The prestigious government-run institution of journalism and media studies, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is going to be upgraded into an international university in order to cater to the increasing demands of the media industry, said Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the Information and Broadcasting Minister of India on Thursday, June 12, 2008. ‘I am very happy to announce that we have decided to upgrade the IIMC as an international media university’, stated Mr Dasmunsi. He then informed that this idea has already been okayed by the Planning Commission, whereas his own Ministry is currently busy turning IIMC into a global standard media education, training and research university.

 

As such, an Act of Parliament will soon be passed to change the institution’s status. The Indian Institute of Mass Communication is at the moment proffering courses like post-graduate course in journalism in English, post-graduate diploma course in Hindi journalism, post-graduate diploma course in radio and TV journalism, post-graduate diploma in advertising and public relations and diploma course in development journalism. The Indian Information and Broadcasting Minister also underscored that the media industry in the country is growing at the rate of 19 per cent on an overall basis and is further predicted to grow at compound annual growth rate of 18 percent in the next five years.