Master’s Degree Programme in Media and Global Communication (MGC)
Discipline of Media and Communication Studies
Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Helsinki
Annual Report / 2011
MGC students 2011 photograph by Hector Montes
2 Table of Contents
International Seminar………..page 3 First Graduates………..page 3 New Students……….page 3 Courses and Guest Lecturers in 2011……….page 4 Plans for 2012……….page 4 Feedback 2009-2011……….……….page 5
3
International Seminar
The International Master’s degree programme in Media and Global Communication hosted the “Crisis in the Media, Media in Crisis” seminar on 23 September 2011. Introduced by the MGC Programme Director Mervi Pantti, and with Kaarle Nordenstreng, Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Mass Communication, at the School of Communication, Media and Theatre at University of Tampere as chairman, the keynote speakers included Professors Simon Cottle and Clifford Christians, with PhD candidates Lilly Korpiola and Laura Juntunen as respondents. The presenters focused their discussions on the ethical challenges facing news journalists in the globalized, interconnected world of social media communications. More than a hundred students, researchers and journalists attended the seminar. A detailed report on the seminar written by MGC student Tijana Stolic can be found in the following web pages: http://www.helsinki.fi/globalmedia/Crisis/index.html
First Graduates
In 2011, the Master’s Degree Programme in Media and Global Communication (MGC) at the Faculty of Social
Sciences of the University of Helsinki has graduated its first students. The following six students have submitted their master’s thesis and successfully completed the two-year programme which is offered by the Discipline of Media and Communication Studies in collaboration with the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation.
- Mäenpää Kaisa Karoliina, spring 2011
“Listening to the voices of dissent: how are anti-nuclear actors portrayed in Helsingin Sanomat?” - Lepp Annika, autumn 2011
“ Peeking through the Iron Curtain: Memories of Watching Finnish Television in Estonia during Soviet Occupation.”
- Vazquez Harkivi Mily, spring 2011
“Finnish global corporations’ corporate responsibility, communication practices and relationship with the media. A study of ten Finnish multinational corporations.”
- Vural Selcuk, spring 2011
“Towards Multiculturalism In Turkish Public Service Broadcasting: The dilemma of Kurdish language and cultural diversity.”
- Warner Ryan Ronald, autumn 2011
“The iPhone in Finland: Smartphone 2.0 and the continuing evolution of the mobile phone.” - Semkina Soili, spring 2012
“Europe Wide Web. Public Sphere in European Online Media.”
New Students
According to the statistics announced by the University Admissions Finland, the number of full applications to MGC programme increased from 90 applications in 2009, to 96 in 2010, and to 126 in 2011. Eleven new students were selected in the 2011 admission process and eight students started studying in MGC in September 2011. The success ratio of selected students is 8%.
Every year, the University of Helsinki gives scholarships to the successful applicants of the master’s degree programmes. In 2011, two MGC students have received this scholarship at the beginning of their studies which is worth 1500 euro per person.
4 In addition to the new degree students, MGC hosted approximately 20 master’s and PhD level exchange and visiting students of journalism and communication from around the world in the different courses it offers during spring and autumn 2011. Some of these students have submitted their applications to be able to join the MGC programme as degree students.
Three of the four professional journalists, who have started studying in the special MGC module designed for them in 2010, prolonged their studies with MGC. One of them decided to continue with her master’s thesis at University of Jyväskylä, another one applied for scholarship from HSS to spend a year at Oxford and is currently there, third one decided to apply to the programme as a degree student and the fourth one said he had appreciated the one year he spent in MGC and asked for different possibilities to continue studying with us again. A new professional journalist from the Finnish Tourist Board joined the programme in September 2011.
Currently, if the six graduated students are left out, there are 30 students enrolled in the MGC programme including four professional journalists as non-graduate degree students.
Courses and Guest Lecturers in 2011
More than 30 Finnish and international guest lecturers participated in teaching various courses in the MGC master’s programme during 2011 among whom John Downing, Claudia Padovani, Charles Husband, Annette Markham, Simon Cottle, Clifford Christians, Gregory Lowe, Chris Atton, Charles Brown, Pieter Bakker, Anker Brink Lund, Inka Salovaara Moring, Maria Michalis, Alison Harcourt, Marko Ala-Fossi can be listed.
During 2011, MGC has offered altogether 30 courses to students (see table 1) , including the obligatory advanced level courses and a variety of elective courses in cooperation with the journalism department at the Swedish School of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Social Sciences.
MGC Course statistics 2009 2010 2011
Number of courses: 12 23 30
Number of offered credits: 41 121 156
Number of completed credits: 858 1701 2578
Number of students: 186 344 487
Table 1: Course statistics of MGC during its first three years Plans for 2012
In the spring of 2012 Professor Colin Sparks, Inka Salovaara Moring (Media Freedom and Democracy), Annette Hill (Media Audiences) and Professor Graham Murdock (Media, Economy and Power) will be visiting the MGC
programme to teach and there have been initial agreements with Minna Aslama (for an online course on activism), Nico Carpentier (Mediated Participations) to teach in the autumn of 2012.
MGC is collaborating with the Communication Research Centre to organize the annual International EuroMedia Research Group (EMRG) seminar in Helsinki on Friday, 27 April 2012. The name of the seminar is “The Conflict of Public Values and Private Interests? European Media in 2012” and it will take place at the University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 35 lecture hall.
The Department of Social Research and the Discipline of Media and Communication Studies are planning to make an application of three and a half years for funding from the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation to continue the MGC master’s degree programme for the period of 1.1.2014-31.7.2017.
5
Feedback 2009-2011
The steering group of the MGC programme has decided to collect feedback from the students and the visiting lecturers of the programme in its third year for a mid-term evaluation. We have gathered feedback from the students enrolled in the MGC programme by using an online survey and organizing a focus group meeting. In order to receive feedback from the other students who participate in the MGC courses, we have used a course feedback form. The visiting lecturers, on the other hand, sent their feedbacks via e-mail. All feedback received from the MGC students, Finnish students, visiting students and visiting lecturers are very positive and encouraging.
Summary of the feedback received from MGC students Background information
A feedback survey and a focus group session were organized in the third year of the programme during the autumn of 2011. The feedback was gathered on three main themes: the expectations of the participants before they started studying in the MGC, the studying conditions and their future plans. Altogether 20 students out of 30 gave feedback on the overall evaluation of the Media and Global Communication Master’s Degree Programme including five students who started the programme in 2009 (two already graduated at the time of evaluation), ten students who started in 2010, and five students who started in 2011. Two students out of twenty were professional journalists referred to as non-graduate degree students in the survey.
Here is a summary of the results from the Online Survey and the Focus Group. Your expectations before starting MGC
Expectations: Before coming to the University of Helsinki all of the students were expecting a high standard of education and high quality university services. Almost all of them replied that their expectations were met. The students highly appreciated the international learning environment in classes and the high quality and diverse teaching methods provided by internationally well known scholars in the field of media and communication studies. They have specifically appreciated the small number of students in the discipline of media and communication studies and more personal approach to students. However, one respondent reported that “the program design prevents students from pursuing their individual learning goals” (degree student started in 2010). Two international respondents were concerned about their employment in Finland and one suggested that the MGC programme could make more efforts at preparing the students for working life in Finland and doing more practical collaboration with the industry. The students feel the need for more practical courses and they feel a bit lost in applying the knowledge they are acquiring in the university out there in the field. The professional journalists attending the MGC programme with special studying rights have appraised the programme and the courses.
Orientation: Most students have pointed out that the orientation was intensive and good where they received useful information. One student recommended that there should be discussions during the orientation upon working in multicultural environments.
General studying conditions: There was one complaint on the housing problems with HOAS. Several students requested improvement in the availability of the books and learning material. The non-graduate students do not have full access to all university facilities; therefore, they cannot for example make use of the university computers provided for students. However, despite these complaints, the studying conditions are seen to be excellent at the University of Helsinki, in general.
Staff members of MGC: Overall the students are content with the work of the MGC staff members. One request for improvement was to encourage and involve students in research and development.
6 Basic services: The basic services that are offered by the University of Helsinki are seen to be very good. One
respondent needed more specific information for international students and another one suggested that the
department provides an audiovisual lab (PC with editing software) and equipment (cameras and microphone) for the use of students.
I. Studying in MGC
Contents and delivery of MGC courses: In general the respondents enjoy the high standard of the teachers and the overall subjects of the courses, even though some of them think that the focus on journalism is heavier than the focus on other aspects of communication. According to the students, some coordinated courses were a bit fragmented. The students required having a closure lecture and discussion with the responsible lecturer of the course so that the issues that are brought up by visiting lecturers can be talked upon and tied together. More participatory teaching methods and more Online courses are requested.
Comments on courses: Some themes and contents are experienced to be overlapping in different courses but in general, the courses have good contents. One course is experienced to be too short (Introduction to Media and Global Communication) and some are commented upon as difficult (Essential readings in social theory, Qualitative Methods). Some students require more courses on practical skills. Some students demanded more courses which focus on corporate communications and marketing. Their comments on the contents and conduct of different courses have been very positive. They would like to learn concrete skills in conducting research and analysis in the advanced research methodology course.
Comments on courses given by visiting lecturers: Almost all visitors and their courses are experienced as excellent. Nico Carpentier, Simon Cottle, Daya Thussu, Ramaswami Harindranath, Charles Husband, Anker Brink Lund, Graham Murdock, and Chris Atton are mentioned by name as excellent lecturers.
The relevancy of the themes of the courses to the master’s degree dissertations: The diverse interests of the students make it difficult to provide them with as many courses as possible in the different themes they are writing their thesis upon. However, still most of the students say that they have found relevant courses which support their thesis work. The students wish for courses on social networking, visual culture, business oriented courses related to media, and political communication.
Guidance: In general, all respondents are content with the guidance they receive in their studies and they are well aware of the widely acknowledged problem in communication studies that one seminar professor cannot possibly be an expert on the vast and diverse fields of communication.
Teaching Methods: The students seem to enjoy interactive teaching methods and discussions more than the old style monologues of the lecturers. In general, all respondents say the teaching methods are good
Assessment methods: Respondents’ comments vary on the assessment methods that are used in the courses offered by MGC, where some respondents say the assessment is fair and good, another one says the methods could be more transparent. In general the essay method seems to be appreciated. The learning diary method as an
assessment method is experienced as unsuitable and superficial for master’s level studies. There seems to be a need to bring a balance to the work load in different courses.
Studying material: The studying material of the courses is seen to be good and relevant. It was suggested that the availability of the course books at the library should be improved.
7 Abilities and qualifications achieved during studying in MGC: The respondents say that they have developed skills in critical thinking and analysis, research-based learning, learnt scientific methods, and acquired good knowledge in global communications with a good basis of theory.
II. Your future plans
Future Plans: Some students would like to stay in Finland after graduation but they find it difficult for international people to get employed in the field of communication. Some would like to continue to do a Ph.D. degree and an academic career, whereas others would like to work in international organizations and NGOs or as journalists. In general, they think having a master’s degree from the University of Helsinki will be highly valued when searching for a job.
Professional journalists: During their studies in the MGC , the professional journalists said that they have received a lot of inspiration from the international environment and the courses, one of them decided to continue with her master’s thesis which she will be writing for University of Jyväskylä, whereas another one has decided to apply for funding to go on an exchange to University of Oxford which she did, the third one has been asking for more possibilities of studying at the University of Helsinki and the fourth one actually decided to apply to the MGC programme as a degree student.
