted that these Guidance Notes will be regularly reviewed and may be subject to change from time to time. The decision of the award panel is final, and there is no appeal against the decision of the panel on the award of bursaries. We regret that we are unlikely to be able to provide individual feedback, as we anticipate receiving many applications for these awards.