How come the only Erasmus Mundus Masters journalism program is stationed in Aarhus?

Even if most of the credits of the program are now taken at Aarhus University - forty out of the sixty available - the original idea for the master’s program originated from DMJX. Among the founders are Inger Munk, now retired after twenty-five years, and emeritus professor Hans Henrik Holm. The program got the first consortium in February 2003, and in September 2005, the first cohort of twenty-five students walked in.

The first challenge that was posed was to allow a master’s program to exist at DMJX. Due to national legislation, it is restricted to offer a BA degree at a university college of applied science level.

“The Erasmus Mundus Journalism degree is an academic degree, and it has always been that. It educates candidates for both Ph.D studies and to work in media industries and organisations. And in the start, national legislation at all levels were a big challenge for all the partners of the consortium”, reflects Inger Munk.

To combat this problem, a centre was founded in close cooperation between Aarhus University and DMJX: the Centre for University Studies in Journalism (CJU). Through this local centre - stationed at Aarhus University - the master’s was able to take form.

“The master’s is offered through this local centre. Usually, you start local and go global, but in this case, we started globally and went locally afterwards. First, this global journalism program was launched, and the year after, the local Danish journalism masters,” says Inger Munk.

What initially started as a centre created to offer the Erasmus Mundus master’s degree turned out to be a way to build all the master’s degrees at DMJX. And in a sense, the only reason why the Centre of Journalism could be launched, and later the EMJ master’s, is through a simple but powerful skill - networking.

“We are a small school, but already 15 years ago we had, I think, 70 partner universities around the world where our students could go to,” says Henrik Berggren, Head of education for journalism programs at DMJX.

As understood from the conversation with Inger Munk, the program builds on this international network of institutions with journalism studies that DMJX has in its repertoire. This broad network of partners in the program has been expanding since the launch of the master’s, and the aim was always that partners could bring other partners in. This network of universities was then coordinated in Aarhus.

“I would argue that the program exists because of people like Inger, who was an incredible networker. Yeah, I would say that. Professional networking,” says Henrik Berggren.

Why in Aarhus?

The initial inspiration for this international journalism program comes from a small team that was working at DMJX, who had a powerful skill - good networks and networking. How come it is not stationed in a bigger city, with more connections to international media, then?

“That is a pure coincidence,” according to Henrik Berggren.

That question relates to the origin stories of the first journalism school in Denmark - DMJX. In the 1950s, people stationed in Aarhus launched some journalism courses in cooperation with Aarhus University. These academic journalism courses were the first of their kind in Denmark, as at the time, journalism was purely vocational. 

A journalist would work for 45 weeks a year, and then maybe take these short courses to strengthen themselves. Only in 1973 did this develop into the Danish School of Journalism and Media (DMJX).

“So it might as well have happened in Copenhagen. But it just happened here because those people started it. Again, it is all pure coincidence,” says Henrik Berggren.

And to mimic a program like EMJ in another place is difficult. Since the birth of the master twenty years ago, there has not been a real competitor.

“I think it might also be because the journalism education is not widespread around Europe, so it demands expertise to do it. I don’t know anyone who offers an Erasmus Mundus Masters programme like we do” says Inger Munk.

National legislations

Unlike the other master’s degrees offered by DMJX, building a joint degree from scratch brings challenges like manoeuvring around national and European legislation.

“Most universities are only used to offer a single degree. So, this is a challenge, because a joint degree is really getting to change the machine room at universities. It’s kind of a lifestyle. Everybody has been so keen on getting this program up and running from the beginning,” says Inger Munk.

And again, this is a program unique in its nature. There is no other country that has succeeded in building a master’s like this, so with trial and error, it has been launched.

“We were guinea pigs in how to make an Erasmus Mundus Master’s education,” says Inger Munk.

Another problem with legislation is that it changes often, so there is always something else to consider in the process of bringing international students into Denmark.

“The EU has an aim to make everything European-like, and this is not necessarily the aim of the national authorities,” says Inger Munk.
“Natural science has got enterprise scholarships, but the media industry is a poor industry. The industries of journalism are different from those for water supplies, which are richer. There is a difference in how each consortium can secure additional scholarships” she says.

Still, the European Union is necessary for the creation of the master’s, as the prestige of the program also stems from its approval, which it gains every four or five years. The selection of which degrees get funding is incredibly rigid, and so far, there has been years where Mundus Journalism did not get that grant. 

However, that did not change the high number of applicants for the program. When the program was in its beginning stages, it was discovered that it could apply for a grant. The allocation of money from the EU is equal for every Mundus program.

However, the Mundus scholarships - which include a complete waiver of all tuition fees, 1400 euros per month for two years, and free health and liability insurance - are weighted on the importance of the industry the master’s is in.

As mentioned then the media industry is a poor industy, but Inger Munk says that international science specifically, has got entreprise scholarships.

Withhout the scholarship, the international diversity of the program might be jeopardised, as it would be mostly attainable for EU-citizens only to participate.