New Delhi: On August 6, 2010 (Friday),Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Ambika Soni while delivering an address at the 43rd Convocation of the IIMC, New Delhi, said that under the new proposal taken to position the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) as an apex institution for providing quality education in the field on Media and entertainment, the attempt was to establish facilities, curriculum and courses at par with Global Standards.
Smt. Soni mentioned that a roadmap to initiate the process has already begun, wherein classes at the four regional centres at Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra and Mizoram would commence from the next academic session at the facilities being provided by the state governments. For this purpose, under the Twelfth Plan, funds would be provided to establish the full fledged facilities at the four regional centres.
Futhermore, Smt. Soni giving details about the up-gradation being undertaken at Delhi and Dhenkanal, has said that an up-gradation of the one-year Postgraduate Diploma Course to two-year Advanced Postgraduate Diploma Course would be undertaken along-with seeking equivalence to Masters Degree for the two-year Postgraduate Diploma Courses from Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
In addition, she stated that as a new initiative, introduction of at least two new two-year Postgraduate Diploma Courses (one each in Development Journalism and Corporate Communication & Media Management) would be undertaken. For the infrastructural development, expansion of the existing buildings at Delhi and Dhenkanal and construction of new buildings for accommodating two batches of students at a time would be undertaken along-with procurement of latest technical equipment and filling up all vacancies in the teaching as well as non-teaching category.
According to the Minister these initiatives would not only provide quality manpower to the industry, the training imparted would also ensure availability of skills, talent and professionalism with proper grooming at the inception level. She mentioned that the growth of the media and entertainment industry had been one of the success stories of the Indian economy. It was expected to grow provisionally at Rs 652 billion in 2010, culminating to Rs.1091 billion in 2014. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the period was expected to be around 13%. This growth rate was due to the development in regional markets as well as different media formats.
This growth, the Minister further added, could be sustained only if talented and skilled persons added value to the sector through their professional inputs. Hence, capacity building was a major challenge for any Government. As a consequence, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting had also undertaken specific measures to look into the needs of the Human Resources and skill upgradation in the film and animation sector.
She further mentioned that apart from IIMC efforts are being made to reposition the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) at Pune as a world class institute by upgrading and modernizing its infrastructure and facilities. She added that a Detailed Project Report (DPR) was being finalized and an outlay of Rs 52 crore has been proposed for this scheme during the eleventh Five Year Plan.
Smt. Soni informed that, similarly, in order to look into the growing demand of trained professionals in the sphere of Animation, Gaming and Visual Effects, it has been decided that a specialized National Centre for Animation, Gaming and Visual Effects will be set up to provide training and upgrading skills. Moreover, a DPR is under preparation for this scheme as well. She added that for the animation sector, the ministry was open to the idea of developing a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with interested stakeholders.
IIMC during its 43rd Convocation has awarded a total number of 259 students with diplomas for courses in Hindi & English Journalism, Advertising & PR, Radio & Television and Oriya Journalism. 44 students of IIMC, Dhenkanal were given diplomas in English Journalism.
