By: Gladys Tong (GBJ)

20 Dec -- Xinshu Zhao, Dean and Chair Professor of the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University, and Seymour Topping, Emeritus Professor of International Journalism at Columbia University also former Managing Editor of the New York Times, concluded the International Accreditation External Review Committee’s (ERC) evaluation with a high compliment of the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication (TSJC). The committee, consisted of seven members with expertise and profound contributions in media theory and practice, visited Tsinghua University’s School of Journalism and Communication on a three-day visit, which began on Dec 16.

Saturday’s closing ceremony, held in the Global Sources Hall at TSJC, marked the end of the final visit of the ERC. A preliminary accreditation visit by two of the members, Susanne Shaw, Executive Director of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) and Richard Cole, Emeritus Dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had been held in early October last year.

“TSJC enjoys the reputation of being the fastest in development and the most successful among more than 800 hundred “new” communication schools / departments established in the last fifteen years in mainland China. Based on the documents we reviewed and the interviews we conducted with faculties, students, and alumni, this fine reputation is well deserved,” commented co-chair Zhao in his conclusive remarks on behalf of the ERC members.

Tsinghua University Vice President, XieWeihe and Executive Vice President Chen Jining, gave speeches at the opening and closing ceremonies respectively, and expressed their sincere gratitude towards the committee members for their long commute to Beijing. Executive Vice President Chen thanked the ERC for taking their time to provide the school with helpful comments and suggestions that will help TSJC become one of the leading journalism schools in China within the next five years.

“It is a great honor to have you all to be sitting on this committee, you [the ERC] have done a very great job. It is really important to us, for the University is in a very critical stage to decide what is going to do for the next five years,” stated Chen, “as the next five years will lay the foundation for the next 100 years.”

The TSJC currently ranks top-five among all the journalism schools in China, according to the China’s Ministry of Education’s recent rankings. Many committee members were astonished to witness such ground-breaking results of the school, being that the school was only established eight years ago in 2002. “The speed of development [of TSJC] is amazing, it is hard to imagine anything like so, in the U.S. or anywhere in the world,” and in terms of graduation employment of TSJC graduates, “job placement shown by the graduates of the School would be the envy of the U.S. top elites”, mentioned Zhao, who has lectured in many universities in the United States and in Asia.

Through meeting with the students, alumni and faculty, the committee was truly convinced that TSJC houses’ fully dedicated professors and students who want to contribute in the society’, as described by Cole, who visited last October,’ we are particularly impressed by their [the student’s] dedication, their willingness to work in different teams, and their ability to articulate. ”

Also, figures presented on employment after graduation of TSJC students show that 44 percent of the degree graduates have earned jobs in the media industry, and 11 percent of that in government sectors.

As the Distinguished ERC co-chair, Topping, made remarkable comments on the TSJC faculty and students, “I am extremely impressed by the commitment and the enthusiasm by your students. That is something you should be proud of…it is a pleasure seeing your faculty abroad carrying the field of internationalization, such as Professor Xiguang Li, Anbin Shi and Steven Dong, and others. I congratulate you on the work you have done on internationalization.”

In conclusion, Anbin Shi, Associate Dean of International Development at the TSJC, thanked Executive Vice President Chen for his support to the School and Yin Hong, Executive Dean of TSJC, for initiating and providing tremendous backroom support in making the first-ever International Accreditation attempt in a journalism school in China a great success. After the closing ceremony, the ERC was invited to a farewell lunch at the Wenjin Hotel hosted by Yin.

[Present members of the International Accreditation External Review Committee at the closing ceremony were : Zhao Xinshu, Dean and Chair Professor of the School of Communications at the Hong Kong Baptist University; Seymour Topping, Emeritus Professor at the School of International Journalism and former Editor-in-Chief of the New York Times; Susanne Shaw, Executive Director of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC); Richard Cole, Emeritus Dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hugo De Burgh, Director of the China Media Center at the University of Westminster and Howard Sypher, Department Head in Communication at Purdue University; Eddie Kuo, Professorial Fellow of the Division of Research Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at the Nanyang Technological University.

Present Members of the Tsinghua University School Board at the closing ceremony were: Chen Jining, Executive Vice President; Peng Fangyan, Deputy Director of Liberal Arts Division; Gao Hong, Deputy Director of Graduate School; Bai Fengshan, Deputy Director of Academic Affairs Office; Jiang Shengyao, Director of Human Resources; Yin Hong, Executive Dean of TSJC; Cui Baoguo, Associate Dean of Research and Office Administration of TSJC ; Jin Jianbin, Administrative Dean of TSJC; Hu Xianzhang and Wang Jianhua, Founders and Professor Emeritus of TSJC]