Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism launches digital offensive for universities in Africa

The Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism at TU Dortmund University organised a major e-learning conference in Malawi last week. The focus was on journalism training in African countries. TU Dortmund University is currently using EU funds to develop an e-learning platform for journalism training at African universities. 

Thanks to extensive funding from the German Federal Foreign Office (AA), the organisers of the conference - Prof. Dr Susanne Fengler, Professor of International Journalism at TU Dortmund University and Director of the Erich Brost Institute, and Dr Michel Leroy, Project Manager of the EU project CoMMPASS - were able to bring together colleagues from around 20 African countries at MUBAS University - the university in Malawi's most important metropolis, Blantyre. 

In total, over 70 journalism researchers and journalism students took part in the three-day conference - from both English- and French-speaking African countries. This is still the exception on the African continent.

The figures speak for themselves: today, 1.4 billion people live on the African continent - according to United Nations calculations, there will be around twice as many by 2050. 

Population growth also presents the education systems of African countries with challenges that are almost impossible to shoulder: According to United Nations forecasts, the number of children and young people under the age of 18 will increase by 170 million by 2030.

For African countries, this means Millions of school and, in particular, university places will be needed within a very short space of time - because education is the key to recovery on the African continent, which is still lagging behind other regions of the world economically and has been hit particularly hard by global inflation.

However, according to studies by the renowned Berlin Institute for Population and Development, the resources for school and university education for Africa's younger generation are stagnating at best and are even declining in some countries. 

Prof Dr Susanne Fengler: ‘Investing in the training of young journalists is of paramount importance for African countries. Particularly in view of the rapid population growth, Africa's already often politically fragile states are being put to the test. Jobs and healthcare are becoming even scarcer than they already are. At the same time, freedom of the press is restricted in many African countries. Now more than ever, African countries need a critical public debate on how their societies intend to tackle the challenges ahead. This will only be possible if there are enough professionally trained journalists and independent editorial offices. This is where we want to make a contribution.’

In addition to Prof Fengler and Dr Leroy, the TU and the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism were joined by Dr Merle van Berkum, who is leading a comparative study on migration reporting in the countries of origin and destination of migration, also funded by the AA, and Johanna Mack, Editorial Director of the European Journalism Observatory based at the TU. Together, the Dortmund team gave the conference participants an in-depth introduction to the structures of the CoMMPASS e-learning portal, which is currently in the test phase and will go online in 2025.

The very different framework conditions for e-learning in the various African countries were also discussed intensively during the conference: While countries such as Kenya and Nigeria, as ‘digital pioneers’ in Africa, are already working with digital teaching formats, teachers and students in other African countries are struggling with overpriced costs for internet access and recurring power outages - in some cases also simply with a lack of space for concentrated online study in cramped living conditions. Here, the African journalism trainers engaged in an intensive exchange of experiences about possible solutions. 

Project website: commpass.org

Contact for enquiries: 

Dr Merle van Berkum, merle.vanberkum@tu-dortmund.de

Johanna Mack, johanna.mack@tu-dortmund.de