Prospective IJMB Students wishing to study mass communication in any of Nigerian universities, would need a rethink because the National Universities Commission (NUC) has scrapped Mass Communication as a degree course in the Nigerian Universities as report shows that the commission has divided mass communication into seven separate degree programmes to meet the current societal and professionalism demands in the communication sector.
The National University Commission (NUC) executive secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said the new development would take effect from the 2020 university admission year in all tertiary institutions nationwide. Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Thursday, January 9, the NUC boss disclosed that Mass Communication had been divided into:
- Journalism and media studies
- Public relations studies
- Advertising
- Broadcasting
- Film and multi-media studies
- Development communication studies
- Information and media studies
The further made mention that the seven new degree programmes would be domiciled in a department/faculty/ school/college of communication and media studies previously known as Mass Communication.
The director of corporate affairs of the commission, Ibrahim Yakassai, in a phone interview also addressed the issue and he denied the news that Mass Communication had been phased out. He stated it was only broken into seven different programmes. He also said that mass communication would still be a course for universities but any tertiary institution that wants to offer specialized courses can do so in any of the new courses highlighted above can do so.
It was gathered that in February 2019, a document containing a new curricula for communication studies in Nigerian universities, which seeks to divide mass communication and create seven-degree awarding departments to be domiciled under a school/college of communication in its place, was presented to the executive secretary of the National University Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, in Abuja. While receiving the document, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed said a review of the mass communication curriculum was long overdue and promised to expedite action in the process of finalizing and adopting the curricula.
This is however considered a good news for IJMB students as they can pick any of the seven courses for their degree programme by creating a greater chances of coming out with a first class degree as the Mass Communication which entails the seven sector has been divided and one can be picked for an intensive concentration in the area of study which will greatly widen the chances of having a first class degree.
