Known as "the Family of Journalists" the Fudan University School of Journalism celebrated its 80th birthday on October 31. More than 1,500 alumni and guests from both home and abroad participated in a ceremony to mark the occasion.

The Fudan University School of Journalism has been training people to work in professional media for the past 80 years, with nearly ten thousand undergraduates and graduate students. The School has over 1,100 students, with nine master degree courses and four doctor degree courses in four disciplines, including radio and television journalism and advertising and communication. A large number of outstanding media people in various related fields all over the country have studied at the School.

The International Forum for Deans from World-renowned Schools of Journalism held a meeting recently at the School of Journalism at Fudan University entitled "Journalism and Communication Education in the Age of Media: Idea, Objective and Strategy". Close to 80 participants from the Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas, including several deans from universities around the world, joined the discussion.

Five main aspects were discussed at the meeting: the new features of journalism education in the era of modern media; the challenge of journalism education caused by media convergence; the new requirements of professional teachers in the era of modern media; the evolution of journalism courses and curriculum schedules; the exchange of information and cooperation of journalism education in the global environment.

Participants all agreed that in the age of the Internet, especially due to globalization, journalism education is facing unprecedented challenges.

Song Chao, dean of the School of Journalism at Fudan University, said the evolution of journalism education has to be based on the combination of tradition and new creation. "If only we could combine the knowledge from history and the current practice together, innovation is possible," he said.

"How to build your own characteristic is the question that should be considered by each media organization. We need to strengthen information exchanges and cooperation, which is the only way to bring up the real professional journalist at the moment," he added.