Postgraduate news and views: Screenwriting, Learning and Teaching, Tourism Management

Those with big dreams and a half-finished but not-forgotten script in the back of their desk drawer should give serious thought to Goldsmiths College's new one-year MA in Script Writing, starting this October. The MA aims to equip up to 12 promising writers with the knowledge, skills and experience to get work in writing for film, television or radio.

"Three-quarters of the course is geared to developing students' own idea and work," says Julian Henriques, its convenor, who is providing a mentoring scheme with experts already working in the industry. "We're looking for people with several well-developed ideas so we can hit the ground running – by the end they should have a portfolio of work as well as contacts within the industry to find work."

The course is divided into four main parts – short fiction and developing creative and analytical script writing skills; feature treatment, designed to provide the skills required to develop a treatment for a feature film or equivalent; feature script, which develops the treatment into a second draft feature script; and script editing, which works on editorial and analytical skills.

It also offers a theoretical, cultural and industrial context, and aims to help students develop a unique voice, hone professional script writing skills to industry standards, acquaint themselves with what factors make a script creatively and commercially successful, and develop sound editorial judgement of others' work.

¿ Most postgraduates teach while they study, and have an increasingly important role to play in higher education institutions. In recognition of this, the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILT), the three-year old professional body for all those teaching and supporting learning in UK higher education, has launched an associate membership category for postgraduates and those with a shorter experience of teaching or narrower breadth of expertise. "The fact that the ILT has launched its Associate grade of membership aimed at, among others, postgraduates recognises that we are now important stakeholders in higher education whose viewpoint and contribution are valued," says Adrian Furse, treasurer of the National Postgraduate Committee.

For an annual subscription of £49, associates can attend ILT regional and special interest forums free or at low cost, get reduced rates on the ILT journal and annual conference, and access to a closed mailbase for discussion, queries and sharing of ideas, as well as a free copy of The ILTA Guide, which provides practical advice on how to get the most from your first year of teaching. For more details go to www.ilt.ac.uk.

¿ The Robert Gordon University (RGU) has married up its School of Hotel, Tourism and Retail Management with the Aberdeen Business School to create an MSc in tourism management, now in its second year. "We did a lot of market research before launching the course," says its leader Deirdre McTaggart, "and found that tourist organisations really need graduates who can help them work through and manage change. For that they need a knowledge of core management issues, as well specialist tourism ones."

Students study areas such as tourism marketing, finance, operations management, strategic planning, international business, e-Business, and human resource management. "But the best part about the course is how these subjects, some which may seem not seem related directly to tourism, are vital in the real world," says current student Arjun Daing, who previously studied for a BA in Hospitality Management at RGU, "My interest in e-business and IT applications has risen tremendously and I now believe that IT is central to the future of tourism."

e.haughton@dial.pipex.com