Brief Introduction of Journalism and Communication Science

The discipline of Journalism and Communication at Sichuan University was approved by the Ministry of Education in 1979, and has begun to enroll students of journalism since 1981. It was one of the three earliest programs in journalism education approved and established since the reform and opening-up era. The discipline set up Editing and Publishing in 1987, Advertising in 1994, Radio and Television Journalism (Radio and Television now) in 1995, and Internet and New Media in 2015. The discipline was approved to enroll master students in journalism in 1993, and obtained the qualification of master’s degree conferment for first-tier programs in Journalism and Communication in 2001. In 2006, it established the first doctoral program in Journalism in West China. In 2007, it was listed among the first batch of higher education institutes which can establish distinguishing majors. In 2010, it obtained the qualification of doctoral degree conferment for first-tier programs in Journalism and Communication, and it obtained the permission to establish qualifications of professional degree conferment in two master’s programs – Journalism and Communication and Publication. In 2012, the discipline was approved to set up the post-doctoral research institution in Journalism and Communication. In 2013, it was approved to establish a key research base in Philosophy and Social Science in Sichuan Province – the Public Opinion and Information Communication Research Center. As a first-tier discipline, it has both teaching and research staff, including vice-director committees of the Board of Discipline Teaching Advising in the Ministry of Education, committees of the Board of Professional Degree Teaching Advising in the State Council, specialists who enjoy the State Council’s special allowance, reviewers of the China News Awards and the Changjiang-Taofen Awards, New Century Excellent Talents of the Ministry of Education, academic and technical leaders and reserve candidates in Sichuan Province, and other experts, etc. In recent years, the discipline has undertaken several national high-level research projects funded by the National Social Science Foundation, such as “Strategic Research on the Improvement of Guiding Public Opinion under New Situations” and “Semiotic Research of Contemporary Chinese Culture: Situation and Development”. And it has been awarded rich high-level social science prizes, such as the first prize of the Ministry of Education Higher Education Institutes Scientific Research Merit Output and the first prize of the Philosophy and Social Science Merit Output in Sichuan Province. At present, the discipline of Journalism and Communication is a significant first-tier discipline in Sichuan Province, and it is the only degree conferment institution of the first-tier doctoral program in Journalism and Communication in West China. It ranked the fifth best institution in China in the 2012 discipline evaluation held by the Ministry of Education, and has become the first in West China and a pioneer nationwide in education and research in Journalism and Communication.