City University has announced the launch of its new £5,000 Change Makers bursary, with its first-ever investor being production company Goalhanger Podcasts.
The bursary will support a student from an underrepresented background for each of the next two years on the university’s upcoming Podcasting MA programme starting in September 2023.
“The art of effective podcasting requires skills in creation, production, marketing and execution, which naturally lend themselves to a taught degree programme,” said Goalhanger Podcasts managing director Jack Davenport. “We are delighted to be supporting two students on the new Podcasting MA programme who would not otherwise have the opportunity to study a postgraduate degree, and look forward to working with City’s Centre for Podcasting Excellence to help kickstart the careers of aspiring podcasters.”
To be eligible for the Change Makers bursary, students must have an unconditional offer for the Podcasting MA programme running in 2023/2024, hold a home fee status, and submit a 600-word personal essay on why they want to pursue a career in podcasting and what their financial situation is like to the School of Communication & Creativity’s admissions team by 4pm on 30 June. The successful applicant will then be notified in early July.
Discussions are currently ongoing with multiple other potential sponsors, according to someone familiar with the matter, which would allow bursaries to be offered to more students.
City University launched the first MA in podcasting early in January this year, with the hands-on course dedicated to training students with a combination of the technical and practical skills they would need to publish their own podcast.
Additionally, the university launched a Centre of Podcasting Excellence led by former BBC News editor and former Bauer digital content director Brett Spencer. The centre will host a number of events involving the podcasting industry with guest speakers, short courses, and monthly in-person events.
“We are hugely grateful to Goalhanger for being the first one to back the new Change Makers programme which we are confident will allow a lot more students to access the degree than they would have otherwise been able to,” City University head of podcasting Sandy Warr told PodPod. “It’s such a dynamic, diverse, entrepreneurial industry that it’s really nice to be able to support people on that first step of their career.”
