ULAB MSJ hosts UNICEF-UGC proposed C4D curriculum

The Media Studies and Journalism (MSJ) Department of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) on 20 October 2020 began hosting the UNICEF-UGC proposed Communication for Development (C4D) curriculum to foster curriculum and research. The focus of the curriculum is to enable graduates entering the job market with skills in formative research, communication design, programme planning and management, and monitoring and evaluation. The link to access the webpage is: https://sss.ulab.edu.bd/msj/unicef-ugc-proposed-c4d-curriculum/

UNICEF Bangladesh’s C4D Manager Yasmin Khan thanked ULAB for their active participation over the past three years in the UNICEF-UGC joint initiative to foster curriculum and research in Communication for Development (C4D) and invited the department to host the curriculum. She acknowledged ULAB’s intention to incorporate the principles and practices of C4D into teaching. UNICEF Bangladesh announced the release of both the online and print versions of its Communication for Development (C4D) Curriculum for Bangladesh.

Khan added that “Our goal is to make the curriculum available for educational, training and non-commercial uses by teachers, students and development professionals. Because C4D is an interdisciplinary field, users are free to select the parts best suited to their discipline and educational needs. In other words, we consider the curriculum as a menu, where users can select items and combine them in different ways.”

In 2017, UNICEF and the University Grants Commission (UGC), the apex regulatory body for higher education in Bangladesh, with technical support from Ohio University (USA), partnered on an ambitious programme to introduce C4D to undergraduate and post-graduate curricula and prepare faculty to undertake applied social research.

ULAB's MSJ Department has started offering under its undergraduate programme a study concentration in C4D in the Fall Semester 2020. The courses in the programme include: Communication Theories and Applications to C4D, C4D Planning and Process, Participatory Research, Communication Approaches for C4D, ICT for Development, Emergency Communication, Health Communication, Entertainment Education Communication and Environmental Communication.