Myanmar Journalism School (MyJS) receives strong backing from partners - first full programme expected for 2014

The Myanmar Journalism School (MyJS) is preparing its launch for 2014. The goal is to set up the first Center for Excellence in journalism education in Myanmar.

Supporting partners presented the project on the occasion of the Signing of a Cooperation Agreement on Cinema and Media between the Minister of Information of Myanmar, U Aung Kyi, and the French Minister of Culture, Ms. Aurélie Filipetti. The ceremony was held at the Women’s Forum chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 7 December 2013 in Yangon, Myanmar.

At the Briefing it was outlined that the school is projected to start with a one-year Diploma Course in Journalism in July 2014.

The road map to launch the school has been guided by the idea to begin with practical training alongside preparing the necessary structures. To this end, some of the achievements to date are:

• Fojo, the media institute from Sweden, trained twelve journalists in a "Training-of-Trainers"-course (ToT) this fall; they will thus be qualified to teach journalism at the MyJS.
• In preparation for MyJS, Fojo considers two additional ToT-courses for early 2014 plus some courses in basic journalism outside of Yangon.
• The media industry and civil society have been invited to help shape the MyJS in that they shared their vision for the curriculum, identity and governance in individual talks with the Project Coordinator and in Focus Group Discussions.
• A Legal Study has been commissioned that will help develop the MyJS by-laws and its governance structure.
• A Governance Study shall build independence into the structure of the School and will determine whether MyJS will be set up as a non-governmental organization, a private company or else.

MyJS aims to be independent with a broad national ownership anchored in civil society and the media industry, reflecting international practices in quality journalism education. It will promote universal journalistic values rooted in ethics and resulting in trustworthy reporting, thus defining journalistic professionalism for Myanmar.

MyJS is currently being established with the long-term commitment of Myanmar’s Forever Group (FG), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and a group of European media development organizations including Canal France International (CFI) of France, Germany’s DW Akademie, Fojo Media Institute of Sweden and International Media Support (IMS) of Denmark.

Should you have further questions or wish to join the group to establish the MyJS, please contact:

Ms. Monika Lengauer, MyJS Project Coordinator;
email: monika.lengauer@dw.de

The MyJS is being established with the financial support of the Governments of:

Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden