Emphasis on both theory and practice: Apart from classroom learning, students get hands-on professional experience. They run their own workshops for their respective concentrations: Chinese journalism / International Journalism students produce a Chinese / English experimental newspaper and manage a news website on a regular basis, while Broadcast Journalism students engage in online and campus broadcasting. All students are also required to take an internship in their second year of study. The Department finds all of them a placement that will give them first-hand knowledge of how the news operates in their area of specialisation.
Integration of experience in and out of the classroom: Besides workshop assignments and internships, students have contact with seasoned journalists who are invited to the university to speak in class or at guest lectures. Students also visit local news organisations, and the Department makes reporting trips in Hong Kong, as well as to mainland China and overseas to cover important social events.
Small-class teaching: The Departmentís ethic is that students should have plenty of individual and small-group contact with academic staff in order to enhance their learning through discussion and feedback. To this end, specialist subjects are taught in small concentration-only classes. All students are assigned in their first year to tutors and remain in these tutorial groups throughout their course. They also have good formal and informal access to all academic and support staff of the Department.
Encouragement of academic exchange: Many students take the opportunity provided by our exchange partnerships to spend a semester in another country or overseas such as Canada, Australia, the UK, USA, Singapore, Mainland China and Taiwan. Our classes also benefit from the participation of students from our overseas partners.
Enhancement of language skills: Throughout the programme, students are encouraged to master the three spoken and two written languages essential to gaining a competitive edge in Hong Kong: written Chinese and English, and oral English, Putonghua and Cantonese.