Spotlight on a career in Media - International School of Business and Media

Spotlight on a career in Media - A conversation with Prof Ujjwal Chowdhury, ISB&M School of Communication, Pune
 
Inspired by the boom in the Media & Entertainment industry? Aspire to become the hottest media honcho in the next five years? Want to be the one to flash the breaking news on India’s reputed television channel?

Do you dream of becoming the next Indian to win the prestigious Oscar in film production? Or become the most sought-after brand manager and advertising professional?

Well, if you want to explore plenty of glamorous media career options… then you must begin with the right media education at a Media-school which offers you a strong, well-balanced academic-industry exposure.

India’s happening Media school—‘ISB&M School of Communication’ is one destination to kick-start your journey to the top of the Media industry with job-oriented undergraduate courses in Mass Communication – right after Class 12!

Shiksha.Com—India’s largest educational and career portal—is proud to interact with the dynamic media academician—Prof Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury—Executive Director—ISB&M School of Communication—India’s largest ever media school—on what makes their Bachelor’s courses in Mass Media and Multimedia technology courses the most sought after career option amongst the young and bubbly media professionals!!! 

Shiksha.Com: Thank you so much for taking time out from your busy schedule. In your opinion, why do you think careers in mass media are becoming a craze amongst the Class 12 students?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: Thank you so much for being a part of this informative and educative career portal. The last decade has seen sweeping changes in the media and entertainment industry across all media. Be it journalism, advertising, public relations, film and television production, animation, event management, multimedia. Everything is changing. Naturally, everyone wants to be a part of this exciting change.

Shiksha.Com: What makes ISB&M School of Communication unique from other media colleges in India?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: ISB&M School of Communication was started way back in 2001. It is growing year by year under the dynamic leadership qualities of Founder-President—Dr Pramod Kumar—a  renowned management academician who had an illustrious academic career with Ph D from IIT, working in IIM Ahmedabad, XLRI, and in SIBM Pune as Director before launching ISB&M in 2000.
ISB&M School of Communication is the only media institute with four campuses in four major cities in four regions of India. This will help us to integrate the best inputs of stalwarts from around the country through video conferencing and knowledge management systems and pursuing centralized placements across India.

Our idea is to take the best of the national capital (Delhi-NOIDA), knowledge-IT capital (Bengaluru), cultural capital (Kolkata), and educational capital (Pune), with proximity of the business capital (Mumbai): the entirety of INDIA.

Shiksha.Com: Currently, which of your campuses are offering the Bachelors programme in Mass Media and Multimedia technology?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury:  Our Bachelors media programme is currently being offered at our Pune and Kolkata campuses. In the years to come, we would like to introduce the Bachelors media programme in Noida and Bengaluru too.

Shiksha.Com: What are the various courses offered by your institute for the Bachelors programmes? Do you have any affiliation? 

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury:  We offer two Bachelor’s programmes for undergraduate students. First is called Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication, Advertising and Journalism (BSCMCAJ) which we began in 2006.

The other is called Bachelor of Science in Multimedia Technology (BSCMT) which we will be commencing from this academic year. Both these courses are UGC recognized and affiliated to Punjab Technical University.

Shiksha.Com: Could you elaborate on the course content for the BSCMCAJ programme?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: Our BSCMCAJ programmes have been very popular amongst our students over the last four years. The course content is very elaborate and detailed as per the requirements of media industry. It also has a wide scope for practical assignments and internships.

The subject matter includes communication, mass communication, print and broadcast journalism, radio, public relations, event management, cyber journalism, photojournalism, global media, advertising, TV and film production, contemporary media technologies, information technology and government information systems.

Shiksha.Com: Could you tell us what kind of course content will be offered for the newly launched BSc in Multimedia Technology?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: The new Bachelor course in Multimedia Technology will expose students to areas like sketching, desktop publishing, digital art photography, web designing, 2D animation, flash website design, video production, sound editing, script writing and story board designing.

Shiksha.Com: ISB&M has introduced innovative teaching pedagogies to suit the requirements of the media industry. What are your new teaching pedagogies?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: We follow two pedagogic models. One is called Medical-Hospital model. Here the students study in the classroom half the day and the remaining part of the day, they work on hands-on projects, labs and organizations.
Our second model is experiential ‘Brick & Portal model’. Here, half the focus is on practical exposure. The other half being on ‘brick and mortar’ classroom teaching, and ‘click and portal’ internet-based learning.

Internet-based learning shall be emphasized both inside and outside the class, through advanced searches, primary research through the net, and developing online case-studies, etc.

Shiksha.Com: Multiple internships form an important aspect of ISB&M School of Communication’s learning process? Could you throw light on the same?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: At ISB&M School of Communication, multiple internships are an integral part of the learning process. Our internships aim to expose the students to real life work experiences in the media industry.

For this, it is compulsory for every student to pursue their internships between every year. One month in a development sector and two months in the media and communication houses as per his or her area of specialization in any part of the country.

Shiksha.Com: ISB&M School of Communication has introduced the concept of experiential learning? What is it all about? 

 
Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: From this year onwards, we have introduced experiential learning through eight live hands-on projects, each with a client and supervised by someone from the industry and faculty. The projects are selected largely according to specialization area of the trainee. This will enhance the trainee’s curriculum vitae as well as diverse practical knowledge.
These projects will involve writing for portals and publications, making documentary or short fiction film, musicals, radio production and jingles, content and design for a website, organizing a major event for a client, advertising campaign, designing a brand manual, editing work for a publication, social or market research, etc.

Shiksha.Com: What infrastructure facility does your Communication school offer?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: Our faculties are experienced with a mixture of industry experience and academic background. Our team of faculties have held reputed positions and worked with the best names and media schools in India. Some of them are Dr Keval Kumar, John Thomas, Subhasini Dinesh, Dr Amitabh Srivastava, Malay Dasgupta, Dr Raja Pokrapurkar. In addition to this, we have a team of visiting and guest faculties directly from the industry. 

 
We have a state of art media and multimedia lab with latest computers and equipments. Our multimedia lab is well equipped with professional production, graphics and multi-lingual software like 2D and 3D animations, Movie Magic and Storyboarding.
We have installed an advanced non-linear editing suite which operates on Apple Macintosh G4 Dual Processor platform with a dedicated DV Final cut pro-editing package. Our acoustically studio floor is equipped with latest digital HDV cameras, light and sound systems. Our library is well stocked with wide range of text books, reference books, newspapers, magazines, journals and a vast of collection of audio visual clippings and films.

Shiksha.Com: ISB&M School of Communication is known for its cent percent placements both in India and abroad. Can you share with us your job placements that your institute has to offer?  

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury:  That true. ISB&M throughout its decade long existence is known for its cent percent quality placements. We have over 300 plus well known recruiters in the media sector alone.

Some of our big regular recruiters include BBC World, Reuters, Times of India, Ogilvy and Mather, Leo Burnett, Lowe Lintas, CNN-IBN, NDTV, Sony Entertainment, Hanmer and Partners, Genesis PR, Perfect Relations, Yash Raj Films, Balaji Telefilms, Miditech productions and others.

Our 2000 plus alumni are excelling in their media careers. Some of them have made their mark internationally and are holding top positions in Dubai, Amsterdam, Scotland, Malaysia, Singapore, New York and Sydney. 

Shiksha.Com: Finally, what is your take on the future of media and entertainment industry in India?

Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury: The future of media and entertainment industry is very exciting and dynamic in the years to come. In 2010, it is Rs.790 billion industry in 2010 compared to Rs 436 billion in 2006.  It is expected to cross Rs.1000 billion by the end of the next year, 2011. The third round of liberalization of the air-waves is scheduled in 2010 which should bring in 240+ radio stations and 60+ television channels.

Date: 11th May,2010

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