Planning Systems Services Limited Managing Director Trevor Andrews (left) explains to The Aga Khan the architectural plan of the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications on July 27, 2011.
Photo/FREDRICK ONYANGO/NATION Planning Systems Services Limited Managing Director Trevor Andrews (left) explains to The Aga Khan the architectural plan of the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications on July 27, 2011. Prime Minister Raila Odinga was at the foundation ceremony. Looking on is Mr Zully Kassam (centre), Facilities Development Manager at the school.
By LUCAS BARASA lbarassa@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, July 27 2011 at 22:30
A new graduate school that will offer postgraduate media and communication training was launched in Nairobi on Wednesday.
The Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications seeks to provide quality journalism training and promote media research and entrepreneurship.
The first batch of students will be admitted in 2014. Prime Minister Raila Odinga presided over the foundation ceremony in Westlands, Nairobi’, on Wednesday. He was with the The Aga Khan, the chancellor of the university.
The media school will lay emphasis on multi-media integration and innovation, media management, specialised reporting and research. It will also have a centre for media entrepreneurship.
The courses will focus on ethics and independence, professionalism and social responsibility.
The Aga Khan said the school will offer journalists skills to project stories correctly and reflect the true image of Africa.
He added that the courses will be market-driven and help redress challenges facing the media in the developing world.
Through quality training, the institution will provide competencies to enhance reportage of Africa’s issues and reduce reliance on Western news agencies.
The Aga Khan said quality media can transform the continent and that past lessons must be reviewed and re-applied as new technologies are adapted.
“In earlier days, the absence of media freedom promoted poverty and misrule. Today, the media have become a critical tool in Africa’s economic and political transformation,” the PM said.
The focus on multimedia platforms and entrepreneurship, Mr Odinga said, will open up more opportunities for journalists and investors.
“We need African graduates of the highest quality who understand both the technology and the market place, and who can become visionary media managers,” Mr Odinga said.
A new graduate school of media and communications is being set up at the Aga Khan University campus in Nairobi, Kenya, and will be ready next year. His Highness the Aga Khan, Chancellor of Aga Khan University and founder of the Nation Media Group made the announcement at the opening ceremony of the Pan Africa media conference held in Nairobi in March to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the NMG. The Aga Khan stated that the school will be dedicated to advancing excellence in media performance and the strengthening of ethical media practices throughout the developing world.
“The school will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality,” he said. The school will also create a forum on the future of the media, which will be “a place for conducting and disseminating cutting edge research that will help shape public communication in the decades ahead.”
The Aga Khan observed that journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report, adding that a new generation of African media entrepreneurs could well be born from the school’s programmes which will blend economic and media disciplines.
The School will have several components; a Master’s degree programme, serving recent university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists; continuing education classes.
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Please also see Related Material:
New Graduate School of Media and Communications Launched at Aga Khan University in Kenya
Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan
Nairobi, 27 July 2011 - Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of Media and Communications in Nairobi was launched at a foundation stone ceremony held in the presence of Prime Minister Raila Odinga and His Highness the Aga Khan. The School, which will begin accepting students in 2014, is dedicated to educating media leaders – and fostering media institutions – who will advance the highest standards of competence, ethics, professionalism and social responsibility in their industry.
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