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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020 — 37<br />
Dr. Charles Oni Dr. Yinka Alawode Dr. Jide Jimoh<br />
Unbundling of Mass Communication long<br />
over due — Experts<br />
RECENTLY, the National Universities Commission, NUC,<br />
announced the unbundling of the study of Mass Communication<br />
into seven different programmes. Vanguard sought the opinions<br />
of some experts on the matter and their opinion was the same -<br />
policy desirable.<br />
Head of Department, Mass Communication, Yaba College of<br />
Technology, Yabatech, Dr. Charles Oni, described the step as a way<br />
of securing the future of the industry. He also said it came as result<br />
of the concerted efforts of regulatory bodies and various<br />
stakeholders in the sector that began some years ago.<br />
By Elizabeth Uwandu & Glory<br />
Ojojo<br />
HOW do you see the<br />
decision of the NUC to<br />
unbundle the study of Mass<br />
Communication?<br />
Permit me to say that the<br />
unbundling of Mass<br />
Communication was a concerted<br />
efforts of Mass Communication<br />
scholars, industry experts and<br />
regulatory organizations in the<br />
communication industry, such as<br />
the NIPR, APCON, NUJ, BON,<br />
NGE, and Nigerian<br />
Communications Commission that<br />
sat for over two years to brainstorm<br />
on the future of the industry and<br />
eventually unfolded the unbundling<br />
scheme to the NUC in February<br />
2019. The NUC is to spearhead the<br />
campaign being the content<br />
regulator in the university system.<br />
The unbundling is a welcome<br />
development as it is capable of<br />
further sharpening the skills of<br />
future communicators, and enhance<br />
human resources development in<br />
the university system.<br />
As things are, there is none of the<br />
seven new courses that is not<br />
capable of sustaining stand alone<br />
status - Journalism & Media<br />
Studies, Public Relations,<br />
Advertising, Development<br />
Communication, Film and<br />
Cinematography, etc. All these are<br />
courses that were hitherto taught<br />
superficially before at the<br />
undergraduate level. Only those<br />
who pursue postgraduate studies in<br />
Mass Communication have full<br />
glimpse of the courses depending<br />
on their areas of specialization.<br />
Are Nigerian universities<br />
prepared for the unbundling?<br />
I doubt if any university can start<br />
wholesale immediately because of<br />
the enormous resources required to<br />
put studios and laboratories in<br />
place. One good thing is the latitude<br />
given each institution to key in when<br />
ready. Good enough, they have to<br />
invite the NUC for resource and<br />
advisory visits before they can fully<br />
unbundle. One positive aspect<br />
again is the employment<br />
opportunity and training inherent<br />
in the new scheme. To a large extent,<br />
if the road map prepared by the 76<br />
wise men is followed to the letter,<br />
the universities would be better<br />
equipped, better empowered and<br />
funded under the scheme.<br />
Otherwise, I am of the opinion, not<br />
••‘Our varsities capable of handling development’<br />
By Elizabeth Uwandu<br />
AN Associate Professor, Mass<br />
Communication (Broadcasting),<br />
Lagos State University, LASU,<br />
Ojo, Dr Yinka Alawode, said Nigerian<br />
universities are capable of handling<br />
the new development.<br />
He appealed to the government<br />
and owners of universities to provide<br />
adequate funding and facilities<br />
for the take off of the scheme.<br />
What is the timeline for the programmes<br />
to start?<br />
No deadline, no date. Each university<br />
is to decide what it wants and<br />
when it wants to start running these<br />
programmes. It is just that NUC has<br />
made it public and it has sent it to<br />
the universities.<br />
Are Nigerian universities capable<br />
of starting these seven courses<br />
distinctively?<br />
They are capable. If you go to the<br />
University of Lagos, UNILAG today,<br />
it has a Film Unit supported by maybe<br />
the World Bank. They have<br />
mounted Film and Digital Media<br />
Studies, so UNILAG was to start like<br />
that but people in Nigeria turned it<br />
around. What we are saying now is<br />
that at the Lagos State University<br />
now, we have BSC Mass Communication.<br />
But you know we have<br />
three departments already existing<br />
in LASU, there are: Broadcasting;<br />
Journalism and Public Relations<br />
and Advertising. The only thing is<br />
that we only have that structure under<br />
the table.<br />
It is BSc Mass Comm, it is BSc we<br />
offer and we do not even put the parenthesis<br />
in your certificate, saying<br />
your specialisation is PRAD or Journalism<br />
which we should have actually<br />
done. But that was because the<br />
design then was that be silent on anything<br />
specialisation.<br />
So, everyone is a generalisimo, a<br />
bit of Journalism, a bit of Broadcasting.<br />
A bit of PRAD, a bit of Publishing,<br />
a bit of Human Communication,<br />
a bit of Digital Communication,<br />
among others. But now we are<br />
saying let us go back that if you want<br />
to specialise in Photo-journalism,<br />
stay there, you will still have a bit of<br />
all others, but your own area from<br />
the time you enter from year one is<br />
Photo-journalism.<br />
That is specialisation, you will start<br />
with BSc Photo-journalism and graduate<br />
with that. That does not mean<br />
you do not have an idea of journalism<br />
or that you cannot function as a<br />
Broadcaster.<br />
What informed this decision to<br />
change the narrative to unbundle<br />
Mass Communication into seven<br />
courses or programmes?<br />
Look at it this way, when our students<br />
finish now, they go to National<br />
Broadcasting Academy to learn presentation<br />
and others. If from day one<br />
you are in BSc Broadcasting, all<br />
those ones are given. You must know<br />
them inside out. But now, it is not<br />
possible because the curriculum is<br />
so broad and you cannot possibly<br />
learn everything within the BSC<br />
area.<br />
As you are supposed to be generalisimo<br />
of everything and shallow in<br />
one. Now, we want you to be a generalisimo<br />
in one thing, know everything<br />
about one thing indepthly and know<br />
little in so many other things in Communication.<br />
If you are into Accounting,<br />
you can put Accounting with other<br />
subjects and call it Financial Accounting/Management.<br />
So that you learn a bit of Banking,<br />
a bit of Accounting, a bit of Marketing<br />
etc, but instead of doing it that<br />
many universities can unbundle their<br />
current scheme in the next two years.<br />
When would the directive take<br />
effect?<br />
There is no deadline set. Both the<br />
think tank behind the new scheme<br />
and the NUC knew huge resources<br />
would be needed to provide<br />
equipment, hire teachers, and<br />
replace outmoded facilities as well<br />
as restructure the faculties hosting<br />
the courses before takeoff. So, it is<br />
not a scheme that could be<br />
established or enforced by fiat. This<br />
goes to correct insinuations that<br />
Mass Comm has been canceled and<br />
similar headlines in the news media.<br />
They are farther from the truth.<br />
Nobody cancelled Mass<br />
Communication as a field of study.<br />
What will happen to students<br />
currently studying Mass<br />
Communication?<br />
They will continue with their<br />
course of study until their<br />
institutions meet the criteria for<br />
NUC’s resource inspection.<br />
What are the implications of<br />
the new scheme?<br />
The unbundling demands new<br />
curricula to ensure all universities<br />
involved are on the same page with<br />
regard to courses taught. For long,<br />
each university had run its Mass<br />
Communication programme as<br />
pleased. This accounted for some<br />
institutions awarding Bachelor of<br />
Arts and some Bachelor of Science,<br />
and of course, Master of Arts/Science<br />
respectively. With the new scheme,<br />
each university would teach the same<br />
courses and host the programmes<br />
under same faculty. This will enhance<br />
inter varsity transfer and put students<br />
in same stead. The unbundling will<br />
naturally demand human resources<br />
rearrangement.<br />
Each university would need to<br />
improve on their staff development<br />
and increase spending on facilities<br />
improvement. Students are likely to<br />
have deeper insights into the narrow<br />
disciplines they have chosen. The<br />
Continues on page 30<br />
way, Accounting is a degree programme<br />
on its own. As a degree holder<br />
in Accounting, you have a bit of<br />
Insurance, a bit of Taxation among<br />
others. There is no big deal about it.<br />
School of Communication, Lagos<br />
State University actually started a<br />
school with seven departments. But<br />
collapsed because of NUC did not<br />
have the benchmark.<br />
Now, NUC has the benchmark for<br />
all of these areas. It has published it<br />
and made it public to all of the universities<br />
so that they can implement<br />
it at their own time and with their<br />
own resources. So as a university, if<br />
you have resources for one, just take<br />
one. If you have resources for two,<br />
take two. That is what it is. And when<br />
you go abroad, you will see that you<br />
do not have a university taking everything.<br />
They may take one or two or even<br />
three. And for crying out loud, that is<br />
not all, there is still the need for<br />
School of Entrepreneur in Communication.<br />
School of Fashion is also<br />
an area in Communication. All of<br />
these small areas are there and were<br />
not even touched. They will later become<br />
an Institute or a Centre.