Admissions begin at the Delhi School of Journalism

The newly set up School of Journalism at the University of Delhi (DU) is inviting applications for its flagship offering, a bachelor’s degree in journalism. The programme which has been started this year is intended as a five-year integrated programme with students having the option to exit after three years with just a bachelor’s degree. “We envisage this as an integrated Bachelor’s and Master’s programme but whatever seats are vacated by those exiting in the third year will be thrown open to other graduates,” said Manasvini M Yogi, officer on special duty at the School.

Currently, six colleges in DU offer a similar programme called BA Journalism. However, of these six, only two—Delhi College of Arts and Commerce as well as Maharaja Agrasen College—are co-educational. “One of the key reasons for introducing this programme is to provide more opportunities to boys who want to pursue journalism but can’t apply to girls’ colleges and even in the co-ed colleges, the total number of seats is generally limited,” explains Yogi.

The journalism programme will be delivered in both English and Hindi with an intake of 60 seats each.

Candidates with an aggregate score of 50% are eligible to apply for the programme till September 8. Admission will be based on a two-hour entrance test scheduled for September 17. “Candidates will be tested on general knowledge, current affairs and logical reasoning, among others,” said Yogi. The test paper will have 100 multiple-choice questions and will be of 400 marks. There will be a negative deduction of one mark per incorrect answer.

The classes will be held at the Cluster Innovation Centre. “The plan is to make the best possible use of existing resources for starting off though upgrades, especially in the case of infrastructure, will follow,” said Yogi. Facilities such as multimedia laboratories will be added in due course of time. “Students will be introduced to editing in the first year and Mac systems have been procured for the same while additional equipment for other papers will be acquired in some time,” she added.

The lectures will mostly be delivered by guest faculty as well as the existing pool of professors teaching journalism at other colleges.

According to Yogi, an updated curriculum based on the feedback from students and faculty of existing journalism programmes has been designed. Apart from theoretical, practical and research components, students will also study one foreign and one Indian language across ten semesters. “In a competitive market, advanced knowledge of a non-native language will provide students with an edge and enhance their employability,” said Yogi.

The first batch of the integrated course will graduate in 2022. Admission for the Master’s programme on the vacant seats in 2020 is also to be likely conducted through a test.