At the Department of Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations of the Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities a traditional event the Day of Practice has been held in an online format. Academics and students discussed the results of the summer practice, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was organized online.
Traditionally, the event consists of two blocks: the science-to-practice conference Student Practice in the System of Professional Coordinates, and the festival of student works On the Waves of Summer Practice.
Within the framework of the science-to-practice conference, students of all courses, including Master’s degree students, presented scientific reports and shared their personal experience on taking summer practice online. The event began with a speech by the Head of the Department of Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations, Doctor of Sciences (Philology) Liudmila Shesterkina.
“SUSU has become one of the few universities ready to operate in an online format. Our department has created conditions for absolutely all students to take practical training online. Out of the 307 students, 60% took practice at university mass media, as well as at the Mediacommunications and Monitoring Office,” said Liudmila Shesterkina. “The rest of our students were able to demonstrate the professional skills they acquired at the university, in the leading mass media, advertising agencies and organisations, such as Yuzhny Ural All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, Television TOO Alau-TV, MAU Sibay Studio of Television and Radio Broadcasting, Traktor Ice Hockey Club, State Administration of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Chelyabinsk Region, and others.”
Also, Liudmila Shesterkina noted that even in such difficult conditions 70% of students majoring in Journalism and Advertising and Public Relations successfully took practice and received excellent marks, what indicates at a high level of training of future media specialists.
Within the framework of the summer practice, more than fifty students of the Department of Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations of the SUSU Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities took part in two major international and federal projects: in a joint international research project on the Visual Styles of Self-presentation in Social Media by SUSU and the University of Illinois, the USA, and Shandong University, China; and, as volunteers, in the To a Fairy Tale from Home federal project.
Despite the pandemic, the geography of the summer practice was extensive. The future media specialists improved their professional skills on the territory of Russia and Kazakhstan in such cities as: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Tyumen, Magnitogorsk, Miass, Zlatoust, Troitsk, Kostanay, etc. And 60% of students took practical training at university mass media structures.
The reports by the participants of the 15th Science-to-practice Conference Student Practice in the System of Professional Coordinates covered the following topics: Formation of Professional Competencies of a Versatile Media Specialist in the Conditions of Online Practice by Karina Abdrakhmanova (СГ-211) and Ekaterina Epifanova (СГ-208); Practical Training at SUSU-TV: a Window of Opportunity for a Future Journalist by Andrey Epimakhov (СГ-211); Specifics of Advertising Activities of the VseStroy Company and Copywriting of Construction Brands by Igor Shestakov (СГ-208); and PR in the Context of Pandemic by Aleksandr Mikhalev (СГ-208); and more.
“This year, I took practical training at university mass media, namely at SUSU Radio. I created radio materials on absolutely various topics and created content for the official group of the university in VKontakte: I Love SUSU. It is not hard to work online, since at the university we gain the necessary amount of knowledge that can be put to practice in any conditions,” said 3rd-year student majoring in Journalism Kseniya Nuretdinova.
The Day of Practice wrapped up with the traditional festival On the Waves of Summer Practice, where the best student journalistic, advertising and PR works were named in such categories as The Best Material on Education, The Best Advertising Material, The First Fruit, The Best Internet Promotion, For Professional Approach to Creating Radio Materials in English, and others. The winners were awarded commemorative certificates and letters of acknowledgement.
Summing up the results of the Day of Practice at the Department of Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations, the Director of the Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities, Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Professor Lidiya Lobodenko highlighted the fact that:
“At the Day of Practice, the students, the future specialists in the field of journalism, advertising and public relations demonstrated their versatile professional competencies, which they had obtained while studying at the SUSU Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities, and successfully put them to practice during summer training. They feel confident both during the educational process and in the media space in general in the context of a distance format. Therefore, we can definitely say that the training of media specialists at SUSU is conducted at a highly professional level and in accordance with global trends in the development of digital civilization and media communications.”