MASS COMMUNICATION
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MASS COMMUNICATION
New Delhi
Last year, when 24-year-old Ashish Kumar, a resident of Basti in Uttar Pradesh, got admission in Hindi journalism course at the Indian Institute of Mass Com mu ni ca 3,75,000. ti on( I I MC) in Delhi, it was a dream come true for him. “Being trained by professionals from the media industry was a great experience,” he says about the course. Ashish had barely completed the training when he was offered a job by Navbharat Times of the Times Group with an annual pay package of Rs
Aarti, 26, another student of Hindi journalism, says, “The institute focuses on practical training and industry exposure instead of mere theory. Experts from the media world constitute our guest faculty and apart from classroom schedules, students are sent for reporting, publish newspapers, and produce radio and television programmes.”
The IIMC’s state-of-the-art infrastructure includes a community radio station, a community radio and research centre, television studios, computer labs, auditorium, a library of 34,000 books and
journals, which, the institute claims, is the largest collection of study material on mass communication. Add to this a lush green campus, adjacent to the Jawaharlal Nehru University and very close to the Sanjay Van in south Delhi.
The IIMC opened more than six decades ago on August 17, 1965. Inaugurated by the then Information and Broadcasting minister Indira Gandhi, its initial years were limited to training central information service officers and a few research studies. Today, the institute offers eight post graduate diploma courses in radio and television journalism, advertising and public relations, journalism in English, Hindi, Odia, Marathi, Malayalam and Urdu. Apart from its New Delhi campus, which trains 250 students annually, the institute has regional centres at Dhenkanal in Odisha, Aizawl in Mizoram, Amravati in Maharashtra, Kottayam in Kerala and Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir). A total of 430 seats are available for students across all the centres for the academic session 2018-19.
According to IIMC directorgeneral K.G. Suresh, the 2017-18 session saw a rise of 45 per cent in the number of application forms submitted at the institute during admission. Around 6,500 students sought admission to various courses for the 2017-18 session. This indicates
that for those wanting a career in media, IIMC is the number one choice.
Suresh says, “Today, everyone talks about recession in the media industry, but, we, on the contrary, have seen wellknown media companies visiting us for campus recruitment. Around 85 per cent of our students have been offered jobs during the placement sessions.” Last year, all the students were successful in getting jobs, according to Suresh. It is evident that the media industry gives preference to IIMC students during their recruitments.
Take the case of 21-year-old Anjalideep, a student of advertising and public relations. He is preparing himself for a job interview at the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO). According to him, this year, the maximum annual package offered to students in this course is Rs. 13 lakh that was offered by Tata Steel to two AD & PR students. Around 85 per cent of students have got jobs in companies that have offered Rs 3.5-13 lakh annual pay package.
Suresh says, “We are the only institute that encourages journalism in different languages. Here, journalism courses in Hindi, Odia, Malayalam, Marathi and Urdu not only teach the importance of the language, but also the history of journalism in that language. Further, the institute continuously monitors the changing trends of mass communication and keeps improving and adopting new techniques. For example, it has launched the new media and IT department two years ago on May 20, 2016.”
“We teach students different trends and aspects of the new media,” says Anubhuti Yadav, head of the new media and IT department. She adds that the department is identifying skill gaps through research so as to known what the students are being taught and what is the requirement of the media industry.
The institute also encourages students to establish their own community radio stations. Talking about the other features, Suresh says, “Together with the UNICEF, Oxford University and Thomson Reuter Foundation, we have also started a critical appraisal skills programme called Public Health Communication Programme. It has been included in all courses. Thus, the students are exposed to the health communication module as per international standards.”
He also points out that the institute conducts a four-month-long development journalism course for professions of nonaligned and developing countries. The course is organised under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and the Special Commonwealth African Assistant Plan (SCAAP) of the ministry of external affairs. So far, 1,600 mid-career journalists from 128 countries have been trained under this programme.
IIMC has produced several big names of the media industry such as Supriya Prasad, Nidhi Razdan, Sudhir Choudhary and Deepak Chaurasia. Former student and
founder of NGO Goonj Ashu Gupta has been awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award.
The institute is also a training centre for the Indian Information Service (IIS) and the armed forces. It provides a two-year training programme for IIS officers and short-term courses for other central and state officials. Suresh explains, “The importance of government communication has increased many fold in recent times. The government is paying a lot of attention to communicate with the people. Hence, Government Communication is a part of our course.”
The institute has also applied to the University Grants Commission (UGC) seeking a deemed university status. Suresh hopes, “We will soon get the much sought after status and will be able to offer MPhil and PhD along with a PG degree.”