India’s best Mass Communication Institutes 2013

As Indian companies and foreign media conglomerates continue to make massive investments in print, television and online media platforms, job opportunities for professionals are exploding. Here are India’s best Mass Communication Institutes for the year 2013: With over 500 television channels, 50,000 newspapapers and magazines, hundreds of advertising agencies and public relations firms, the media and communications industries are booming in India. A 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers report estimates that the media and entertainment industry in India is set to grow at an annual rate of 13.2 percent over 2011-15 to hit Rs.119,900 crore. As Indian corporates and foreign media conglomerates continue to make massive investments in media infrastructure including print, television, radio and online platforms, job opportunities for trained professionals are exploding in this industry. Unsurprisingly over the past two decades since liberalisation, the number of mass communication institutes has multiplied. While most of the country’s 659 universities have introduced under-graduate and postgrad degree programmes in media and communication, specialised institutions offering industry-validated diploma programmes have also mushroomed. In the inaugural EducationWorld-C fore Mass Communication Institutes Rankings 2013, we have rated and ranked India’s Top 15 institutions. Ranked India’s #1 mass communication institution with an aggregate score of 567 of 650 is the pioneer Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), promoted in 1991 to “meet the integrated marketing communication needs of industry, government and community”. A wholly residential institution specialising in training communications management professionals, MICA has been top-ranked by the sample respondents comprising industry representatives, faculty and students on all four parameters of excellence including competence of faculty, pedagogic systems and processes, placements and infrastructure and support systems. This 22-year-old institute’s flagship programme is its two-year postgrad diploma in communications management with specialisations in brand, media (including new media), advertising management and marketing research, and is equivalent to MBA certification. While delighted with the numero uno ranking awarded by informed respondents, MICA spokespersons stress that the institute is focused on ‘communications management’ and not ‘mass communications’ and hence is misclassified. However, this misgiving is unfounded as for the purposes of this survey, mass communications has been defined in a broader sense encompassing print, television, radio and online journalism, media management, marketing communications, advertising and public relations. “It’s gratifying to be acknowledged as India’s premier institute for communications management in a competitive, research-based and external ranking. This #1 ranking imposes a responsibility upon us to continue to improve. Over the years MICA has grown from less than 50 postgrad students to over 300 today, and our alumni occupy leadership positions in industry in India and abroad. MICA assures students delivery of current, reliable, and cost-effective communication management skills. Our distinguishing feature is our contemporariness because we keep abreast of trends in an ever-changing environment,” says Dr. Nagesh Rao, director of MICA. The average starting salary offered in 2012 to MICA graduates was Rs.9.2 lakh per year with the highest campus recruitment offer topping Rs.19.6 lakh. Ranked a close second on the league table of India’s best Mass Communication Institutes 2013 with an aggregate score of 562 is…