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Adelaide recruits UniSA journalism head

Jun 28, 2013

The University of Adelaide has pulled off a major coup by recruiting the head of UniSA’s journalism degree to front its new journalism major.

Dr Kathryn Bowd, the University of South Australia’s journalism degree program director, will move from UniSA’s Magill campus to Adelaide Uni’s base on North Terrace next month.

She will head up the Adelaide’s new journalism major, which is being offered to the university’s media students for the first time this year.

Contacted at her Magill office, Bowd told InDaily she was too busy to answer questions.

Last week she told John Hunt from the university’s student newspaper, On the Record, that she was leaving to seek a new challenge.

“My ambition was to never be in a place long enough to get long service leave,” the newspaper quotes her as saying. “I clearly failed.

“It was time for a change.

“New challenges are always the exciting end of story.

“It will be interesting to see where the Adelaide University journalism major could go.”

Last year the Federal Government deregulated university places and created a demand-driven model, allowing universities to offer courses as they saw fit – rather than only those mandated by the government.

Up until the start of this year the University of South Australia held a monopoly on the teaching of a journalism degree in South Australia.

In 2011 there were 337 students enrolled in the University of South Australia’s journalism degree. Nationwide 4827 students were studying a journalism degree, a 22.6 per cent increase since 2006, according to figures provided to InDaily by the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

In an emailed statement the University of Adelaide’s head of media Mike Wilmore said Bowd would be a key member of the media team.

“We are delighted to welcome Kathryn Bowd to the University of Adelaide,” he said. “Her blend of journalistic experience and academic background will be a successful formula as we take our media program forward.

“Kathryn has commanded much respect within the local media industry. Her insights into the future direction of journalism and communications will add a new dimension to our team, and give students a rich and challenging learning environment.”

Since its introduction at the start of the year the journalism major had been quickly embraced by media students, Wilmore said.

“The University of Adelaide introduced a journalism major as part of the existing Bachelor of Media this year. This approach will allow students to gain the full benefit of a broader subject offering, while providing opportunities to follow their interests in journalism, or other specialisation such as marketing or production.

“The response from students has been overwhelmingly positive and reinforces our position that from an employment perspective, it is preferable to have a more rounded preparation for the media industry.”

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