Government College University Lahore has announced the establishment of the Department of Media and Communication Studies, which will offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programmes.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Asghar Zaidi, said the University will open admissions for BS (Hons) Media and Communication Studies this year in the fall of 2021. “GCU has been offering Mass Communication as a minor subject since 2002 and now realize its importance, we need to create a comprehensive department of media and communication studies,” he said.
“The media form perceptions and shape ideas. We reproduce the models of the best universities for recent reforms and new departments. For media studies, we followed the pattern of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Amsterdam, the vice-chancellor said.
In the BS Media Studies program, the department will offer specialization in three areas: Journalism; film, television and radio production; and new media, advertising and public relations. While postgraduate programs would focus on integrating media creation into academic work.
Professor Asghar Zaidi said: “The sudden increase in the use of new media platforms requires academic attention and training. Therefore, we wish to produce graduates who could lead the new media industry which has reached US$300 billion”
He added that through images, sounds and videos, our media students would be better prepared to analyze this fragmented but globalized world. “We aim to set high standards of ethics, creativity, research and scholarship in media studies. The department is also setting up a state-of-the-art multimedia studio which will help students in practical training during their program,” he said.