Growing Attraction
Media institutions in the country are competing with each other to offer most resourceful and professional media education
By Dil Bahadur Basnet
Nepal Manawiki Campus (NMC), previously known as Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, is located at a stone’s throw away from busy bus park in the heart of Kathmandu . It is the oldest institution among three run by Tribhuvan University (TU) that has been offering journalism course in intermediate, bachelor’s and master’s level since 1976, 1982 and 2001 respectively.
The strength of the media institution could be evaluated from the quantity, and more importantly, quality of resources it owns. Since no institution is able to boast of enough resources, the requirement of ‘learning the art of resourceful use of resources’ is urgently felt.
According to Badri Poudyal, acting head, department of journalism at the NMC, “The department is in dire need of latest infrastructures so that our students would not be deprived of practical classes.”
The students say, almost in chorus, “There are no resources we can be proud of, other than resource persons. Our achievement entirely rests on our self endeavors.”
There are private media institutions emerging to meet the needs of media manpower. One such institution is the Kantipur City College (KCC), which has been conducting the master’s level in mass communication since 2001. It offers upgraded instructional facilities, and unrivalled learning resources ranging from laboratories (computer, photography, and audio & visual) to library with 500 books on media, and online service.
To quote Ram Krishna Regmi, chief, “It is not being run with all the necessary chattels but all the basic resources are available. However, we are on the way to enable students become independent by learning from library and citations by teachers.”
There is yet another College of Journalism and Mass Communication (CJMC) that specializes on media studies in Bachelor’s and Master’s levels. Launched in January 2002, the Shepherd College of Media Technology (SCMT), has FM studio, digital photo studio, computers, library consisting of around 1000 books, and collaboration with international media institutions.
“I am nothing without resource persons,” opined Dr. Manju Mishra, Founder Director.
Technological familiarity is indispensable to keep up with the pace for living in this world of globalization. To serve this objective, SCMT was set up in 2002. Currently, the SCMT runs Bachelor of Media Technology (BMT).
The media and technology centre is set with state-of-the-art computer and projection technology, and labs (video filming, editing, radio, photography, learning assistance etc.).
If there is any university running journalism besides TU, it is Kathmandu University (KU), which is TU’s only rival. It has commenced 4-year Bachelor in Media Studies under the DLMC from 2006. The DLMC Head Dr. Junga Bahadur Chauhan is of the view that it is going to meet all the resources of international standards before the first batch comprising of 16 students reaches the very stage.
Nobel Academy Higher Secondary School (NAHSS) is among many higher secondary schools carrying out MC in the 11th and 12th grades since 2002 with approximately 100 books on media, computer lab, a resource person, and 2-3 guest speakers.
“Students became indifferent to Business Journalism when offered in Management Faculty,” said Narendra Sharma, Vice-Principal, “The institution is going to launch BA with majors in Journalism and English, and enhance resources accordingly.”
Needless to say, media training institutions are contributing pragmatic lessons to trainees. Nepal Press Institute (NPI) is a pioneer in media education and services that has been running short/long term trainings since its inception in 1984.
The NPI houses a wide range of materials/equipments, publicizes a monthly electronic bulletin, and brings out media books (22 publications so far).
“At a time when media colleges are mushrooming mainly with theoretical approaches, the NPI is purely oriented towards imparting ample practical knowledge to generate professional manpower. We are marching ahead to learn all about the trend of Nepalese media by mobilizing our three regional resource centers,” observed Bishnu Prasad Sharma, Executive Director.
Nevertheless, the authorities concerned admit that there are merely limited resources (e.g. printing press, TV studio, IPOD system unavailable) in their institutions. And most of the resources available are not commensurate with the prevalent media. All the institutions except the DJMC of NMC have internet connectivity in their computers. The latter, therefore, has to gear up a lot to compete with private media institutions.
(Basnet is an internee)
