AJMI – Doha

In a press conference organized on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, Al Jazeera Media Institute announced details of activities and sessions of the “Forum of Colleges of Journalism in the Arab World”, organized in partnership with Qatar University and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), during the period from 14 to 16 October, at the Marquis Marriott City Center Hotel in Doha.

Iman Al Ameri, Director of Al Jazeera Media Institute, stressed that the forum represents a valuable opportunity for all participants, including students, professors, academics and representatives of media institutions, to exchange ideas and raise discussion on issues related to the forum.

Eman Al Ameri added: "The forum promotes the idea of cooperation between relevant parties, bridges the gap between theory and practice, and enables students to understand paths to

success in this industry in a wary that is compatible with the current digital changes and developments of academic curricula to ensure graduating qualified students who possess the necessary skills to keep pace with media development."

The director of the institute revealed that the number of those who registered to attend the forum is about 100 academics and professors, who attended at their own expense, also she declared that institute provided four scholarships to journalism students in the Arab world.

Eman Al Ameri pointed out that in conjunction with the organization of the forum, "Media Creativity Award" was launched for journalism students in various institutes and colleges in the State of Qatar, to discover the talents and creativity of students in various media disciplines such as digital journalism, radio, television, multimedia, public relations and advertising, where about 300 students competed for this award.

Regarding the details of the forum, Iman Al Ameri said that it will include four sessions, three presentations and two workshops, and explained that the number of speakers in the forum reached 29 speakers from academics and specialists, and some leaders at the level of local and Arab media institutions.

For his part, Dr. Wael Abdel Aal, Head of the Media Department at Qatar University, stressed that the university pays great and continuous attention to the development of academic curricula, and takes into consideration development plans to harmonize between knowledge, skills, practical application and keeping pace with labor market developments and the requirements of digital transformation and closely linking academic curricula with practice. Dr. Wael Abdel Aal praised the continuous and fruitful cooperation between Media Department at Qatar University and Al Jazeera Institute with the aim of enhancing the capabilities of media practitioners and students of Media Department, in order to graduate students capable of keeping pace with the great media development in the State of Qatar, where Al Jazeera Media Network is the most prominent embodiment of media development.

The Head of Media Department at Qatar University pointed out that the joint work with Al Jazeera Institute achieves the requirements of mixing media knowledge and skills and enables students and practitioners of various media professions to successfully apply and keep pace with the newest in media technology and enable them to initiate and innovate and contribute to the leadership of new projects in the era of continuous media development and the emergence of the challenges of artificial intelligence, algorithms, data journalism, investigative journalism, and the use of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. He pointed out that recent developments require upgrading values, ethics and knowledge aspects to reduce the negative effects of social networks, platforms, and new applications.

M. Salah Khaled, Director of the UNESCO office to the Gulf States and Yemen said: UNESCO is honored to be partnering with Al Jazeera Media Institute on this very important and crucial event that will bring together more than 50 Universities across the Arab regions. UNESCO is the specialized UN agency mandated with the promotion and defense of Freedom of Expression, access to information and media development, recognizing the fundamental importance of media in building knowledge societies, development, and dialogue. Since 2007, through its International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), UNESCO has published and continue to produce a series on journalism education that provides reporting curricula in tune with the issues of today, giving the tools to journalists and journalism educator to cover the most pressing issues of our time in a high-quality manner. We hope that this forum will be the beginning of further collaborations between UNESCO and Al Jazeera Media Institutes to take further Journalism Education in the region and to continue empowering Arab journalists with the knowledge and the skills to provide an unbiased and high-quality reporting and ensure access to information to all.

Al Jazeera Media Institute, by organizing the “Forum of Journalism Colleges in the Arab World”, seeks to gather experts and students, create a platform for exchanging experiences, promote research, follow up technical development in the field of media and journalism, and aims to open up to modern trends in the journalism profession and to enable students to cross into the future, and to identify the most prominent initiatives that can contribute to the development of teaching in Arab journalism colleges in line with modern trends, in addition to enhancing communication between journalism colleges and institutes in the Arab World and launching continuous dialogue on current challenges and adaptation to the future.