University News Last updated 29 April 2014
A Senior Lecturer at Birmingham School of Media, part of Birmingham City University, has been made an Honorary Professor of the Culture and Media College at Shenyang University in China.
Bob Calver, Senior Lecturer in Broadcast Journalism, was presented with his letter of appointment by the Dean of the College, Professor Naili Jiang in front of an audience of more than 200 students, including the College’s Head of Journalism.
“I was at Shenyang to talk to students about the phone hacking scandal in the UK and to meet senior staff to explore the possibilities of closer co-operation between our institutions,” said Bob. “The presentation came as a surprise. I was honoured and touched,” he added.
Bob visited nine universities during his 16 days in China. As well as lecturing on the hacking scandal he also ran workshops on creativity and met fellow academics and senior university staff.
“It was a fascinating experience,” he said. “It was particularly good to meet students and to learn more about the Chinese universities’ approach to teaching media and journalism. Today’s students – here, in China and elsewhere – will be working in a world where one of the main challenges will be responding to the globalisation of news and the wider media.”
Bob is now planning to develop online teaching resources for students at Shenyang in association with staff there.