By David Olalekan
A yet to be verified information has it that the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has approved the unbundling of mass communication programme in Nigerian universities.
The approval of the gradual phasing out of the initial BA/Msc degrees in mass communication being offered by many universities would be replaced by seven newly created media-related courses, which include Journalism & Media Studies, Public Relations, Advertising, Broadcasting, Film & Multi-Media Studies, Development Communication Studies and Information & Media Studies.
Our source, who prefers anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, said the NUC has received a draft proposal of the new curricula containing the 7 new programmes on the 5th February 2018 at a well attended stakeholder summit which has in attendance professors of Mass Communication/Communication Studies from universities across the six geo-political zones of the country.
Also present at the event were regulatory agencies and professional bodies such as the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and Radio, Television and Theatre Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU). Media Organizations such as the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA); Print Media Journalists; and International Development Agencies such as UNESCO, UNICEF, the MacArthur Foundation also attended the deliberation meeting.
INSIDER was unable to verify this news from NUC as at the time of filing this report, as the official contacted in the commission declined to comment.