By Enock Sithole
The continent’s journalism educators will descend on Accra, Ghana, for the fourth Roundtable meeting of the African Journalism Education Network (AJEN), scheduled for 3-5 September 2025, at the University of Media, Arts and Communication, Institute of Journalism (UniMAC, IJ).
To be held under the theme Journalism education today: Embracing Change, Affirming the Basics and Shaping the Future, the meeting will also host the Adenauer Annual Lecture to be delivered by Professor Claudia Nothelle from the University of Magdeburg, Germany. There will also be a UNESCO-led workshop on media and information literacy.
Since its establishment in 2022, Ajen “has established itself as an important voice for journalism educators as well as a meeting place for discussion, networking and exchange, said the organisation’s president, Professor Franz Kruger.
Ajen had signed up over 200, he said, adding that its members maintain contact through the Ajenda newsletter and virtual meetings, such as the campus media symposium, which was held earlier this year. “Physical meetings have particular importance, and we are really looking forward to our meeting planned for Accra. We are particularly pleased that these events are becoming something of a hub for related activities,” he added.
During the Accra roundtable, the Fojo Media Institute, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Unesco are planning activities in conjunction with the roundtable, revealed Prof Kruger. “One of the plans we have for the roundtable is the creation of interest groups around particular topics, which will then be able to generate their own plans and activities. Already, one group exists for campus media.”
Ajen has also influenced the establishment of country journalism education networks. Said Prof Kruger: “ We are also noting the creation of networks of journalism educators in various countries, most recently Zimbabwe and Rwanda. We are happy to note these initiatives and look forward to working with colleagues in these groupings.”
The organisation is registered as a non-profit organisation under South African law. It has received financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), through the Consortium for Human Rights and Media (Charm), with the University of the Witwatersrand’s Wits Centre for Journalism and the Fojo Media Institute being the key members.
The event’s concept note indicates that “as a central aim to foster discussion, learning and an exchange of views among colleagues, Ajen plans to follow up on previous meetings in 2025. Journalism and media are going through unprecedented changes, and these realities are not lost on the journalism schools in the region. There is a need to discuss the relevance of journalism education in today’s changing environment and to also focus the discussion on ways to ensure the sustainability of journalism education. We need to continue our focus on themes like sustainability, gender, language and others”.
Ajen holding the roundtable meeting in Ghana was “an opportunity to raise the profile of the organisation in Ghana and the wider West Africa. We intend to use the opportunity to make contact with relevant institutions and organisations while in Accra”.
Prof Modestus Fosu, who is the Chairperson of the Local Organisation Committee (LOC) for the event, said UniMAC is privileged to host this conference at a time journalism education continues to face increased challenges relating to the complex web of technology, funding, content, and politics, among others.
Prof Fosu, a faculty member at UniMAC and a Board member of Ajen, said the conference promises to bring reputable scholars in media and journalism to not just Accra, but UniMAC. He said the Institute of Journalism (IJ) has been in the fore-front of journalism education and training in Africa, so UniMAC is eager to partner with Ajen and other sponsors to provide an engaging environment for fruitful discussion and networking that should mobilise ideas, resources, and opportunities aimed at improving journalism education and training across the continent.
He assures participants of the conference that the VC, Prof Eric Opoku Mensah; the Pro VC, Prof Winston Abroampa; and the entire UniMAC management are eager to welcome participants to UniMac.
The roundtable will elect a new board of directors to replace the one that was elected in Kigali in 2022.
The working conference programme will be publicised in the coming days: