Jeremy Paxman (principal news and current affairs presenter, BBC), Wang Hui (Head of Communications, City of Beijing) in the chair, Bai Yansong (principal news and current affairs presenter, CCTV)

Jeremy Paxman and China’s leading current affairs presenter and writer Bai Yansong joined Paul Jackson and David Morgenstern, from the UK television industry, at the the Future of Public Media workshop organised by the China Media Centre of the University of Westminster and the Communications University of China. The event took place in Beijing, China, on 12 January 2012.

The full-day workshop explored common experiences and challenges facing public media organisations in China and the UK. Contributors came from academic, journalistic, policy and business backgrounds and investigated where common interests and potential partnerships can exist despite real differences in media systems, giving participants the chance to identify areas of common interest and build the foundations for future partnerships.

The four visiting British speakers at the conference, with the Conference Director, Professor Hu Zhengrong. (From left to right: David Morgenstern, Paul Jackson, Professor Hu, Jeremy Paxman and Professor Hugo de Burgh)

Key speakers attending the workshop included:

From the United Kingdom

• Jeremy Paxman, the UK’s leading current affairs presenter.
• Paul Jackson, an outstanding UK TV producer, former executive producer of BBC and ITV’s entertainment departments.
• David Morgenstern, former director of BBC’s entertainment programme development department, currently Director of 10 Star company’s Programme R & D Department.
• Prof Hugo de Burgh, Director of China Media Centre, University of Westminster.

From China:

• Prof Hu Zhengrong, Deputy President of Communications University of China, Chairman of Chinese Media Research Association and the Honorary Doctor of the University of Westminster
• Bai Yansong, China’s leading current affairs presenter and writer.
• Yang Hua, Deputy Director of the CCTV News Centre
• Zhang Haichao, Deputy General Manager of China International Television Corporation (CITVC)
• Ren Xue’an, Deputy Director of CCTV Channel 1

Beyond the university, attendees heard from top advertising and PR experts, as well as from the people who handle communications in London (including Westminster, the area which includes most of central London’s attractions), Glasgow and Belfast. Field visits were made to destinations across the UK, with opportunities to see the reality behind the UK’s most notable “city brands”.  The course concluded with discussion of the delegates’ experiences during their time in the UK, and they had an opportunity to put their questions to a panel of experts from the worlds of media and branding.

Seminars were led by Edelman’s new Chief Content Officer and former BBC Director of Global News Richard Sambrook,  Crisis Communications expert Mike Regester and Director of Communications at the Department for Business, Innovation and skills Russell Grossman. Barclay’s Corporate Affairs Director Howell James and the BBC’s Senior Communications Advisor Donald  Steel hosted sessions, as did senior officials at the Central Office of Information and senior partner at Portland Communications, Martin Sheehan. The Office of the First Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government organised a briefing for delegates in Cardiff on the management of  communications and media relations in a devolved administration, and delegates also met the All Party Parliamentary China Group in Parliament.

Professor Colin Sparks, director of CAMRI, the university’s centre for global media and social change, introduced the UK media system, while Professor Hugo de Burgh, founder and director of the China Media Centre, lectured on the representation of China in the UK media.

Delegates were all ministerial spokespersons – officials who represent their Secretaries of State and Ministers in public and are themselves senior career politicians.

The two-week course was designed and led by former BBC Director of Communications Sally Osman in partnership with Dr. Zeng Rong of the China Media Centre. Project organisation was by Alja Kranjec.

Link [Chinese] – http://www.gwnews.net/article-66007.html

China Media Centre (CMC) director Hugo de Burgh discussed the development of the University of Westminster’s summer school programme for Chinese students during a visit to the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) earlier this month.

The first cohort of GDUFS students visited London in August 2010 as part of a successful summer-long programme of practical journalism courses. Discussions on deepening this educational link took place in Guangzhou with Zhong Weihe, chancellor of the leading Chinese university.

Chancellor Zhong introduced GDUFS’s recent 45^th anniversary celebrations to the visiting delegation, as well as the participation of its students in the Asian Games, beginning in Guangzhou today (Nov.12). Professor de Burgh expressed amazement at the changes that have occurred in the city, and his desire to return to the university to spend longer talking with students and staff. Chancellor Zhong, in turn, invited the CMC director back to deliver a lecture on the public communications, news and broadcast media field, an invitation which was readily accepted

Professor de Burgh and CMC China academic liaison, Zeng Rong, were welcomed to GDUFS by Chancellor Zhong and his colleagues Liang Jie, deputy director of the Office of International Relations, and Hu Wentao, party committee secretary of the School of News and Broadcast Journalism.

The CMC director, Hugo de Burgh, joined the Chinese Ambassador Ms Fu Ying on a panel which also included the Lib-Dem Leader in the Upper House, Lord McNulty, and the Shadow Foreign Affairs Secretary Michael Moore MP.

WILTON PARK

The CMC partnered Wilton Park (an Executive Agency of the Foreign Office) with a conference called Working in China on Sustainable Growth — The Climate Change, Environment, Energy Nexus. The Vice Chancellor, Prof Geoffrey Petts, Visiting Professor Hu Zhengrong (Deputy President, China Communications University), Prof Hugo de Burgh and Dr Zeng Rong participated and represented University of Westminster. For further information please click on the link below.

Report on Wilton Park Conference WP1000 Final 281009

CONFERENCE ON BRITISH JOURNALISM

CUC and CMC are holding a conference in Beijing in October 2009. CMC is supplying 2 celebrity UK journalists Stephen Hewlett and Kevin Sutcliffe (paid for under the IMS contract) and its Director to speak at a CUC conference in October 2009. Steve Hewlett both presents The Media Show and writes regularly for The Guardian. He has a terrific track record as reporter and producer as well as in newspaper journalism.  Kevin Sutcliffe is Deputy Head of News & Current Affairs at C4 and has been responsible for the renaissance of the investigative series DISPATCHES. CUC has undertaken to provide an audience of influential media managers from the mainstream

FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR

Copyright by Frankfurt Book Fair

EU Commissioner Orban and Chinese Minister for Culture, a French Diplomat and the CMC Director are the speakers at the EU-China Forum at the Frankfurt Book Fair on 15 October.

STATE COUNCIL

The highest-level ever delegation from China’s State Council Information Office undertook a three week course designed for the China Media Centre by Simon Goldsworthy and Visiting Professor Trevor Morris, experts in branding and PR. Among the highlights were a colloquy with Lord Bell and senior figures at Chime Communications plc; visits to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office, the BBC and the Guardian Newspaper; talks about advertising from Sir Chris Powell and on the use of new media from former Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson MP; and a lecture in Edinburgh from John Brown, a PR expert who formerly shared an office at Scottish TV with his brother the current Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and CMC Director Professor Hugo de Burgh.

SUMMER SCHOOLS

The China Media Centre has held its first 2 Summer Schools for Chinese media students. In July this was directed by former Reuters Editor Paul Majendie and in September by TV producer Dr Richard Wright. The students both learnt about the European media and undertook practical tasks, making TV features under the direction of Journalism Head of Department Geoffrey Davies. Both summer schools were managed by Alja Kranjec, who hopes to hold at least two each year from now on.

INNOVATION 1

In October CMC launches another first, a course specially designed for Chinese TV executives by Dr Zeng Rong entitled Innovation, creativity and programme development in UK television. This course is full; if successful CMC expects to offer it twice each year.

“Oxford may be rueing the day it decided to enter its researchers into the communication [category], the institution was beaten by… Westminster” – Times Higher Education Magazine

“A media studies department at a former polytechnic is among the top-rated academic centres in Britain in the latest official rankings of the quality of university research. Sixty per cent of the research published by the school of Media Arts and Design at Westminster University… was rated as “world-leading” by the Research Assessment Exercise”. – The Times

Communications, cultural and media studies research at the University of Westminster has been shown to be “world-leading” following the announcement today of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) results.

Researchers across a broad range of subjects at the University, which is a leading post-92 institution, have had their work shown to be of international quality in the latest assessment of UK university research activity. Nearly 80 per cent of Westminster’s research was found to be of a quality that is recognised internationally for its “originality, significance and rigour”.

Art and Design, Architecture and the Built Environment, Geography and Environment Studies and Law also stood out for the international quality of the research.

Sally Feldman, dean of the University’s School of Media, Arts and Design, said: “This is a fantastic result and a reflection of the excellent scholarship, research and practice that characterises our work here at Westminster.”

The RAE, the first since 2001, highlights Westminster’s traditional strength across a broad range of research activity, said Vice-Chancellor Professor Geoffrey Petts.

“This result highlights that the University of Westminster is producing research of international quality across a broad range of subjects, with communications and media studies world-leading in their work.

“We were assessed in 20 areas of work, which is an indication of the breadth of our work as well as the quality. It is also an indication that our research is being recognised for its potential to make a real difference in the world.

“I’m delighted Westminster was found to be so strong, especially as we are one of the group of universities created in 1992 that have traditionally received less funding than longer-established, research-led universities.”

The RAE, the first since 2001, saw 159 higher education institutions submitting their research to the Higher Education Funding Council for England for assessment. Over 200,000 individual pieces of research work were submitted.

—-From the website of University of Westminster.And here is a related article written in Chinese, from Chinese news media.

随着国际交流的日益深入以及中国广播电视事业的不断发展，近年来，西方大学的媒体、传播及相关专业一直是社会科学领域中最受中国留学生青睐的热门学科之一。2008年12月18日，英国官方机构公布了几年一度的科研考评报告 (Research Assessment Exercise，RAE)，其中部分内容对英国各大学媒体传播专业的学术研究水平进行了全面而详细的评估。威斯敏斯特大学（University of Westminster）以较大优势名列第一名，伦敦政治经济学院（LSE）和伦敦大学金.史密斯学院（Goldsmiths College）以相当接近的分数名列第二、第三。

作为英国政府高等教育质量控制的最重要的指标之一，RAE一直得到各个大学的高度重视。不仅仅因为它直接关系到政府教育拨款的数目、科研经费申请的成功率，更因为它关系着各院系对优秀教授的吸引力以及由此所影响的学生教育水平。有英国大学申请经历的人士会注意到，几乎所有大学在学生申请信息手册上都明确注明该校各个专业的RAE分数，以此为申请者提供重要参考。

上一次的英国大学科研考评（RAE）公布于2001年。威斯敏斯特大学著名媒体教授、《媒体、文化与社会》主编科林.斯巴克斯教授对最新公布的RAE考评结果表示深感欣慰。他说：“本次考评对我们来说是极大的鼓舞，它再一次证明了威敏媒体专业在英国以及世界的领先地位。为此，我们的每一位同事都非常努力的工作……”同时，他也指出，其实各个学校各有专长。金.史密斯学院的媒体文化研究，伦敦政治经济学院的新媒体以及媒体社会心理学领域，牛津大学的互联网研究以及谢菲尔德大学的政治传播学等等都非常出色。而威斯敏斯特大学的强项是英国及欧洲媒体历史与政策、受众研究以及世界媒体研究。尤其是对中国、中东以及东欧国家媒体的深入研究和探讨非常深入而有特色，比如由戴雨果教授领导的中国传媒中心在欧洲和中国都享有盛誉。他建议学生在申请英国大学的时候，尤其是攻读研究生学位的申请者，不要盲目追求排名，首先要明确自己的兴趣，然后在此基础上对学校进行选择。

本次RAE采用了与以往不同的计量方法。它对各院系提交的所有科研成果按五个级别进行打分。五个级别分别是：“4* ”世界领先水平、“3*”国际优秀水平、“2*”国际认可水平、“1*”国家认可水平以及“0”无级别。接受RAE评估的全部159所英国大学中，包括人文、社会、科学与工程在内的所有学科与院系，60%达到4*世界领先级别的一共有五个院系，威斯敏斯特大学的媒体专业为其中之一，再次肯定了英国大学在媒体学科领域的出色表现。而莱卡斯特大学的博物馆学以65%世界领先的评价获得总排名的最高分。

更多信息：

本次RAE评估把媒体传播专业与其他一些文化学科归在同一评价类别，比如博物馆学、创意英文写作等等。这样的分类显然有些笼统，有时造成误读。笼统分类的名单中，笔者把以媒体传播专业（不包括电影）为主的院系提炼出来。最右边的栏目GPA，是英国泰晤士报高教专栏根据RAE结果计算统计的综合得分。以下为各院系媒体专业前十名的大学：

In his review, Professor de Burgh opposes Will Hutton’s negative assessment of China’s economic and political situation. Professor de Burgh argues that in order to understand the situation accurately an historical approach, which takes into account China’s unique political, cultural and social past is required.

The China Review is produced by the Great Britain-China Centre. which is the leading UK body in the development of non-governmental relations with China. You can log onto The China Review website to view Professor de Burgh’s article. Professor de Burgh has written widely on China – his most recent book is: China: Friend or Foe?

What: Lecture ‘What is a journalist? What is a Chinese Investigative Journalist?’

Where: London School of Economics, U8 Tower One

When: Wednesday 14 February 2007

This lecture is open to the public.  If you would like to attend, more details can be found on the LSESU China Development Society Seminars webpage.

Professor Hugo de Burgh, Director of the CMC:

- Delivered a lecture at the Royal Society of International Affairs (Chatham House) titled: Nine Illusions About Modern China.

- Participated in a debate on ‘The Great Firewall of China’ at the London School of Economics, Chaired by Sheena McDonald.

Kim Gordon, Director of Media Management Development delivered a lecture at the Kings College Asian Studies Series, titled: Chinese Television Programme Making.