Journalism training in Kyrgyzstan is entirely based on Russian universities’ programmes and is outdated both in content and technically, said Aleksey Gurkin, chair of journalism and mass communications department at the American University in Central Asia (AUCA).
“In most cases the curriculum that is being used here is largely based on the curriculum being used in Russian universities. In the best scenario it will be the Moscow State University, and in the worst one of those peripheral universities in Russia. The problem is that the Russian style of journalism is very specific. And the people who develop curriculums are those who are followers of this specific model of journalism,” said Gurkin. “A lot of materials and the way of teaching itself are outdated, because substantial resources are required to update the programmes continuously. And in our case we don’t have even our own learning materials”.
The main problem with using the Russian curriculum and learning materials is that nobody tries to adapt them to local needs and even understand what is really needed. “We basically take Russian programmes and transplant them here, which is not always the best option. The best practices come from other countries and in this case it is Russia; however they need to be adapted to local needs and this is something that is missing. It plays a negative role in terms of how in tune we are with contemporary developments in the media world,” added Gurkin.
According to Gurkin, Kyrgyz journalism still contains a lot of details borrowed from the Soviet school of journalism because it mostly copies the Russian way of doing journalism. “It is not appropriate at all. We are lagging behind current tendencies of journalism”.
In AUCA teachers use an interdisciplinary approach; however they have to struggle with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Education which condemns them for not complying with state standards. As AUCA uses an American style of teaching journalism as opposed to state standards based on a Russian one, there is a reason for conflict.
“We believe we are preparing students who are more adaptable to a modern media environment and a modern journalism profession”, said Gurkin.
Lack of technical resources is another problem which affects the journalism teaching process. If, for example, students are interested in broadcast journalism they often have no opportunity to practice gained skills using modern video, editing or sound equipment. “They often end up applying for jobs in the local TV channels and start to use equipment they have just seen for the first time in their lives,” added Gurkin.
The lack of younger professionals also is a big issue for journalism departments in Kyrgyzstan. In the Kyrgyz National University, most of the teachers used to be journalists in the Soviet Times, more than 20 years ago. It affects enormously the quality of education, according to Gurkin.
“When something happens in Kyrgyzstan foreign journalists come here and do things themselves rather than working with local journalists or commissioning to them to produce something. That is not because most of them don’t speak English or that some of them cannot produce material up to standard to be published by the foreign media. It is because they simply have no contacts abroad and are very local-oriented,” said Gurkin.
Aleksey Gurkin also said how prestigious and popular among potential students the journalism profession is. If you are interested please listen to his short interview below.
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