The School of Information and Communication Studies (SICS), University of Ghana, has held a strategic engagement with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), publisher of Premium Times and operator of Dubawa West Africa, to explore new areas of collaboration aimed at strengthening journalism, media sustainability, research, innovation and professional training.
The meeting brought together Prof. Abena Animwaa Yeboah-Banin, Dean of the School of Information and Communication Studies, and representatives of CJID including Dapo Olorunyomi, CEO; Busola Ajibola, Deputy Director of Journalism Programme; Nathan Gadugah, Editor of Dubawa West Africa; Adebimpe Abodunde, Director of Operations; and Roselena Ahiable, Project Manager, Dubawa West Africa
The engagement reflects the University of Ghana’s strategic emphasis on partnerships and impact, particularly through stronger links between academia, industry and society. Discussions focused on how SICS and CJID can jointly respond to emerging challenges within Ghana’s and West Africa’s rapidly changing media ecosystem. The discussions also highlighted opportunities for closer collaboration between SICS’s journalism and information studies disciplines, particularly in areas such as digital humanities, information literacy, computational approaches to journalism and the preservation of digital archives.
The two institutions also explored co-created professional training programmes for journalists and media organisations. Prof. Yeboah-Banin highlighted opportunities for co-created training programmes, industry-informed curriculum development, research partnerships, thought leadership platforms and stronger pathways between the classroom. For his part, Mr Olorunyomi emphasized the CJID’s interest in co-creating solutions that assure media sustainability while deepening the media’s capacity to secure democratic governance. Busola Ajibola also stressed the importance of moving beyond conventional training interventions towards deeper, jointly developed programmes that respond directly to the challenges confronting contemporary newsrooms.
Another major area of discussion was research and thought leadership. Prof. Yeboah-Banin expressed interest in developing sustained platforms that bring academia and industry together to examine emerging issues and identify practical solutions for the media sector. She stated that, proposed SICS Industry Connect initiative was identified as a potential platform through which research findings could reach industry stakeholders, while challenges from the sector are harvested to inform future academic research.
The meeting further considered collaboration on curriculum development and new academic programmes. Both institutions recognised the need to prepare future media professionals for competencies emerging from the convergence of journalism, technology, data, information management and digital communication. CJID expressed willingness to contribute industry perspectives to curriculum development processes.
Media sustainability and press freedom also featured prominently. Participants discussed challenges including declining advertising revenue, talent retention, media independence, audience engagement, quality journalism and legal pressures on journalists. The institutions considered opportunities for joint research that could generate evidence to inform interventions addressing these challenges.
The discussions also explored collaboration around the next edition of the State of the Ghanaian Media Report, as well as the possibility of undertaking more immediate research to inform ongoing media freedom and sustainability initiatives.
The meeting concluded with agreement to develop a framework that will guide the partnership and identify priority areas for implementation. Both institutions expressed commitment to moving beyond ad hoc engagements towards a more structured, strategic and mutually beneficial relationship