BU combines departments to keep up with journalism
BANGKOK UNIVERSITY (BU) has denied reports that it is going to stop teaching journalism and says it is merging departments to meet the changing news-presentation landscape.
“It’s just that we will merge the Journalism Department with the Broadcasting Department. Following the merging, this unit will be called the Broadcasting and Digital Journalism Department,” Peerachai Kerdsint, the dean of BU School of Communication Arts, explained yesterday.
He said the move was in line with the changing news-presentation landscape and aimed to ensure students are equipped with up-to-date skills.
“The merging will facilitate the sharing of knowledge between what used to be two different departments,” he added.
He said students at the newly combined department will have opportunities to acquire a wider scope of skills as the department will focus on the content-based approach, rather than platform-based.
“The current market wants persons who can produce appropriate content for all platforms,” Peerachai said.
Mana Treelayapewat, who teaches at the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce’s School of Communication Arts, commented on his Facebook page that journalism still answered to the needs of society.
But he said that the number of journalism students at both state and private universities had reduced probably because young people associated “journalism” with printed media such as magazines and newspapers, the things they hardly read.