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UNESCO and EU inaugurate new equipment at Yarmouk University
Irbid, 29 April, 2018 - Today, the European Union (EU), the UNESCO Amman office and Yarmouk University officially inaugurated the new equipment at Yarmouk鈥檚 Faculty of Mass Communication and Yarmouk FM.
As part of the EU funded and UNESCO implemented 鈥淪upport to Media in Jordan鈥 project, several local radios and universities including Yarmouk University and Middle East University were provided with new equipment. Under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Mohammad al Momani, Minister of State for Media Affairs, the official inauguration of equipment attracted high level attendance including, H.E. Mr. Andrea Fontana, EU Ambassador to Jordan, and Ms. Costanza Farina, UNESCO representative to Jordan.
The EU provided the new equipment as part of an overall 1.5 million euro contribution, designed to improve the ability of beneficiaries to provide high quality media content and train the next generation of media leaders. The equipment is provided in conjunction with an extensive capacity development program implemented by UNESCO for each institution, which aims at strengthening both university education in journalism and the quality of radio production and diversity. At Yarmouk, the equipment includes new workstations for three multimedia labs, a new mixer, a professional tuner, a professional CD/MP3 player, headphones, microphones for Yarmouk FM, new studio cameras, a prompter and much more for the radio and TV studios.
During the ceremony, H.E. Mr. Andrea Fontana, EU Ambassador to Jordan said, 鈥淭he European Union values support to media as a key development and advocacy actor. We support media in Jordan in different spheres and we recognize the role media plays in promoting democratic debate, strengthening inclusive development and diversity and enhancing community engagement".
Dr. Zidan Qafafe, President of Yarmouk University thanked the EU and UNESCO for their contribution to the higher education sector. He stated, "We are proud of this strategic partnership which has had a positive impact on the educational outputs of academic programs, especially the Faculty of Mass Communication. This generous support by the European Union is considered motivation for the University to maintain quality and professional levels in journalism education".
Ms. Costanza Farina, UNESCO Representative to Jordan shared, 鈥淭oday鈥檚 inauguration of equipment is the culmination of the support that the European Union and UNESCO have provided for improving entry-level journalism curricula at the University. We are very pleased that along with the new equipment, each year over 1,000 students will now be exposed to modern courses and methodologies in journalism education. Improving the quality of teaching will be complemented by the state-of-the-art equipment鈥.
At the TV and radio studios, an official ribbon cutting occurred and students received the guests in the studio and presented the equipment. Carrying on to the new multimedia labs, a second ribbon cutting took place while students presented their projects before leading guests to the Yarmouk FM studios. Following a third and final ribbon cutting at Yarmouk FM, both H.E. Dr. Momani and H.E. Mr. Fontana were interviewed for radio, discussing the impact of the project on entry-level journalism education in Jordan. Guests gathered for a closing reception and media interviews.
The event provided the students of the mass communication faculty at Yarmouk University with an opportunity to share with the donors and high-level officials how the project has helped in providing practical, hands-on experience in the classroom.
The new equipment is complemented by an extensive curriculum revision of entry-level journalism education, supported by UNESCO in cooperation with Canal France International (CFI) since 2016 at Yarmouk University in Irbid and Middle East University in Amman to address emerging industry needs and reach international standards of journalism education As a result of this work, three new courses (Digital Media, Journalism Ethics and Investigative Journalism for Radio and TV) have been approved.
