The Admission Caravan 2016-2017 has been these days in the northern capital of the country, Balti municipality, where a meeting was organized with over 30 graduates of the journalism and philology departments of the Alecu Russo State University. The youths found out about the possibilities that the School of Advanced Journalism offers to all those who are considering work in the media after graduation.

The meeting began with a general presentation of the School of Advanced Journalism. The Balti university students were informed about the courses that are held at the School, about trainers, study program, admission conditions, and the perspectives that are opening for them after graduation. The School’s director Sorina Stefarta spoke about the importance of practical training of journalists. “At the SAJ, students learn in conditions of an editorial office. Theoretical courses alternate with fieldwork, where our students do works for radio, television, print or online media. For that, we provide them with all the necessary equipment: photo and video cameras, voice recorders, tripods and microphones. Thus, the School prepares universal journalists, who after graduation will be able to easily find jobs in any media outlet in the country,” she said.

Another important aspect discussed at the meeting was related to ethics and professional deontology. According to Nadine Gogu, director of the Independent Journalism Center, today, when the media market is so diverse and accessible to anyone, it is extremely important to take into consideration the need to prepare fair, neutral and impartial journalists: “This aspect is taught at the SAJ’s course of ethics and professional deontology and the course of media legislation. Our goal is for students to learn doing press from the mistakes of their industry peers.”

Among participants in the discussion there were SAJ student Iurie Botnarenco and Alecu Russo University and SAJ graduate Dumitru Pelin. “I chose the SAJ because here we are trained by those who practice this craft day by day. We learn from them how to write news, film TV reports and edit materials for radio. Our trainers are the best journalists of our country: Vitalie Dogaru, Vasile Botnaru, Liliana Barbarosie, Alina Radu and lots of others come to teach us how to do quality journalism,” Iurie said.

In his turn, Dumitru Pelin spoke to students about his own path towards journalism, as he also went through the SAJ. He was sure that any young person who chooses to study at the SAJ has good chances to find a job after graduation, regardless of location. “It is important to want to work and to like what you do, since there are jobs for everyone,” said Dumitru, who currently works for BTV television in Balti together with another SAJ graduate, Irina Baxan.

In the end, all participants received copies of the newspaper produced by the School of Advanced Journalism students in spring 2015 as part of the course of community journalism, and they also found out how and where they can find us. Details about SAJ admission, courses and trainers can be found at www.scoaladejurnalism.md or on our Facebook page.