Current Trends in Journalism Education as Responding to Professional Journalistic Standards and Demands of Media Industry

Abstract

In this study, we discuss the training of mass communication specialists in terms of competence approach and compliance with professional standards. The relevance of the topic of the study is due to changes in journalism education in Russia and abroad, the emergence of organizational innovations in higher education, and the development trends of the system of professional journalism. The study examined the formation of professional competencies, job responsibilities, knowledge, skills, and abilities in students as a result of mastering the basic educational curriculum for Bachelor's and Master's degree programs in journalism. The study was based on the educational standard and the basic educational program for Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Journalism at the Institute of Philology and Journalism of the National Research University Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod. The methodology allowed us to study effective strategies in contemporary media education and a comparative typological analysis of the types of professional journalistic activities. To evaluate the quality of education and the professional standing of future journalists on the labor market, journalism students of the Institute of Philology and Journalism of Lobachevsky University were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The survey participants were 2nd–4 year undergraduate students and first-year graduate students. The experience of the Institute of Philology and Journalism of Lobachevsky University in developing and implementing self-established educational standards illustrates one of the vectors of modernizing the basic educational program for Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Journalism, which represents a balanced combination of the needs of employers, the traditions of classical education, and an awareness of the social, cultural and educational role of journalism in society. The authors concluded that it is necessary to continuously work on improving the process of training future specialists in the field of mass communication, in accordance with the opportunities for further professional self-fulfillment of graduates. The results of this study may be of interest to the developers of educational programs in the field of journalism, the staff of educational and methodological commissions, and the executive staff of educational institutions of higher education.