RAWALPINDI: Speakers at a workshop stressed the need for improving the liaison of academics with media industry to meet the future challenges. These views were expressed at the closing ceremony of Doctoral Spring School 2021 organised by Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) in collaboration with Association of Media and Communication Academic Professionals (AMCAP) and Punjab Higher Education Commission.

They said media education departments must consider digital media revolution while developing curriculum.

International academia along with national resource persons delivered lectures and individually advised the students on research proposals.

In the nine day doctoral Spring School, forty PhD scholars, researchers and faculty members are being trained in research within the field of media studies. International media professors including Professor Dr. Nico Carpentier, Prof Dr Pille Pruulmann, Dr Fatyma ElSayed, Dr Vaia Doukaki and other professors from across the country delivered lectures during the workshop.

Punjab Higher Education Commission Chairman Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmed Khalid was the chief guest at the closing ceremony.

Jhang University Vice Chancellor Dr. Shahid Munir was among the special guests.

Punjab Higher Education Commission Chairman Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid said “new normal is creating a lot of challenges as the technology is not divided equally in all parts of the country”.

He said that Pakistan was trying to bring local research on par with international standards and PHEC was committed to the excellence of Higher education in Punjab.

Association of Media and Communication Academic Professionals President Dr. Bushra Hameedur Rehman elaborated the spirit of this Doctoral Spring School which is aimed at improving the quality of PhD level research in the field of communication and media studies.

Ten international and seven national foreign qualified scholars guided the research students in designing their PhD and MPhil level research project.

FJWU Vice Chancellor Dr. Saima Hameed thanked the PHEC chairman for his support for the Doctoral Spring School and informed him that the women university was xswiftly moving towards internationalisation of its departments and we at FJWU highly encourage the national and international collaborations for the future development of our degree programmes.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2021