Teaching Journalism in Ukraine: Between Formal and Non-Formal Education

Abstract

Formal journalism education in Ukraine has be
 en criticized for quite a long time for still 
 being affected by the old Soviet theory-based teac
 hing model, rather than adhering to internation-
 ally accepted best practices. 
 The system of teaching students at journalism
 departments has not changed significantly since 
 Ukrainian independence in 1991 and many Ukrainia
 n journalists have entered the profession with 
 largely inadequate training. For instance, the practice of on-the-job training has been implemented 
 only by some journalism departments, or is partly implemented by some lecturers. On the other 
 hand, graduates of journalism programs in Ukraine 
 say that more practical trainings help their pro-
 fessional growth. 
 This article, then, aims to explicate the advantag
 es and disadvantages that exist in Ukrainian jour-
 nalism education, and it seeks to reveal whether 
 Ukrainian journalists prefer formal or non-formal 
 education for their profession. The findings are based on an analysis of 10 focus groups conducted 
 with a total of 92 Ukrainian journalists (both wi
 th and without journalism degrees) and nine in-
 depth interviews with Ukrainian lecturer
 s and Ukrainian media representatives.