Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, India

Eligibility

Details of the ACJ's academic course and activities can be accessed at its web site: http://www.asianmedia.org/admissions/overview.asp

SAF Madanjeet Singh scholars of class 2002/03 with N.Ram, Trustee, MDF, Madanjeet Singh, SAF Founder and Sashi Kumar, Chairman, MDF.

In an innovative move designed to promote regional cooperation, the South Asia Foundation (SAF) has instituted 16 full scholarships for young people from the seven SAARC countries to study at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai.

Scholarships will be awarded to a young woman and a young man with a passion for journalism, from each of the seven SAARC countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The SAF Madanjeet Singh scholars from each SAARC country will be selected by the SAF Chairperson, assisted by the respective Advisory Board, of that country.

The scholarships will cover the tuition, living and travel costs of the selected students for the duration of the ACJ's ten-month post-graduate diploma course in journalism. The students can choose to study in one of the two media streams offered by the ACJ: the Print Media and Broadcast Media streams.

Founded by UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Madanjeet Singh, the South Asia Foundation is a secular, non-profit and non-political youth movement of regional cooperation through Information Technology-based education and development among SAARC countries.

The Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, set up and administered by the Media Development Foundation (MDF), a public and non-profit sharing trust, seeks to promote excellence in journalism by equipping aspiring modern journalists in India, South Asia and Asia at large with the capabilities to achieve world-class standards in the profession.

While emphasising the state-of-the-art in terms of technical and professional practice, the ACJ is committed to fostering the cardinal virtues and core values of journalisrn as a serious, independent, investigative, socially responsible and ethical profession.

The ACJ has professional linkages with reputed journalism education institutions in the United Kingdorn and the United States.

In addition to an accomplished and experienced core faculty, the ACJ has a number of Indian and international visiting scholars who are experts in their field.

Reporting and writing are the central disciplines of the ACJ journalism education programme. Students are introduced to the tools of the modern journalist, including computer-assisted reporting; to the key issues in journalism through a series of expert lectures; to history and characteristics of the media; and to laws relating to the media, focussing on their professional and social implications.

Engaging with and covering Deprivation is a distinctive part of the ACJ curriculum.

The ACJ Print stream has been recast to, incorporate a strong digital and online (or new media) component. Training in this stream takes students through lectures, classroom writing and outside reporting assignments during which they are taught how to gather news and how to report it in the clear, tight English required for newspaper readers. Students acquire the technical fire power necessary for journalisrn in the new media.

In the ACJ Broadcast stream students engage in the whole range of studio and field work for television news and news-related programming.

They acquire skills in news preparation and presentation; anchoring; interviewing and reporting on camera; and researching and scripting docu-features.

They also gain practical experience in camera work, video digital linear and non-linear editing. A unique offering in this stream is an intensive, hands-on course, through a trimester, in broadcast journalism conceived and run by BBC Worldwide and taught by an experienced BBC instructor.

Competence in oral and written communication in English is a prerequisite for admission to the ACJ programme. English is the medium of instruction and students are expected to complete all assignments in English.