UST journalism program now a department

THE country's and Southeast Asia's oldest journalism program is now a department in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Arts and Letters.

Since Aug. 1, 2024, the Journalism Program and five others of the university's liberal arts college were elevated into new departments, effectively making all major courses under a department.

UST is known to be Southeast Asia's first institution offering a communication or journalism-oriented degree program since 1929.

The University of Santo Tomas is the pioneer institution in Southeast Asia for offering communication or journalism-oriented degree program since 1929. PHOTO FROM HTTPS://WWW.UST.EDU.PH

Until the new department's establishment last week, the UST Journalism Program was under the Department of Communication and Media Studies, along with the Communication Program, now also a department.

The Journalism Program's adviser, Felipe Salvosa II, welcomed the new development.

«Our elevation to a department shows the university's commitment to delivering top-notch education to a new generation of digital and multi-platform Thomasian journalists,» Salvosa said in a statement shared by the UST Journalism Society on Monday.

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«As a department, the UST Journalism Faculty can now pursue a more independent curricular and research agenda anchored on innovations in reporting and content distribution and be more prepared to confront the challenges posed by social media dominance and [artificial intelligence],» he added.

Salvosa said the creation of the Journalism Department gave flexibility in offering new programs that included Media Informatics and is a «prelude» to a spinoff of Journalism and Communication into a «separate college.»

«This new department also reflects the heightened demands of the jobs of academic officials[:] curriculum development; local and international quality assurance and regulatory compliance; student recruitment, admission, retention and degree completion; mentoring and organization advising; extension and community development; faculty recruitment and development; and many others,» he said.

Salvosa thanked UST Arts and Letters Dean Melanie Turingan, former deans Jacqueline Lopez-Kaw,