Membership applications must be submitted in writing before the end of the calendar year. The application should describe the statutes, curricula, number of students in journalism, graduate, and a commitment to the tenets of the EJTA Tartu Declaration. Letters of support from professional journalistic bodies should also be included to enable EJTA to decide if the applicant conforms to the conditions set out in Article III of the statutes.

Procedures

1. The EJTA Board will examine the application.

2. EJTA members from the same country/region as the applicant will be asked for a recommendation.

3. If the recommendation is positive, the Board starts the procedure.

4. The applicant must submit 200 euro for administration costs.

5. The applicant must fill in the EJTA questionnaire about the status of their training centre.

6. An independent EJTA inspector, preferably from another country than the applicant, will visit. The inspector will write a report and a recommendation.

7. The Board will circulate the inspectors report and recommendation to the members at the Annual General Meeting.

8. The Annual General Meeting votes on admission.

With membership comes the right to use the label:

Member of EJTA
Recognised for excellence

If the applying member has a national accreditation, EJTA accepts the result as sufficient for the application to be put to the AGM. If this centre is accepted and wants to have the EJTA label of excellence, the centre has to go through the application procedure as stated in this document.

Costs of the application

There is a fee of 200 euro to cover administration costs. Further costs include the travel expenses of the inspection visit.

Validity of accreditation

The accreditation is valid for a period of four years. To be re-accredited, members have to fill in the questionnaire again, documenting changes that occurred in the last four years.

There will be no visit from an EJTA inspector.

(For full details see Article III of the EJTA statutes).

For all applicants:
The training centre accepts the EJTA TARTU Declaration

Where to send your application

European Journalism Centre
EJTA Secretariat
Attn. of Anna McKane
Sonnevillelunet 10
6221 KT Maastricht
The Netherlands

Criteria

Criteria for membership

The criteria for membership of journalism training centres are:

• that there is in existence an active curriculum of professional practical training (including the regular student creation of journalistic products); and
• that the preparation of students in different journalistic methods is undertaken with the aim bringing them to a professional level of competence upon graduation; and
• that there shall have been a continuity of activity of at least three years prior to application and a full cycle of training has been completed.

Criteria for inital and mid-career training centres

The Criteria for both initial and mid-career training centres are:

• the training centre must not depend on a political party or any group involving social, political, ideological religious or racial discrimination; and
• if the training centre does depend on a single press group, it may be considered for membership only providing admissions practices are not limited to employees of that group but are open to the General public and that the curriculum does not constitute a programme of in-house training; and
• the training centre must accept students without discrimination on social, political, ideological, religious or racial grounds and without conditions or obligations as to future jobs and employers; and
• the training centre does not operate as a commercial organisation trading for profit.

(to be discussed with the EJTA representative visiting your school)

For further information please contact: info@ejta.eu