TOMSK, Jul 17 - RIA Tomsk, Elena Taylasheva. A new master's degree program in international journalism opened at Tomsk State University (TSU). Who will teach students of this specific profession, why geography has ceased to be a decisive factor in it and what local projects may be of interest to the whole world - in the material of RIA Tomsk.
Tomsk - is not the outskirts
More recently, international journalism in Russia was associated mainly with the specialized faculty of MGIMO and was a kind of "closed club".
But, according to the TSU, digital technologies and globalization processes have forever changed the situation: today it is no longer necessary to go to the capital to get an education in this area and create high-quality media projects that will be interesting to readers all over the world.
“Our students gain greater mobility, disperse around the country and the world, can realize themselves in the international media, and we must give appropriate education to them. All this led to the idea of opening a new master's degree program”, - says Ilya Myasnikov, the dean of the TSU Faculty of Journalism.
Confidence in success to the Faculty of Journalism add its multimedia projects which are popular in the international environment.
Thus, the project "Selkups. Save as ..." about one of the indigenous peoples of the Tomsk region, including photo stories, documentaries, digital reporting with elements of virtual reality, received five international awards in competitions (for example, SND Best of Digital Design), where it was on the same list with The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, National Geographic.
Among successful competition projects of the past years - are the digital report “Inner Estonia” about the life of Estonian immigrants in Siberia, mobile applications “City Birds” and “University of People” (the edition about TSU).
"Tomsk has changed, now there are several times more foreign students studying here than before. This is an opportunity to create the international team, without leaving the academic building, and to make projects that are interesting in various parts of the world", - says Vasily Vershinin, the developer of the master's program.
World specialist
According to Vasily Vershinin, the master's program is created jointly with the Faculty of Historical and Political Studies of TSU.
"The subjects related to the international relations are read by professors who have been successfully preparing international affairs specialists for many years", - he stresses. These are, for example, courses in the history and theory of international relations, world politics, conflict management, and Russian foreign policy.
Teachers of Faculty of Journalism will teach disciplines related directly to the organization and “packaging” of the project - design thinking, data journalism, multimedia storytelling, promotion, and so on. The TASS news agency and University of Leeds (Great Britain) also became partners of the program, their staff will conduct courses and give individual lectures.
Russian and English groups are formed in the magistracy.
Which specialist employers will receive at the end? Ilya Myasnikov explains:
“This is a person who, on the one hand, deeply understands the international agenda. On the other hand - he has the tools to create a media project. It’s not enough just to write a high-quality text - it is necessary to think about a strong visual component (photography, video), its promotion in social networks. Then it is possible to get really global audience".
"It is the person, on the one hand, who is deeply understanding the international agenda. With another – possessing tools for creation of the media project. It is insufficiently simple to write the qualitative text – it is necessary to think over a strong visual component (the photo, video), its advance in social networks. Then it is possible to receive really global audience".
