Institute of Journalism develops international online course
Under the direction of Prof. Susanne Fengler, the Institute of Journalism Studies (IJ) is developing an online course on EU cohesion policy together with other universities and journalism institutes. The teaching material will be available to all universities in the European Union that train journalists at Bachelor level. The special feature: In addition to English, the course content will also be offered in the respective national language. The project was launched in January at the kick-off event in the Erich Brost House. The project is being funded by the European Commission with one million euros and is entitled “Covering Cohesion Policy in Europe - Training MOOC for European Journalism Students” (COPE).
Photo: TU Dortmund
COPE aims to provide teaching content on reporting on EU cohesion policy - i.e. policies designed to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union. A course of this size is called a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The project partners are jointly creating such an online course with 14 modules in English, which will then be translated into the national languages of the European Union. The online course is to be tested by journalism students at all 27 universities involved in the project in early 2024.
TU Dortmund University to develop three modules and manage the project
The Institute of Journalism Studies will develop three modules of the course. Professor of International Journalism Susanne Fengler and Professor of Economic Policy Journalism Henrik Müller are responsible for this. Prof. Susanne Fengler will also be in charge of COPE. “The media play a decisive role for political and social cohesion in Europe,” she says, “both for the creation of a European public sphere and for the perception of EU policy among the member states.” The project is of enormous importance, especially in view of the impact of the war in Ukraine on Europe. Good journalism would enable citizens of the European Union to better understand and critically engage with EU policy in the future, for example during elections.
In addition to the researchers from the Institute of Journalism Studies, Professor Christoph Schuck from the Institute of Philosophy and Political Science at TU Dortmund University is also involved in the project.
Isabella Kurkowski, research associate at the IJ and Managing Director of COPE, also emphasizes that EU regional policy has hardly featured in journalism training to date and that the countries also understand the topic from different local perspectives. "COPE not only explains cohesion policy, but also teaches how to report on it. The course is intended to help train journalists across Europe in an equivalent and well-founded manner,” says Kurkowski. Florin Rugina from the EU Commission added at the project launch in the Erich Brost House: “The idea of cohesion policy is to help Europe's less developed regions in particular to develop further and create jobs, for example.” By providing all participants with the same teaching material, the aim is to train expert journalists in all countries.
Project partners
The project consortium consists of researchers and trainers from TU Dortmund University, the AP Hogeschool Antwerp in Belgium, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, the University of Wrocław in Poland, the University of Porto in Portugal, the Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania as well as the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) and the non-governmental organization Arena for Journalism in Europe.
Contact persons
Prof. Dr. Susanne Fengler susanne.fengler@tu-dortmund.de
Isabella Kurkowski isabella.kurkowski@tu-dortmund.de