After medicine, Ziauddin University hopes to make it big in media sciences

First batch of students enjoy studies with hands-on experience at television channel.

KARACHI:

After offering medical education for the past 17 years, Ziauddin University has decided to expand into media studies.

Even though this is an unusual move for a medical institution, Ziauddin does have a unique advantage of an in-house satellite channel, Health TV, and a campus radio, ZU FM 98.2. With such projects already under its umbrella, the founding director of Institute of Communication and Media Studies (ICMS) at the university, Faizan S Syed, hopes to emerge as one of the leading media schools in the country.

To its premier batch of around 15 students, the ICMS has been offering a perfect blend of theory and practice since January this year, said Syed while talking to The Express Tribune. “Our programme is specifically designed to combine theoretical learning with practical application to ensure that graduating students are equipped to tackle on-the-job challenges that are typically not present in an academic environment.”

Apart from heading the institute, the young graduate of an Ivy League school is also the chief executive officer at Health TV. But he considers building the brand image of the ICMS his most challenging task.

While studying at the SC Johnson School of Management at Cornell University, what inspired him the most was the opportunities for hands-on practice along with theoretical knowledge that business students gained in the classrooms. “During the course of studies, our actual interactions with the Wall Street firms had had a significant impact on our personal and professional growth,” recalled Syed. “It included giving out presentations, sittings with business analysts to work on business models and getting to know how they actually work. The net advantage to the business school’s interns was high job offers and acceptance rates.”

When Syed made his way back to Pakistan, he saw there was no academic institution offering this model of parallel application. He pointed out, proudly, that the ICMS now has this model with its four-year Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Media Studies with a specialisation in print or broadcast journalism, film and video production and integrated marketing communication.

“With the proliferation of media in Pakistan, there is an increased demand for formal education in this sector,” he said. “The ICMS has the potential to fulfil this demand unlike any other media school in the country.”

Perhaps, it was this optimism of the founding director that students of the first batch appeared confident of their choice. Mirza Omer, who is already hosting a show at Oxygene TV, said that he did not feel anxious about getting into an institution that was just about to start off. “When I was about to opt for a media studies programme, I chose the ICMS after sifting through the best available choices,” he said.

Even students Amna Ijaz and Anum Shahid, who also managed to achieve exceptional grades in the first semester, believed that the ICMS has a definite edge over other institutions as it offers opportunities of hand-on. “With growing competition in the media industry, theoretical knowledge about the field just does not suffice anymore,” said Sherazuddin Shaikh.

For their satisfaction, Nausheen Masud, the head of programming at Health TV, appeared in high spirits at the prospect of training the ICMS students. “There is a whole bunch of kids who are dying to do something recognisable and I’m very excited,” she told The Express Tribune. “Besides, I see in this venture a great advantage for the [Health TV] channel. You get a fresh perspective while working with a lot of new students.”

In the next few years, the university envisions expanding the ICMS into a full-fledged institution, providing quality education in various disciplines of social and management sciences, said Prof. Dr Tanveer Khalid, who has recently been appointed as Ziauddin University’s Social and Management Sciences dean.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2013.