Changes I would make to my study programme

As of november 2020, I'm studying a journalism career in the University of Chile. I've been studying this for the last four years, and to be honest, I have a very critical point of view towards the programme we have. This programme is actually pretty new, and if I'm right, my generation was the first one to have it. I don't know how it was before I joined.

First of, I want to say some positive things about the programme. We have a five year-long programme, which in my opinion, is the precise time necessary to get to know most of the important stuff to use once we are out. I also think that the focus on practical  over teorical learning is a really good idea, which is reflected in the way that each class has more out of class hours of work compared to the in class work hours. This also translates in a bigger workload, but most teachers are very attentive when a student needs help. 

However, I think the study programme has a very big problem in how it divides the different types of journalism between the five years. The first year is completely focussed on written press, with more specialized classes during the second, third and fourth year. The second year is when we have the radio and photography classes, while the third has a llot of television. What I'm trying to get to with this is that most of the programme is focused on written press, and the other types of journalism seem more like an afterthought. It's like if the university said "Oh! You're interested in radio/television? Well, have just two classes and go back to writing. You think you need more time to know about radio/television? Bad luck". I think we should have a more balanced programme to be prepared to different types of jobs.

Another problem I have is with the use of technologies. We have a big radio studio, a television set, and many video editing rooms that we rarely use, and what we learn in classes about editing programs is very limited. That means that, if in the future we get a job which requires editing skills, we are limited to do only basic stuff. The university has access to all the adobe line-up of software, which are industry standards. They should allow us to use them and help us to learn how to use them properly.

I think that our study programme is flawed. There are a lot of skills a journalist should have nowadays, yet our university focuses mostly in written press, which is only a little part of what a professional should be able to do. We have the physical space, we have the equipement, and we have te teachers. I don't think there is an excuse to keep having such a limited set of classess.