There is no credible report that gives you the number of media schools in India. However, Shiksha.com, an education portal, has details of 1,169 mass communication and media colleges listed on its website. Together, they offer 3,859 courses. So, how do you decide the media school that is right for you?
Here are nine yardsticks that you should use to find the right media school:
#1. Faculty: Select a school whose Faculty has worked in the industry. You need teachers who can teach you how to write a news report, make a rundown chart, create a mobile video story or make a television commercial. Teachers who have never worked in a newspaper, television channel or advertising agency suffer from serious limitations. They can make you good academicians but they can’t make you media-ready.
#2. Infrastructure: Visit the school to check the infrastructure. Find out if the school has enough computers. Discuss the software used to teach media skills. Today, you cannot work in any media organisation unless you are proficient in software used by newspapers, websites, radio stations or television channels.
#3. Curriculum: Examine the curriculum minutely. Does the curriculum reflect today’s media requirements? Does it prepare you in the fields of New Media, Mobile Media, Social Media, Data Journalism etc? The media has changed dramatically in the last two decades. Avoid schools that have failed to keep pace with the changing technology.
#4. Student – Faculty ratio: Check the student-faculty ratio. Media schools where the student-faculty ratio is more than 1:12 lack the strength to provide skill-based education.
#5. Practical work: Find out if the school brings out student newspaper. If yes, what is the frequency, and what are the kinds of articles that students write. Check if the school encourages students to make mobile videos. Today, most communication has moved to videos. Schools that don’t teach this key skill are doing a great disservice to their students. Similarly, you must find out if the school teaches students to make TV news bulletins ar radio programmes.
#6. Nature of the programme: This is an extremely important question. Is the media school run by a university? If so, is the university recognised by UGC? If it is a non-University programme then you must be doubly careful. There are scores of media schools in India that are not recognised by a university. The post-graduate diplomas or certificates offered by them may have no validity. So, you may may spent a year at such a school but your education may be meaningless. When joining a private school you must verify its antecedents. Who is running it? What happens to the students who pass out?
#7. Placements: You should be most suspicious of media schools that guarantee placements. No school can guarantee jobs. The best that a school can do is to organise a job interview, either on the campus or in a company. Either way, it is your skills that will decide whether you get a job or not. Media is a merit-driven profession. Media houses are always looking for candidates who are bright, and have the right skills. Much also depends on vacancies. How can any company give you a job if there are no vacancies?
#8. Visiting faculty: Today, media is being driven by technology. Every media house is struggling to cope with changes introduced by a rapidly changing technology. This makes life very difficult for the faculty. They don’t know how to teach the emerging media models. Some media schools have got over this limitation by hiring adjunct faculty, which comes from the industry, or inviting visiting faculty on a regular basis. You must check the credentials of the visiting faculty. Are they the top professionals in their field? Do they work in media houses that are in the forefront of change? What is their background?
#9. Check with ex-students: Before taking a decision, you must try and meet a couple of current students or students who have passed out. They can provide you the right answers.
Please remember that the profession needs students who can work from day one. That is why your future lies in finding the right media school.
Read earlier report: 7 tips to find the right media school
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