Due to the uncertainty surrounding regional travel as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, KAS Media Africa will not be offering post-graduate journalism scholarships to study at the Journalism Department of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa in 2021. Instead, KAS, in partnership with Wits, will offer an online certificate course in Media Management for up to 20 senior journalists from across the continent.

The 2020 Covid crisis forced Wits, along with other universities, to move its teaching online, which has proved challenging but ultimately successful. The popular Media Management course, taught by well-known former editor Paula Fray, has been reworked as an online course, and is ideally suited for senior journalists who want to move into management roles.

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of the business of the media industry and will cover strategic planning for media managers and introductions to human resources, regulatory structures, finance management, marketing and audience analysis. It would be taught through a combination of seminars on Zoom, exercises, readings and other learning activities and assessed through a portfolio of work. Those achieving a pass mark will be issued with a Certificate of Competence by the University of the Witwatersrand.

A call for applications for the Media Management online certificate course will be put out in early 2021, watch this space!