Master of Television and Film Studies at DU

The launching ceremony

Today it is very common in industrialized countries for a household to have at least one television. In fact, it is so common that it is difficult to imagine a household without TV. This shows just how important television is. Television is perhaps one of the fastest growing industries in the country as opposed to the dismal condition of the film industry. Over the years, performance of the two closely-related entertainment industries has been at stark variance. However, there was one thing common to both of them shortage of talent and skilled manpower who can bring fresh impetus to the industries.

Television studies is an academic discipline that deals with critical approaches to television. Usually, it is distinguished from mass-communication research, which tends to approach the topic from an empirical perspective. Defining the field is problematic; some institutions and syllabuses do not distinguish it from media studies or classify it as a sub-field of popular culture studies. Television studies is roughly equivalent to the longer-standing discipline of film studies in that it is often concerned with textual analysis.

Whether, Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to films. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies. Film studies is less concerned with advancing proficiency in film production than it is with exploring the narrative, artistic, cultural, economic, and political implications of the cinema.

To develop skilled manpower in this sector, Dhaka University (DU) has launched a new department called "Department of Television and Film Studies". This Department began its journey on January 23, 2012 with the appointment of Dr. Abu J M Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan, a Canadian Commonwealth Scholar, as chair. It is affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences. It held an admission test on May 4, 2012 in the same year to recruit the first cohort of the Master of Television and Film Studies. Three hundred and forty-four students competed for 30 seats.

In the department's souvenir journal, noted filmmaker Cathrerine Masud wrote: "The dream has become reality. It had been a long cherished dream of Tareque, Mishuk, and other friends and colleagues of ours working in the industry that Dhaka University might become an academic training ground for young people aiming to work in our field, either as practitioners or as critics and scholars."

"I hope that this will mark the beginning of a new dawn of professionalism in the audio-visual industry, where skilled individuals are much in demand. And I will do my best to further its growth and success," she further said.

The department is now offering a two-year, 64-credit master's program in television and film (this is the first program launched by the Department); a Ph.D. program in television and film; a four- year, 120-credit bachelor's program in television and film; short courses on journalism and production for media professionals.

Moreover, the department introduced an annual lecture series with an internationally renowned academic, journalist, or film professional delivering the lecture.
There will be a research colloquium every semester where faculty members and students will share their research and production ideas and contemporary trends in the field. Moreover, there will be a career fair every year at the Department where students will display their work before industry people.

"We are doing everything we can to establish a modern media laboratory and arrange necessary audio-visual equipments for this new department," said Dr. Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan.
Setting up a digital lab and TV studio would require big investment and Bhuiyan is hopeful that it would be materialized soon. "There are various sources from which we will mobilize funds. We are in talk with several local and foreign organizations; USA is showing keen interest in funding," he said.

However, first thing first-the fledgling department has yet to address its teething troubles. Teachers and trainers have to be recruited, academic materials and books have to be collected, etc. To prepare a proper academic curriculum, the authorities have been consulting with film and TV personalities. Noted filmmaker Tareque Masud had an advisory role in the process of setting guidelines for the syllabus and infrastructural development of the programme.

In the first part of the course, students will be offered a generic course on media studies. In the later years, they will branch out in two streams and gain expertise on in-depth film making and aesthetics and on television journalism and production.

It is obvious to say that, DU is going to produce skilled persons from this department in the near future who will use the opportunity of this sector & make Bangladesh as a proud country internationally.শিক্ষা সংক্রান্ত খবরাখবর নিয়মিত পেতে রেজিস্ট্রেশন করুন অথবা Log In করুন।

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