Vietnam reporter project under way

Ten University of Queensland journalism students and three staff have landed in Hanoi, Vietnam, this morning for a 10-day intensive field reporting course.

Students from first-year to final year are participating in the project, called Vietnam Reporter, which sees them developing and offering content to the Australian television news programs, Al Jazeera, CNN, and Television Vietnam.

Matt Petersen, Manager of the SJC Media and Production Support team, veteran ABC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producer Bruce Woolley and postgraduate student Ali Rae are accompanying the students.

In developing the course, the School of Journalism has been assisted by Bui Thu Thuy, a well-known television personality from Vietnam who is completing a PhD in Communication for Social Change, at the UQ School of Journalism and Communication. Thuy has helped with contacts, story ideas, and sorting out the inevitable bureaucracy.

“We hope this is the first of many such off-shore field experiences,” Undergraduate Studies Program Director Dr John Harrison said.

“There is currently a lot of chat in the public sphere about engagement with Asia - the Asian Century. We are not talking about it, we're doing it," he said.

“This takes the notion of Study Abroad to a whole new level. In this project, students travel abroad with their peers, and work with our academic teaching staff, and this takes some of the randomness out of the study abroad experience.

“It is also a new model of the immersive teaching, and is an extension of our work integrated learning program.”
Follow the team on Twitter @VietnamReporter