Asian College of Journalism (ACJ)

 Asian College of Journalism, Chennai was initially established in Bangalore as the Asian School of Journalism, Bangalore. It was founded in 1994 by the Indian Express group, offering only a print course. In pursuit of its goal,in the year 2000 it was taken over by a not-for-profit public trust, Media Development Foundation established (1999) by well-known Journalist Sashi Kumar in agreement with the parent B.D.Goenka Foundation to foster journalism as an independent, investigative, socially responsible, and ethical profession. Tthe Asian College of Journalism, which had been functioning successfully for six years in Bangalore was renamed and moved to Chennai in the same location as the old Hindu office on Wallajah Road. Since then, the institution has relocated to an 80,000 sq. ft location in Taramani that includes the College and residential blocks, both four storeys high.  The first batch of students  graduated in June 2001. For the first two years in Chennai it was headed by K. Thomas Oommen.

 The Trustees of the Foundation are: Sashi Kumar (Chairman), journalist, TV anchor, filmmaker, founder of Asianet and Chairman, Asiaville Interactive; N. Ram, Director of the Hindu Publishing Group and former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu and Frontline magazine; C. P. Chandrasekhar, former Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; columnist; Radhika Menon, Publisher and Editorial Director of Tulika Publishers; and N. Murali, Director, The Hindu Group of Publications Pvt. Ltd and Kasturi & Sons Ltd.

  The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, India,  offers Postgraduate Diploma courses in Journalism  with specialisation in four streams under its 10-month programme – Television, Print, New Media and Radio.  It aims to promote excellence in the field through education, training, and media-related research. It seeks to equip the aspiring modern journalist with the capabilities to achieve world-class standards in the profession. It is committed to promoting diversity and broadening access to journalism by offering educational and training opportunities to all groups in society, including those who are severely underrepresented in the journalistic profession.

  Admission to the program is through a three-stage process :
  Application – applications are screened and successful candidates are invited to take a test
  Test – of English, General Knowledge and an Essay
  Interview – successful candidates are invited for an interview in Chennai.

  In the first trimester, all students, irrespective of their chosen medium, are taught the basics of Broadcast, Web and Print. From the second trimester onwards, students learn reporting in their choice of medium. The highlight of the stream specialisations are the in-house publications that students work on throughout the term. Print students publish their newspaper ‘The Word’ twice a week. Similarly New Media students report for their news e-zine, ACJ Newsline on a daily basis. Television and radio students produce news shows every day.

  Over the second and third terms, students take three electives out of the 16 offered by the college. Some of the electives are Photo Journalism, Cinema, Sports, Politics, Arts and Culture, Identities, International Issues, Business, Gender studies, Ecology, Citizenship, Health, Science, Urban studies and Economics.

  The Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom has audited and recognized the ACJ Postgraduate Diploma programme as on par with its own. An exclusive arrangement between the two is in place whereby students of the ACJ who clear a set benchmark can transfer their diploma credits to Cardiff University and, on successful completion of an additional dissertation, be awarded the University’s M.A Degree in Journalism.

  The SAF-Madanjeet Singh scholarship for the one year postgraduate course at the Asian College of Journalism covers eight countries, viz: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Candidates are required to have cleared an undergraduate course in any discipline. Equivalent course in different SAARC countries are also considered on a case by case basis. The scholarship covers: (a) tuition fees, (b) economy air travel from the scholar's place of residence within SAARC to Chennai and back, (c) accommodation costs, on a room sharing basis, for the duration of the course in Chennai, (d) food expenses covering breakfast, lunch and dinner at the ACJ canteen, (e) a nominal amount towards pocket expenses.

  One of the iconic addition to the institution's infrastructure is the M. S. Subbulakshmi Auditorium. Unique among the city's concert venues, the 342-seater auditorium is an acoustically designed mic-free venue. The design allows no echo and delayed reflection of sound. The reflectors in the ceiling and a bandshell help performers listen to themselves, even when the sound is pushed to the back of the space. In addition, concrete panels on the side and the back walls diffuse the sound in every direction,  making the microphone-less natural sound heard throughout the auditorium without any artificial amplification.

vision

  Building the nation and the society through providing total, integrated, and trans-cultural quality education and being the global front runner in value education and nurturing talent in which Modernity Blends with Tradition

 Mission

  To provide education at all levels in all disciplines of modern times and in the futuristic and emerging frontier areas of knowledge, learning, and research and to develop the overall personality of students by making them not only excellent professionals but also good individuals, with understanding and regard for human values, pride in their heritage and culture, a sense of right and wrong and yearning for perfection and imbibe attributes of the courage of conviction and action.

Eligibility

  A Bachelor’s degree is mandatory. Graduates in any discipline are eligible to apply for admission to the following:

   ACJ-Bloomberg Business and Financial Journalism programme and

   ACJ Integrated Multimedia Journalism programme.

  Candidates who are yet to write their undergraduate degree examination (because of the delay due to the lockdown) as well as those awaiting the results of their undergraduate examination are also eligible to apply.

  Enrolled students should provide their mark sheet or degree certificate to the Registrar ideally within the first week of commencement of classes. However, if the undergraduate exam results are likely to be delayed, more time may be given for submission of the certificates. All students awaiting their examination results should provide their degree certificate latest by the end of March 2024.

   Application Procedure

  The application form may either be submitted ONLINE or DOWNLOADED and completed. Application whether online or hard copy will need to be sent along with an application fee of Rs 2360/- (inclusive of GST @ 18%). Candidates applying for both programmes need to pay only one application fee. The fee can be remitted as an online transfer or sent as a Demand Draft in favour of “Media Development Foundation”, payable at Chennai. Please ensure that the full name, email id and mobile number of the applicant accompanies the payment.

   In the case of online transfer the applicant will be directed to the Online Payment gateway once the form is completely filled. The applicant is requested to keep credit card/ debit card/ net banking details ready for making the payment. The applicant using the payment gateway service is required to pay the convenience fee as prescribed by the service.

   SC/ST applicants are exempt from the application fee on production of their community certificates.

Note

   Application Forms will be processed only if they are complete in all respects and on receipt of the application fee.

 Entrance Test & Interview

   After a careful assessment of applications, shortlisted candidates will be required to take an online entrance test held online in real time. Candidates can take the test individually in their homes or at any place where they have access to a computer with internet facility.

   From this year the process of the online entrance test and the online interview that follows it will be ongoing and held at regular intervals. Candidates applying for either or both of the programmes will be intimated, within a week of receipt of the completed application,

a) the date and time of the online test, and

b) date and time of the online interview to follow.

  The test will assess the candidate’s English language skills, general knowledge and awareness of current affairs.

Job placements of ACJ batch of 2022-23 at 96%…

  The College counsels students on placements and assists them by arranging campus interviews (both online and offline) at the end of the academic year. ACJ is the preferred destination for media organisations in search of talented and capable recruits and has been registering excellent placements for many years.

  The College achieved 100 per cent placement for the academic year 2021-22, with all the students getting confirmed job offers within five days of the placement process.

  For the academic year 2022-23, the placement figure crossed 96 percent in the first flush and the process is still on, and we hope to achieve 100 per cent soon. The major media houses that recruited from ACJ this year include Indian Express, Times of India, Economic Times, Hindustan Times, Mint, The Hindu group (including Sportstar and Frontline) Times Now, ETNow, Mirror Now, CNN-News 18, CNBC TV 18, Money Control, Firstpost, The New Indian Express, Business Standard, WION, Zee News, India Today group, The Quint, The Wire and National Herald.

  ACJ graduates are currently working in news organizations throughout India and abroad, many of them in leadership positions. The media employers of the previous batches of ACJ graduates include.

  The Hindu, Network18, CNBC TV18, The Times of India, The Economic Times, India Today (TV), India Today (Weekly), Outlook (Money), Reuters, Times Now, BloombergQuint, Times Internet, IB Times, Zee News, WION TV, DNA, The Indian Express, The New Indian Express, SportStar, Scroll, Deccan Chronicle and Deccan Herald.

Scholarship

Merit-cum-means

 The ACJ offers scholarships on a merit-cum-means basis to students seeking and qualifying for them. It must be indicated clearly in the application if the student requires a scholarship. The full and partial scholarships cover tuition fees and, in special cases, living expenses. Please submit proof of family income as stated in the application form.

  Since the decision on scholarships, which are limited, will be taken only by end May 2023, candidates applying for scholarship are advised to pay the lock-in amount of INR. 1,00,000/- to ensure their seats. Candidates selected for scholarship will be intimated individually by end May 2023. The advance lock-in amount paid by candidates who are awarded scholarships will be subsequently reimbursed/adjusted.

SC/ST Scholarship

  Candidates applying for SC/ST scholarships should produce community certificate and proof of annual family income as stated in the application form.

SAF Scholarship

 The South Asia Foundation (SAF) offers scholarships for study at the ACJ to students from the eight SAARC countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indian   SAF scholarship will be decided by the Admission Committee. For details please check the SAF website: www.southasiafoundation.org

 SAF-Madanjeet Singh Scholarships for the Class of 2024

Jawaharlal Nehru Scholarship

 The ‘Jawaharlal Nehru Scholarship’ (JLN Scholarships) is instituted at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) by The Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

 The scholarship covers the tuition fees for selected students pursuing their Postgraduate Diploma programme. The selection will be on a merit-cum-means basis.

SAF-Madanjeet Singh Scholarships for the Class of 2024

 Founded by UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Madanjeet Singh in 2000, the South Asia Foundation (SAF) is a secular, non-profit and non-political organization. Its core objective is to promote regional cooperation through a number of UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institutions of Excellence in the eight SAARC countries. ACJ is one of these institutions of excellence.

 The SAF-Madanjeet Singh scholarship for the one year postgraduate course at the Asian College of Journalism covers eight countries, viz: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The scholarship covers: (a) tuition fees, (b) economy air travel from the scholar’s place of residence within SAARC to Chennai and back, (c) accommodation costs, on a room sharing basis, for the duration of the course in Chennai, (d) food expenses covering breakfast, lunch, evening snacks and dinner at the ACJ canteen, (e) a nominal amount towards pocket expenses.

 Candidates should have cleared an undergraduate course in any discipline. Equivalent course in different SAARC countries would also be considered on a case by case basis. The candidate must be proficient in English since all instruction and assignments at ACJ are in English.

Boys Hostel

  The College has Residential accommodation for students in the program on room sharing basis is available on the college campus or within easy distance of the college in Kasturba Nagar adjacent to the MRTS station. Additional accommodation is also arranged within easy distance of the college.

Girls Hostel

  The College has Residential accommodation for students in the program on room sharing basis is available on the college campus or within easy distance of the college in Kasturba Nagar adjacent to the MRTS station. Additional accommodation is also arranged within easy distance of the college.

Library

  The college has a library facility for all students. The Asian College of Journalism has a carefully selected collection of books relating to media and journalism, domain areas such as history and politics, business and economy, social sciences, biographies, and fiction. The library collection also includes standard reference works, books on editing, reporting, news writing, page design, and layouts. There are several recollections, memoirs, and essays by award-winning journalists.

Sports

  The campus has a shuttle and a volleyball court outdoors and a table tennis court indoors.

I.T Infrastructure

  The college has an excellent IT Infrastructure facility for the students. 10 large computer labs.

Wifi

  The campus is wi-fi enabled. All students have access to computers with high-speed connectivity (Wi-Fi), LAN networking, and software packages.

Cafeteria

The college canteen provides all meals.

Alumni Associations

The college has good networking for the alumni association.

ACJ Chennai Facilities Details: Hostel, Campus, Infrastructure, Library, Canteen (careers360]

 Asian College of Journalism

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