In collaboration with the University of Aarhus/Danish School of Journalism (Denmark), University of Wales, Swansea (United Kingdom), City University, London (United Kingdom) and the University of Hamburg (Germany), the Media & Communication Institute offers this two-year Erasmus Mundus master's programme Journalism and media starting september, 2005. 

Journalism is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Not only is the profession changing, but developments in technology, politics and society are increasingly putting the media industries and the profession of journalism at the centre of people?s attempt to make sense of what is happening in the world around them. In response to these developments five leading journalism institutions and universities in Europe have launched an Erasmus Mundus Master's degree in Journalism and media. The main aim is to create a graduate program in journalism that combines the best of the European traditions of media science and journalism to create a degree that is European in origin and global in scope.
Students on the scheme will receive a unique educational experience. They will study in three European countries. They will be able to specialize in one of three distinct areas of journalism: war and conflict, business and finance and citizenship. The program will consist of a group of 40 students selected from a pool of candidates from around the world. The objective is to create a network of classmates that draws on a variety of experience and knowledge and meet the global ambitions of the degree. The Erasmus Mundus program in Journalism and media seeks to produce alumni who will shape the future of global journalism.
The degree will teach students how to work in the new, emerging global environment. A solid grounding will be provided in European media, European society and politics and the impact of globalization. Students will learn at the European level. The courses will mostly be specifically created for this group of students in order to combine academic research and teaching from the different national educational cultures.
The focus of the program is to prepare students for the challenge of working in the new global information society. Global media are changing in ways that reinforce the need for fundamental analytical skills. In a society where information is the main commodity, credibility and trustworthiness are becoming the central assets. These are the key components of today?s media qualifications which the program will emphasize.

Study objectives & aims

Globalization is penetrating cultural and social borders around the world. At the same time it is reinvigorating smaller regions and feelings of local identity. Political and social power is taking on new dimensions. Cultural awareness and misunderstanding are growing. Media power is also in a state of transformation. Public service broadcasting is being redefined towards satisfying individual rather than social needs. News is being redefined. Journalism is at the centre of these changes.

• Politically, states in Europe are coming together and falling apart at the same time. Journalists need new tools to understand and to interpret the processes of integration and disintegration. 
  
• Economically, a global world market is creating growth and havoc at the same time. Journalists need tools to be able to describe it in clear language. 
  
• Socially, people are getting connected in new ways through modern technologies. Journalism is the crucial field in a network society. 
  
• Culturally, there is increasing onus on the media and journalism to explain differences and similarities between peoples and societies. The focus of the Erasmus Mundus Master's in Journalism and Media is to give participants the tools for a new and better understanding of reporting on the global challenge.

Objectives

• to enable students to acquire knowledge of European journalism and its scholarly study in a global perspective
  
• to specialize within a journalistic field.
  
• to familiarise students with the key contemporary issues and debates in the area of European Journalism and to provide them with the analytical skill and techniques to make sense of them and assess the merits of different approaches and theories
  
• to prepare students for employment in a wide range of contexts drawing on knowledge of European journalism in a global perspective and their choice of specialization, and to enable students to be reflective practitioners and consumers of media content
  
• to provide students with a transnational perspective on journalism, by learning and living in at least three different European countries
  
• to develop the research skills of students to allow them to prepare for further study of journalism including, if desired, at the PhD level.