<div>The Master of Professional Writing (MPW) involves taking a core paper, designed specifically to enhance your workplace readiness, as well as elective papers which range across a variety of fields from creative writing to writing for promotional purposes and advertising, for digital media and for scholarly and professional publication.If creative writing is your passion, then you will have the opportunity to specialise in this. The Creative Writing Thesis gives selected students the option of producing a manuscript of publishable quality - whether poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction - in a stimulating and supportive workshop environment of fellow writers, and supervised by award-winning authors. The selection of students for the Creative Writing Thesis is by assessment of a portfolio of poetry and prose, and a manuscript proposal outlining the creative project.When studying towards the MPW you will be able to include a professional writing internship and be offered an on-campus writing mentor, who will provide professional advice and direct you towards writing opportunities.Industry ConnectionsThe staff contributing to the Professional Writing programme have long-standing relationships with the broader writing community at a number of levels:<ul><li>They have established senior profiles as publishers of creative and scholarly writing, as editors of literary and scholarly materials, and as peer reviewers for local and international journals.</li><li>The creative writing staff have won significant local and international prizes for short fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction.</li><li>They publish across a wide range of academic and popular media, including reviews, opinion columns, feature articles, works of scholarly reference, book chapters, scholarly articles, researched scholarly editions, and researched books.</li><li>They are called on to judge local and international literary prizes and to assess applications for substantial public and private funding for literary grants, including the annual University of Waikato Writers' Residency (co-funded by Creative New Zealand) and the Sargeson Grimshaw Writing Fellowship.</li><li>Contributing staff in Screen and Media maintain international networks in scriptwriting and script development.</li><li>Staff maintain professional links with local and international organisations who coordinate, sponsor and enhance the interests of professional writing in Aotearoa New Zealand.</li></ul>Career OpportunitiesMPW graduates will have excellent transferable skills in devising, producing and editing text. If you include a formal internship in your programme of study or take up the option of informal professional mentoring, you will make connections in the professional writing community, and enhance your CV with relevant work experience.Potential careers include editing, long-form researched journalism, policy analysis and policy writing, report writing, script writing, speech writing, teaching, website content editing, writing for digital and broadcast media, writing for stage and screen, writing for travel and tourism and writing for public relations and marketing.Potential employers include biotechnology industries; cultural sector/arts organisations; energy provision sector; higher education sector; libraries and archives; local and district councils; manufacturing and technology; national government, NGOs; non-profit and philanthropic sector; primary industries; print and digital news media; publishing industry; telecommunications; theatre, film and broadcast media production houses; transport, tourism and travel.</div>

The only one of its kind in New Zealand, Waikato's Master of Professional Writing offers a research-led, strongly practice-based qualification in professional and creative writing.

Master of Professional Writing

<div>You'll complete Waikato's Master of Arts (Applied) (MA(Applied)) by studying papers on specialist topics. Your studies will give you the skills you need to work overseas. You might already be working in a different area of language teaching in New Zealand and are thinking about heading overseas, so you'd like to gain the qualification you need to do this.Some of the topics you'll study are specific to Waikato's MA(Applied). These topics include discourse analysis and teacher cognition studies. Another distinctive topic that's increasing in importance is the theory and concepts of English for academic purposes. When you study this topic, you'll learn how to teach students who are doing higher degrees and research, so you'll develop the skills you need to teach International students doing post-graduate education. You'll be completing a degree that was the first of its kind in New Zealand - the MA(Applied) was introduced in 1992, and was the first applied linguistics degree offered here.Career OpportunitiesWhere can your MA(Applied) degree take you? You'll be qualified to teach English in schools and universities in a number of countries. Past graduates have gone on to achieve in many different roles, from managing a language school to being involved in academic administration, from coordinating language courses to teaching in Universities, polytechs and English language centres in New Zealand. Our graduates have taken up opportunities at Universities in China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and Mongolia. Some graduates have managed ESOL units in New Zealand schools or worked in the educational publishing field.</div>

Are you interested in a career teaching English as a second language overseas, at University level? Some countries, such as those in Asia, require you to have a Masters level qualification to do this. Waikato's Master of Arts (Applied) provides you with the qualification you need.

Search Courses

Master of Arts (Applied)
Masters (Coursework)

Master of Professional Writing
Masters (Coursework)

Search Courses

Master of Arts (Applied)Masters (Coursework)

Master of Professional WritingMasters (Coursework)

Master of Arts (Applied)
Masters (Coursework)

Master of Professional Writing
Masters (Coursework)