Academy and Studying in Germany

Starting in 2009, the Deutsche Welle, Germany’s World Programme, will offer as a new study path at its in-house academy International Media Studies. With the cooperation of the University of Bonn and the Bonn Rhein-Sieg Polytechnic, this course is designed to give advanced training to young media workers, especially from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, and enable them to take their know-how and experience back to their countries.

Rodrigo Rodembusch intends to apply to the new programme in Bonn. Shortly before Christmas, he sent the required documents to Germany. Rodembusch is a Brazilian. He lives in the southern part of Brazil and has worked for several years at a radio station of one of the big local broadcasting corporations in Porto Alegre. For him a university place with the Deutsche Welle in Bonn would be "like a ticket to the big leagues": an opportunity to advance his career.

International Media Studies combines an academically based masters programme with practical training in all the relevant media fields, ranging from print, TV and radio to multi-media journalism on the Internet. It is precisely this mixture that makes the four semesters course of study, which ends with a ‘Master of Arts’, so interesting to Rodembusch. “I want to see how journalists in Germany do radio, newspapers and television”, says the Brazilian. “I’ll certainly profit from learning by doing with journalists. Moreover, I want to improve my German and gain experience.”

Language skills and professional experience

Future students must also bring some experience with them. Applicants need a completed and recognised degree, that is, a bachelor or its equivalent. They must have at least one year of professional experience in a media-related setting and demonstrate language skills in German as well as English. Rodembusch can show all this: he studied communication studies in Brazil, has worked for several years in radio and speaks fluent English and German. He has good chances of gaining a university place in Bonn.

Christoph Schmidt, head of the programme at the Deutsche Welle, is one of those who will decide whether Rodembusch is given a place or not. He and his colleagues will select approximately thirty young journalists and media workers from all the applicants, who will then, beginning in winter semester 2009, be allowed not only to go to school again but also to play with the buttons at television and radio stations.

From the present stage of applications, Schmidt can see that knowledge of German is an obstacle for many. For some, he says, studying in Bonn is an interesting alternative to studying in the US or Great Britain. The applications also shed light on the motives of young media workers who want to take advanced training in Germany. “For many South Americans, Asians and Africans”, he says, “this masters programme is an opportunity to accelerate their careers”.

Rodembusch, too, admits this quite candidly. The career levels at his radio station are reporter, editor-in-chief and manager. He has already arrived at the editor level. To scale the manager level he needs advanced training.

Journalistic bridge building

On the young media workers’ way to the executive suite, the International Media Studies programme wants to equip them (especially those from developing and emerging countries) with an important idea: the idea of democracy, as it is understood in Germany. “We want to sensitise the young people to the role they play in their countries as journalists”, Schmidt sums up. For him, it is a matter of (among other things) to point out the influence that media can have on the development of democracy and society. “Our goal”, says Schmidt, “is that graduates take this idea home with them and there perceive their opportunities to promote public discourse”. He is convinced that even in countries where another understanding of democracy is prevalent, lasting changes can be achieved.

Rodrigo Rodembusch is looking forward to the international setting at the Deutsche Welle. For him, being able to work together with colleagues from all over the world is already a step in the direction to democracy. He hopes he can explain his country to his fellow students and make them more familiar with it. And also that he will learn more about their countries: “The greatest thing is the bridges you build by talking with and learning from others.”