Call For 'Stand Alone' Journalism Course At USP
By Taniela Gavidi
SUVA (Wansolwara/Pacific Media Watch): The University of the South Pacific's former journalism coordinator, Dev
Nadkarni, says journalism should be a stand-alone programme and not part of the Department of Literature and Language.
Nadkarni¹s comments appear in the April issue of the programme¹s quarterly newspaper, Wansolwara.
Nadkarni, who left the university last month after 15 months as the coordinator, said it was rare to find a journalism
programme in a school of study that had little to do with communication arts and technologies.
Writing in the paper¹s Fourth Estate column, journalism lecturer Shailendra Singh notes that this year marks the
programme¹s 10th anniversary.
He says it is a milestone worth commemorating given the achievements and progress made by the programme.
But he says a "disturbing trend² is the preponderance of Fiji graduates in the last 10 years 67 per cent - which was
"unacceptable" for a regional journalism programme.
He pays tribute to those who contributed to the programme¹s development, such as the founding coordinator, Francois
Turmel and New Zealander David Robie, who succeeded him.
He also highlights the role of the French government in providing funding to get the programme off the ground in 1994,
and for its continued support.
Eight working journalists joined the programme this year.
With plenty of experience between them, these journalists told Wansolwara that they wanted to attain tertiary
qualifications in order to be recognised as professionals and to command better working conditions.
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