Govt. to promote IIMCs as institutes of national importance: Bimal Julka

Information and Broadcasting Ministry Secretary Bimal Julka on Tuesday said the government was committed to facilitate high standards of education in the field of journalism and communication at the Indian Institute Mass Communication through a series of new initiatives.

He said the ministry was working out the modalities and the draft bill to establish IIMC as an "Institute of National Importance" was in the final stages of preparation.

Julka stated this while delivering his convocation address at the 46th Convocation function of the IIMC here.

Elaborating further, Julka said consequent to IIMC being granted the status of an "Institute of National Importance" it would enable the institute to award degrees, in addition to the Post-Graduate Diplomas it currently awards.

IIMC would also be able to start courses at the post-graduate level, award M.Phil and Ph.D degrees and conduct research to enhance its role as a think-tank on communication and media studies. It could also advise the Government in framing media and communication policies conducive to the growth and development of the nation.

Julka also mentioned that the current convocation ceremony was extremely significant as the students from all six centres of IIMC were being conferred with post-graduate diplomas for the very first time.

In this context, he mentioned that necessary funds had been provided by the ministry to the institute for construction of permanent campuses once land had been allotted by the state governments.

Julka also mentioned that IIMC had also expanded its horizons internationally and had recently signed two significant international cooperation agreements: one with the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia and another with the University Mayor in Santiago, Chile.

These initiatives provided a platform for fruitful cooperation in academic programmes, research and in student and faculty exchange initiatives.

The bilateral agreement would also facilitate short term training programmes for officers of the Indian Information Service. At the same time it would also enable the institute to undetake joint research projects.

At the convocation ceremony, 316 students from all six campuses of IIMC in the country received their post-graduate diplomas.

Awards to 26 outstanding students from all six campuses were also presented for their excellence in the various PG Diploma Courses.

Sugam Singhal of Jammu Centre topped the Jammu Regional Centre and also secured the highest marks in the PG Diploma Course in Journalism (English) amongst all six centres of IIMC country-wide.

Sumit Sundriyal won the PTI Award in the PG Diploma Course in Journalism (Hindi), while Abhishek Malhotra, bagged the Shri Achin Ganguly Memorial Award in the PG Diploma Course in Advertising and Public Relations.

Divya Sathyanarayanan won the Star TV Award for securing the highest marks in the PG Diploma Course in Radio and TV Journalism.

With the commencement of the Jammu and Kottayam Regional Centres of IIMC in the academic year 2012-13, this was the first time that students of the PG Diploma Course in Journalism (English) from all six campuses of IIMC country-wide received their diplomas and awards at the convocation.

The six campuses of IIMC are located at New Delhi, Aizawl, Amravati, Jammu, Kottayam and Dhenkanal.