How is the MA Professional Writing different from a creative writing MA?

A creative writing MA is concerned with literary craft. The MA Professional Writing is concerned with commercial craft at senior level — brand strategy, editorial leadership, technical content architecture. Different work, different success criteria, different portfolio expectations.

Does the MA Professional Writing include content design and content operations?

Yes — content design and content-operations frameworks are covered in the technical writing strategy unit. Students with employer access can use the MA as a structured way to design or evaluate a real content-ops initiative for their own organisation.

Can the MA Professional Writing be done part-time?

Yes — over 24 months part-time. Online and distance routes are designed around working senior writers and editors, with evening tutorials and a portfolio you can build around your live commercial work (with employer permission).

What does the critical reflection on the MA Professional Writing involve?

An 8,000–10,000 word piece accompanying your portfolio — articulating craft choices, defending decisions, and contributing to the practitioner literature on professional writing. Recent reflections have covered brand-voice frameworks at FTSE corporates, accessibility in technical documentation, and the political ghostwrite as a form.

Is the MA Professional Writing recognised by UK and international employers?

The MA is a UK Master's degree taught in London with strong alignment to Professional Copywriters' Network and Society of Authors standards. Your portfolio is what most senior commercial clients actually look at; the MA underwrites your craft training and lets you bill at MA-credential rates.

MA Professional Writing in London | LSJHML | Harold International College of London

Course Overview

The MA Professional Writing at the London School of Journalism, Humanities & Modern Languages (LSJHML) is a one-year UK postgraduate degree for senior writers, editors, communications leads and freelance professionals who want a research-grade upgrade to their commercial craft. You will work across advanced copywriting, corporate editing leadership, technical writing strategy and longer publication forms, finishing with a substantial publishable portfolio and a reflective critical essay.

This MA treats professional writing as the senior craft it is. By completion you will be ready to bill at lead-writer rates, take a senior in-house writing role, or move into editorial leadership of a small team.

Key Features

Advanced copywriting module covering brand strategy, campaign architecture, performance-led writing and the senior creative brief.
Corporate editing leadership strand — house style design, accuracy systems at scale, editorial team management.
Technical writing strategy unit — documentation architecture, structured authoring, content design at organisational scale.
Longer publication forms — thought leadership, whitepapers, executive ghostwriting, business books.
Professional Copywriters' Network and Society of Authors-aligned standards and current sector pay benchmarks.
Substantial portfolio and 8,000–10,000 word critical reflection on a chosen specialism, supervised by an active practitioner-academic.

What You Will Learn

The MA Professional Writing is structured around the senior-track capabilities working commercial writers and editors actually exercise — leading a brand voice, designing editorial systems, writing at scale across formats, and contributing to the methodological conversation the field is having.

Advanced copywriting — brand strategy, campaign architecture, performance-led work, the senior creative brief.
Corporate editing leadership — house style design, accuracy systems, editorial team supervision.
Technical writing at strategic level — content architecture, structured authoring, content operations.
Longer publication forms — thought leadership, whitepapers, executive ghostwriting, business books.
Bid and proposal writing at lead level — strategy, win-themes, team-leadership under deadline.
Speechwriting and ghostwriting — voice, register, the executive and political ghostwrite.
The freelance economy at senior level — rates, contracts, IP, agency relationships.
Critical reflection — articulating craft, defending choices, contributing to the practitioner literature.

Who This MA Is For

Working professional writers and editors stepping up to senior or lead-writer roles.
Communications leads moving into formal head-of-content or editorial-director positions.
Freelance writers wanting research-grade craft underpinning and a portfolio that justifies senior rates.
Career-changers from journalism, teaching or related fields entering senior commercial writing.

Career Pathways

MA Professional Writing graduates move into senior copywriting, corporate editing, technical writing leadership and content-strategy roles across UK corporates, agencies and the third sector. Typical roles include:

Senior Copywriter or Copy Director (agency, in-house brand team, content studio)
Lead Technical Writer (software, regulated industry, professional services)
Bid Director (consulting, construction, public-sector tender team)
Editorial Director (in-house editorial team, professional body, regulator)
Head of Content (corporate marketing, brand publisher, third-sector communications)
Executive Ghostwriter (independent practice, executive comms agency)

The MA also serves as a launchpad for doctoral research in professional writing or rhetoric, or for senior in-house editorial leadership.

Entry Requirements

A UK 2:2 honours degree (or international equivalent) in a related subject, OR a 2:2 in any subject with two years of relevant professional experience.
IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
Personal statement (max 1 page) outlining your motivation, relevant experience and intended specialism.
Two academic or professional references.
Applicants without a related undergraduate degree may be considered with significant industry experience and a written sample (1,000–1,500 words).

Why Study at LSJHML

The London School of Journalism, Humanities & Modern Languages is a specialist higher-education provider based in central London. Our programmes are designed in dialogue with working professionals — journalists, translators, civil servants, academics, broadcasters, editors, publishers and policy researchers — so what you learn in seminar on Monday is what your future employer is using on Tuesday. We deliberately keep cohorts small, give every student named tutor support, and treat employability as a structural part of every programme rather than an optional add-on.

London is the work — politics, courts, capital markets, theatre, broadcasting, publishing, public service, the global press. Your studies are taught in the same square mile where the stories you read about happen. Whether you join us on-campus, online or by distance learning, the city is your classroom and our industry network is your launchpad.