By TAMURA YASUTAKA
Global Business Journalists showcases the diversity of the world in a unique master's degree program at Tsinghua University.
Since the program was launched in 2007, aspiring journalists from 65 countries have studied in the partnership created by Tsinghua University and the International Center for Journalists, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. The program, designed to improve economic and business coverage worldwide, is supported by Bloomberg News through funding, training, internships and a high-level lecture series.
One key strength of Global Business Journalism is its diversity and multicultural environment, says program co-director Rick Dunham, a longtime Washington correspondent and former National Press Club president. Since the program set enrollment targets in 2013, it has averaged new 18.5 international students per year from 13 countries. No nation represents more than 15 percent of the total enrollment.
The United States and Canada are the top suppliers of Global Business Journalism students, followed by South Korea, Australia, Russia, Thailand France and Singapore. Eleven African nations have been represented, led by South Africa and Zimbabwe.
GBJ students learn from each other through “cross-cultural communications,” said Bapati Mmotlanyane, 24, a student from Botswana who enrolled in this year.
“We all come from different backgrounds [and] different media landscapes, which is a plus for an aspiring journalist who wants to establish themselves on the global stage of international journalism,” he said.