(Wednesday 16th October 2019 Issue)
The
seminar on News Media for African countries and African Union opened at
Zhejiang Normal University (ZJNU), Jinhua, China, on Tuesday.
The
three week seminar is designed to among other things: create a brief window of
opportunity for media in African countries to have an insight into China’s
media and communication development and also enhance collaboration between
China and Africa in the area of media development. It also enables the African
media have a glimpse of contemporary Chinese mass media and social changes -
the Chinese national realities and reforms opening up.
The
seminar, being attended by 25 participants across Africa is facilitated by
Zhejiang Normal University under the auspices of the Chinese Ministry of
Commerce. It will expose participants to Chinese TV and Cultural Communication,
Current Situation of China’s New Media and Communication and Identity Building
in Africa.
The
main campus of Zhejiang Normal University is located at the cultural historical
city of Jinhua in the central part of Zhejiang Provence. The city links
Shanghai and Hangzhou to the north, and Guangdong and Fujian provinces to the
south.
Giving
the historical background and evolution of ZJNU at the opening event, Zhang
Xiaozhen, the vice character of ZJNU, recalled that the university could be
traced back to Hangzhou Junior Teacher’s College, set up in 1956 before getting
its university status in 1985.
“As
one of the key provincial universities, ZJNU specialises in teacher education
with multiple branches of learning,” she said. “ZJNU has 19 colleges covering
73 undergraduate programmes, two postdoctoral programmes, eight doctoral degree
programmes of Level 1 academic disciplines, 23 master’s degree programmes of
Level 1 academic disciplines and 13 professional master’s degree programmes.”
The
university also makes strenuous efforts to open up its doors for the outside
world, according to her, pointing out that ties of academic exchange and
cooperation have been set up between ZJNU and over 140 foreign universities and
institutes in nearly 60 countries including United States and Great Britain.
“It
has been authorised to accept short-term and long-term international students
by the Chinese government,” she said, indicating that ZJNU is also the
Education Aid Centre for Africa and Asia authorised by Ministry of Education.
She
also revealed that African student body forms 30% of the total number of
international students enrolled at ZJNU.
Jonathan
Hindolo Kurabu, a participant from Sierra Leone, who spoke on behalf of the
participants, talked about the good relationship between his country and China.
He expressed optimism that the seminar would enable participants to learn new
things about the Chinese media and communication, saying he believes it would
help strengthen China-Africa relations.
