The admission process in Delhi College of arts and commerce (DCAC) proceed like every other college in Delhi University. After qualifying the percentage cut off, the applicant has to rush to the college and get the documents verified by filling an offline form of the respective college. The entire process ultimately ends by paying off the fee. Amidst of chaos of admissions a year ago, I was equally excited about being the part of one of the most prestigious University of India. After analyzing the courses and colleges, I finally rested my fingers on DCAC for BA (Hons.) Journalism. My decision of pursuing journalism as a career was quite surprising for my family. I was, no doubt facing hostility from everyone I could remember now, for selecting “not a mainstream” course which lacks job security, but I somehow chose to be stubborn.
Choosing DCAC for pursuing journalism proved to be the best decision for me. DCAC, being the first college to start the journalism degree course in Delhi University, ranks among the top ten journalism college in India and ranks 2nd after LSR in DU. DCAC along with Maharaja Agrasen is the only co-ed colleges in DU, providing journalism, building opportunities for boys who want to give themselves a chance. Journalism is among the most popular courses of the college. The cut off for the course in DCAC generally range from 94% and above for general category.
So, what one studies in journalism? Everything. The course is a perfect blend of all forms of mass communication including advertising, public relations, print and television journalism, reporting and editing, documentary, filmmaking, and production along with a rigorous training on communication research. The course helps in building a distinct vision towards the world as well as a power of critical analysis. It takes your mind to question everything you encounter, rather than being a passive citizen. In DCAC, we don’t actually have any books for the course, the only aid here becomes the class lectures and the Internet. People often misinterpret this fact as journalism is as simple as ABC, unfamiliar with the reality that a journalist must be aware of everything from history, political science to economics, advertising, and cultural studies. The students have to read about everything and anything they find interesting, which can’t be confined within few books. However, I must say, journalism is more about field and less about theory.
Faculties play the major role in making the degree course worth in DCAC. They teach in a student-friendly manner, always prefer dialogues and discussions, cooperate with every student and often suggest internships which always prove to be beneficial. The HOD has a liaison with other media firms and often invite various journalists for seminars, lectures, and talks with the students. Recently, Rohit Gandhi, an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker visited the college for a seminar on “War Reporting”. They often keep us engaged with presentations and assignment which enhance public speaking and knowledge on social and current issues. These small projects are finally followed by the most important research work and preparation of a thesis in the last semester of the course.
The Journalism Department of DCAC also organizes their annual fest- SCOOP which attracts crowd across the university to various informative events such as Ad-mat, media debate, street play, documentary filmmaking, photography, general quiz and many more. The council members of the department always welcome the ideas and suggestions of other students. On the final day of the scoop, the department releases its annual newspaper, Critique and conduct panel discussions and interviews with prominent media personalities and political leaders. Seema Mustafa (The Asian Age), Snigdha Poonam (Hindustan Times) and Manisha Pandey (News Laundry) were the panel members in SCOOP’18, among others.
However, the DCAC’s software seems upgraded and cool but the hardware needs quite a lot of maintenance. I mean the infrastructure and management are degraded as compared to many other colleges of DU. The media lab stands negligible as it is always kept locked by the authorities. Indeed, it hinders the practical knowledge of the students which the course and college promise to offer. Though this can be unraveled to an extent as one gets ample time for internships and gaining practical knowledge of the real working environment. This proves to be the most advantageous factor, especially for a journalism student, as the college never interrupts in attendance issues, giving students a chance to perfectly balance their learning and working plans.
The placement cell of the college is quite active. However, it faces the same dearth injournalism particularly, like every other college in DU because media industries generally don’t have vacancies every year for freshers.
But we must be confident enough to handle the ebb and flow of our lives because that make it worth living. DCAC embrace the most happening crowd in Delhi University and for me, this has been the best choice, making all my efforts and difficulties worth at the end.
