Abstract

There have been studies and scholarly works on journalism education, with particular reference to journalism curriculum and its interface with journalism practice since the institutionalization of journalism education in Africa. However, very few studies have been done on the entry requirements and admission processes at various training institutions across Africa and in Nigeria particularly, despite an increase in the number of applications to journalism schools as compared to the available vacancies in most universities and other institutions that offer programme in journalism and mass communication. Consequently, this study was to ascertain standards and processes of admiting journalism students in Africa, and establish correlation and disparity between such standards and those in use in Nigeria. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) online Nigerian Journalism Schools database was used to analyse the various entry requirements for all the UNESCO accredited journalism training centres. Also, an online survey was conducted on a sample of UNESCO potential Centres of Excellence and Reference to identify the definition of a good student at the point of admission.  Commonalities, divergences and the causes thereof were examined in order to provide insights into the Nigerian journalism educator’s understandings of good journalism students and hence good journalism. Finally, the paper offered recommendations on the admission standards and processes that can be adopted by journalism schools in Nigeria.

Key Words: Journalism, Journalism Programmes, Training Institutions, Selection Procedures, Entry Requirements.

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 5, No. 1, April 2013, 93 – 100  

©Delmas Communications Ltd.

About the author

*Muyiwa Popoola is a Lecturer of Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Communication and Media Studies, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Full Article

Words: 3,546; Pages: 8