Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication received preliminary accrediting from one of the most prestigious international accrediting agencies for journalism and communication education from October 11th to 14th, 2009. As Executive Dean of the School Li Xiguang said, "We are trying to be the first Journalism School in China that gets international accreditation."

Susanne Shaw, Executive Director of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC), and Richard Cole, former Vice President of ACEJMC, conducted a site visit to the School during the four days. They listened to faculty's presentations, talked to the students and undergraduates, met the Vice President of Tsinghua University, and completed a preliminary report on the School.

They were quite impressed by the overall performance of the School. "We are surprised that the School has such a diversified student body and faculty," Professor Cole said, "The teachers are all qualified, both in teaching and research work; the School has a strong leader; all the equipment meets international standard."

As the two experts put in their preliminary report, the School meets most of the nine standards that ACEJMC sets for journalism and mass communication education. However, they also gave genuine suggestions on how to improve the teaching and researching quality of the School.

"There are three things that the School has to start preparing from now to get the accreditation,"Professor Shaw said, "the School must set a strategic plan for the next few years, give a clear definition to Diversity, and design an evaluation mechanism for learning outcomes."

Professor Cole also suggested that the School should add more Liberal Arts and Science courses from other schools, in order to expand the students' knowledge base.

The international accreditation of School of Journalism and Communication is greatly supported by the University. Vice President Xie Weihe highly praised the School's courage and determination to get the international accreditation.

Executive Vice President Chen Jining said on the preliminary report meeting on the 14th, "In order to develop characteristic journalism and communication education, we should put more emphasis on getting the international accreditation. School of Journalism and Communication just shows an excellent example. "

It is a University policy that all the schools must get international accreditation within the next three years to be more internationalized, and the University will conduct a reform accordingly, said Chen Jining.

Base in the United States, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications is dedicated to fostering and encouraging excellence and high standards in professional education in journalism and mass communications. Professor Cole is Dean Emeritus of School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Professor Shaw now teaches Journalism at the University of Kansas.

Professor Shaw and Professor Cole talked to the students.

The ACEJMC experts met Xie Weihe, the Vice President of Tsinghua University.

The ACEJMC experts had the international accrediting report meeting with Chen Jining, Executive Vice President of Tsinghua University, Luo Lisheng,Chief of Office of International Cooperation and Exchange,He Kebin, Dean of Tsinghua Graduate School and TSJC faculty.