Australia, for the past two decades, has offered journalism degrees at all but two of its 39 tertiary institutions (Koivisto & Thomas 2008, 95). The educational level of Australian journalists has changed significantly over this period. Whereas in 1992 only 35 % of journalists held a degree, the figure was 80 % in 2010. Interestingly, the percentage of those who held an undergraduate degree in journalism had hardly changed, from 33 % to 35 %, which shows that the industry is happy employing people with degrees other than journalism. However, many journalists hold a postgraduate degree in journalism (Josephi & Richards, forthcoming). Cadetships are still being offered by the major media companies, but their numbers have decreased as a casualty of expenditure cuts. Investigative journalism is a subject or topic in most university journalism courses, with one institution – the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) – having established an Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ).
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