The Newsroom Nursery

With industry-led curriculum updates, DMCS is redefining media education for the digital communications era

- By DHAVAL S. KULKARNI

The Department of Media and Communication Studies (DMCS) at Savitribai Phule Pune University was founded on a remarkably prescient idea.

In 1990, when television was still emerging as a major force in India, Prof. E.V. Chitnis—the space scientist who helped establish ISRO and later chaired the Press Trust of India—recognised the potential of electronic media after a visit to the US. At the time, the university’s well-known Ranade Institute was the primary destination for journalism education in the region. Chitnis pushed for a separate department focused on the emerging world of electronic media, laying the foundation for what would become DMCS.