As Technology Reshapes the Media Industry, Arab Universities Keep Curricula Up to Date
The media market is witnessing the rapid embrace of new technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence applications in content production, and these developments are affecting how Arab departments of communication and mass media teach.
Al-Fanar Media talked to three prominent female academics in colleges of mass communication and media studies about how their departments are keeping pace with emerging trends.
Artificial Intelligence
Amany Fahmy, dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication at October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA), in Egypt, calls on media students to think about new disciplines such as artificial intelligence applications, and how they serve and facilitate media work in general.
Fahmy cited the role and ability of artificial intelligence to write a media report, the use of a specific application to choose the best headlines for a given audience, how to shoot visual materials and choose the shots that best serve a TV report, and how to use digital editing tools.
“We are always working to bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical sides, and to ensure that practical application is not less than 40 percent of students’ studies. We do this by enrolling students in internships in media outlets and signing protocols with various agencies to provide appropriate training opportunities.”
Amany Fahmy, dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication at October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA)
“There are also applications that help to conduct high-quality, live interviews with external parties,” she told Al-Fanar Media. “Students must understand these new terminologies, such as artificial intelligence, in light of the tremendous technological progress.”
Fahmy also emphasised the importance of making sure students understand information technology, privacy issues, fact-checking, information circulation and availability, interest in social media, strategic communication, marketing, and corporate communication.
“All of these have to be included in communication and media faculties’ curricula,” she said. “Otherwise, we will be lagging behind the successive developments in this field, from holograms to metaverses, and others.”
The Faculty of Mass Communication at MSA University focuses on the applied side and is not satisfied with theoretical studies alone, Fahmy said.
“We are always working to bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical sides, and to ensure that practical application is not less than 40 percent of students’ studies,” she said. “We do this by enrolling students in internships in media outlets and signing protocols with various agencies to provide appropriate training opportunities.”
Agencies the university works with include Egypt’s National Media Authority, the Middle East News Agency (Egypt’s official news agency), Al-Nahar TV network, and advertising agencies, Fahmy said. “Public relations students are also trained some government agencies.”
Teaching Digital Technologies
Hanan Youssef, dean of the College of Language and Communication at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Smart Village campus, sheds light on programmes related to digital technologies in media and content creation for various digital platforms.
“It is necessary to mix interdisciplinary studies, so that courses are not limited to the technical aspect of digital media alone, and to offer programmes that can help students build their intellectual capacities, such as critical analysis,” she told Al-Fanar Media. “Offering courses in mobile journalism, multimedia, visual studies, and languages are cornerstone, in addition to artificial intelligence technologies.”
“It is necessary to mix interdisciplinary studies, so that courses are not limited to the technical aspect of digital media alone, and to offer courses that can help students build their intellectual capacities, such as critical analysis.”
Hanan Youssef, dean of the College of Language and Communication at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Smart Village campus
To achieve this, the college adopted a list from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Universities based on the various fields of digital media courses, integrated marketing communication, digital journalism, and digital television production, besides courses commensurate with modern technologies in the cinema industry, audio dubbing, and presenting radio and television programmes digitally perspective.
Youssef emphasises the importance of building a digital media personality in an age where more communication happens digitally. “There are courses for building a digital media personality, such as digital media education, to distinguish between different digital platforms, social media, digital marketing, digital networks, and digital advertising arts,” she said.
It is also important to parallel theoretical teaching with practical application courses, in addition to intensive internships with the media industry, to reduce the gap between study and the labour market, she said.
Media students also need to engage in self-education, she added, by attending seminars and conferences, and engaging in cultural and student activities.
Labour Market Readiness
Amany Bassyouny, an associate professor of public relations in the Faculty of Communication and Mass Media at the British University in Egypt, focuses on specialised media programmes, including the teaching of the soft skills that the modern labour market demands.
She explains that academic subjects are divided into two parts, general and specialised. “The general part deals with the means of communication. I do not mean the traditional means, their history, origin, and development, but rather the focus on digital, personal, intergroup, intercultural, and mass communication, mobile journalism, various information systems, the media industry,” she told Al-Fanar Media. “That’s everything that has to do with the means of communication and their nature and uses.”
“Media courses should be transformed into workshops from the first day a student joins the college, so they can link the theoretical and practical aspects. In addition, media colleges should establish entities to cohabit and simulate the practical experience.”
Amany Bassyouny, an associate professor of public relations in the Faculty of Communication and Mass Media at the British University in Egypt
“Specialised programmes are about qualifying media graduates to be ready for the labour market, such as health media, children’s media, women’s media, sports media, and environmental media,” she said. “There are also studies related to development media, especially what is related to developing countries in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.”
In addition to the specialised programmes, political and diplomatic communication, and institutional communication, there is also organisation communication management, which is an important, popular major in Europe, although it is offered by colleges of business management. “It has a mixture of different disciplines, such as public relations and internal communication,” she said.
“Media courses should be transformed into workshops from the first day a student joins the college, so they can link the theoretical and practical aspects,” Bassyouny said.
“In addition, media colleges should establish entities to cohabit and simulate the practical experience on a weekly basis,” she added. “Grades should be set based on the evaluation of these entities’ media products, which would keep students abreast of the rapid developments in the media industry.”
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