Date: 15 December 2016
Author: Wu Shaomin, Chen Feng
Published by: Nanfang Daily

JNU's School of Journalism and Communication held commemorative activities on Dec 10 to mark its 70th anniversary. As one of the first three journalism schools in China, it has cultivated over 6,000 talents in journalism and communication.

Journalism education at JNU can be traced back to 1928, when Ye Gongchao, a representative of the Xinyue School of modern Chinese poetry and then head of Department of Foreign Literature, was the first to advocate journalism education. The journalism department was established in 1946 when JNU moved back to Shanghai. In the new century, the department was upgraded to the School of Journalism and Communication in 2001, and five years later it was authorized to confer Ph.D. degrees in journalism, entering a period of "rapid acceleration".

With the guiding principle of "basing itself upon South China; radiating all across the country; facing Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; and influencing Southeast Asia", the school currently offers bachelor's degree programs in journalism, advertising, broadcasting and television, broadcasting and hosting, network and new media (taught in English), and international news. Its faculty includes 25 professors, 23 associate professors, 14 doctoral tutors and 28 master tutors. Major research fields include theories and history of journalism and communication, history of journalism and communication, as well as the public opinion and social management program, known as the Academic Center for South China Media.

Statistics show the school has undertaken many kinds of National Social Science Major Programs for tackling key problems, including more than 60 research projects sponsored by country or government and 40 sponsored by enterprises; published more than 40 monographs and textbooks and over 600 academic papers; opened a national high-quality resources sharing course and a national high-quality open online course; and received 12 Humanities and Social Sciences Achievement Awards from Guangdong Province or the Ministry of Education and two China News Awards, with four of its textbooks selected into National Planned Teaching Materials.

The school has nurtured more than 6,000 graduates for home and abroad, particularly for South China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Some have become heads of party and government organizations or news media, renowned entrepreneurs, or winners of the China News Award, the China's 100 Outstanding Journalists Award or the Cannes International Festival of Creativity Lions Award. More than 400 Jinan alumni now work in Hong Kong media and have established the JNU Fellow Students Association in Hong Kong. Nearly 80 percent Macao news and media practitioners graduated from JNU.