How Tribhuvan University Can Bridge Theory, Technology, and Practice in Media Education
As students undertake their journey towards higher education, the hope of developing professional skills for a successful career is a shared aspiration. For those, pursuing Journalism at Tribhuvan University, the question appears indistinctly, is the current journalism curriculum adequate to fulfill the expectations of aspirants?
Tribhuvan University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Nepal. The faculty of Humanities and Social Science of the University offers a Journalism and Mass Communication course. The span of the course is four years. It focuses on providing a theoretical and conceptual understanding of journalism. It also covers different aspects of mass communication: history, principles, code of conduct of journalism, journalistic laws and policies, etc. Furthermore, the course of study includes media research, public relations, advertising, new media, and media writing. The curriculum of journalism also tends to familiarize students with the scope of media organization and management issues.
Although the existing curriculum covers various perspectives of journalism, it is expected that Tribhuvan University provides expertise on new media through an advanced curriculum. Online Journalism has been taking over the traditional form of journalism through the advanced utilization of the latest technology. Students of this era need to acquire command over the latest technological skills. Students of this era are enthusiastic to acquire skills like graphic design, video production and editing, search engine optimization, and algorithms to thrive in the field of new media. Tribhuvan University should now focus on providing students with photography skills and other above-mentioned technological skills.
The emergence of new media has brought various challenges for journalists. Credibility crisis, speed v/s quality, information overload, generation of disinformation through A.I generated content like deepfake are some of the major challenges. As time demands, Tribhuvan University must focus on making students digitally literate and aware of the ethical boundaries of journalism profession. Students of journalism must be able to use fact-checking mechanisms to avoid generating fake news. Furthermore, the course should enable students to go through the process of verification. Tribhuvan University is expected to prepare responsible journalists for the nation who can revive the credibility of online journalism. But is it doing enough to meet this expectation?
Students also expect various practical approaches like workshops that encourage entrepreneurship. Along with media writing, web designing and preparing reports, Tribhuvan University must assign students to participate in different journalistic workshops. Workshop focusing on investigative reporting techniques, data visualization, ethical decision making and crafting compelling narrative will help develop mastery in journalism. Such workshops will also enable students to gain a practical understanding of effective media writing and distribution of media content. Moreover, the syllabus of journalism should encourage internships at media organizations. The internship program provides confidence, mentorship and job experience. Internships also enable students of journalism to develop skills and discover career options for themselves. Tribhuvan University is expected to include an internship as one of the practical works to develop professional skills and networks.
Rather than producing only media professionals, Tribhuvan University is also expected to focus on producing media entrepreneurs. Adding real-world projects will allow students to create journalistic business plans. Real-world projects like community journalism, fact fact-checking programs will allow students to generate ideas to establish and run their own media organization. Furthermore, interdisciplinary approaches like economics, marketing, psychology, environment, and political science should be included to help the media industry function independently without being influenced by political or business interests.
Overall, the journalism course at Tribhuvan University will meet the expectations of students if the curriculum is improvised by combining the theoretical foundation and practical skills along with the latest technological aspects. Such improvisation will familiarize students with current technology and encourage entrepreneurship.
[Timalsina is a student of Journalism and Mass Communication at Jaya Multiple Campus.]
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