For the second time in a week, The English Language Section at the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University, organized a seminar entitled The Road to International Success in the Media Industry, which was held under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Hanan Gunaid, Faculty Dean and under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Nermine Al-Azrak, Head of the English Department at the Faculty, with the participation of Mr Ahmed AlMasry Junior Digital Transformation Advisor at the German Development Agency, Mr. Ahmed Hassan Senior Editor of the Arabic Version of Scientific American Magazine issued by Springer Nature, Mr. Abdelbassir Hassan BBC Reporter, Dr. Heidi Bayoumy - Associate Professor of Drama & Children Literature at Faculty of Arts – Cairo University, Ms. Haidy Sabry – Senior Foreign Affairs Editor – El Shorouk Newspaper, Ms. Sara Mohsen – Presenter at BBC.
At the beginning of the seminar’s activities, Dr. Nermine Al-Azrak welcomed the guests speakers and the attendance of students from different academic levels in the faculty and encouraged them to develop their skills, noting that this seminar comes within the framework of the faculty and the English section’s vision to give advice to students through meeting with practitioners in the field of media work to give the greatest benefit to students on how to develop their skills to be ready for the labor market and to become influential media professionals.
Digital Advisor Ahmed Al Masry talked about his experience to the students and his path since he was a student in college until he reached his work today and that he joined many jobs and trainings until he reached the job to fulfill his passion, as he now part of the German Agency for International Cooperation and works in the project to support e-government and digital transformation to make all services digital.
AlMasry Said: “The media has now entered into serious and sophisticated terminology and technology, so big data appeared and collecting information to come up with inferences to compile the most important news happening in the region around us to determine the public opinion and trends, know the opinions of the public and send reports to decision makers and define public policy, data driven policy”.
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Al Masry gave the students a glimpse on new fields in media which is using algorithms and analyzing audience participation and interaction on social media platforms such as Twitter, all of which are new functions that have appeared in new media and digital media.
AlMasry said: “Before learning new and different skills, you must define your goal, know what you want to achieve, search for opportunities around you, and search for people around you who can help you or have the same desires to benefit from them, and finally don’t be afraid to try new things”.
Mr. Ahmed Hassan conveyed his experience in the field of scientific journalism to students through his work in the Arabic version of the Scientific American magazine and his period of working in the United Nations in the field of development and encouraged them to read in the scientific journalism field, as it is a new field of work and opportunities for them are open.
He asserted that scientific journalism is a very important field, and it has gained popularity in the recent period. One of the most important skills required in this field is language and the ability to read scientific studies
“What do I want to achieve? is the most important question that the student must put before his eyes in order to set his goals and work to develop his skills and learn about everything new, improving the professional level and always developing yourself, for example, I worked on improving my translation skills into English, which reflected positively on my work field”, Hassan Added.
Hassan praised the college curriculums as it qualifies the students for the labor market such as marketing, translation, and integrated marketing communication, But also stressed that Self-learning is very important to increase opportunities in the labor market, and to improve your skills:” With time and experience, you will achieve yourself and reach what you dream of, but you should be flexible to work in various fields and try new ways to achieve your dream, learn and develop your skills, and your general knowledge”.
TV Reporter Abdel-Basir Hassan also encouraged the students to develop their skills, to be constantly informed, to have a high degree of general knowledge and information, and the most important thing is to study media ethics, because the journalist or reporter specifically works on air and is exposed to various situations in which he may be asked about any information in one way or another, so he must have a degree of information and knowledge and skills to deal with critical situations, so he should not say I do not know.
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He said that the job of a reporter is a difficult profession and it has dangers and from his work experience he advised the students to be updated with the events and news happening around them, not only the local news but the international news around the world, “to have an interest in local affairs is very important, but if you are seeking a larger media job in the international, or regional media field, you must know the surroundings around you”.
From her position in the International Relations office, Dr. Heidi Bayoumi began her speech with thanking the head of the English section and the section`s vision in striving to provide scholarships abroad for students of the section and the Faculty.
Bayoumi Said: “Students should join university activities and be part of it like cultural activities and academic activities to attend scientific conferences especially if there is international guests from different cultural backgrounds to engage with different cultures and attend cultural seminars, also to take part in community work is very important”.
She added:” you as a student must be part of the students union inside the faculty as they take part in international events and take part in the competitions made inside the university because Cultural events inside the university work on the skills of the students and on leadership qualities and skills to succeed locally and internationally”.
Finally Dr Heidi said: “the smart student is the one who is able to set his goals during the four years of studying and identify the skills he needs, and to have basic skills to deal with international people, and intercultural skills to deal with the international community and the ability to adapt and deal with different cultures, you should have inner abilities to adapt and meet challenges, and deal with people, be bilingual is not enough you should master a third or fourth foreign language beside having soft skills”.
During her speech journalist Haidy Sabry provided a set of advice to students, including that they start to join media training in the summer vacation to enroll in training courses offered by press institutions such as the Middle East News Agency and Al-Ahram Foundation, so that they come into contact with the field of journalistic work on the ground as to enter the newsroom during the training is a very good opportunity to gain experience, and put all these experiences in the CV.
She said: “You must take advantage of all the opportunities in front of you and focus on developing foreign language skills, such as French or German, in addition to the English language as a basis, You must have distinct skills that make the employer hire you. Learn different skills such as photography, directing, and working on Photoshop or Indesign programs, know the basics of digital marketing to reach the target audience and grab their attention”.
Sabry mentioned that today in the new digital media environment the journalist is no longer a traditional journalist but more of a producer, who writes the news, puts pictures, knows the method of publishing for social networks, and the method of setting keywords that the public searches for a lot, and shoots a video with the news, makes live streaming, make interviews, upload the videos on the social media platforms, to be an inclusive journalist.
TV Presenter Sara Mohsen provided a number of tips for success in the media field, which is the most difficult in terms of competition, through her experience from working in a number of satellite channels, leading to work at the BBC currently.
Mohsen said addressing the students: “Seek to obtain a training opportunity that qualifies you to work in the media field from an early stage during the studying year as an undergraduate, and strive to build an honorable CV”.
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Mohsen stressed that the faculty of Mass Communication and the courses that are taught in the Faculty qualify you for media market, and that the graduate of the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University, is a different and distinguished graduate, especially with the permanent development of the faculty’s courses and the interest in holding training courses and workshops continuously for students in order to strengthen their skills.
“Believe in yourself, Self-confidence is one of the most important characteristics to have, and it is also necessary to benefit from previous experiences in the media that encourage youth and to seize this opportunity” Mohsen noted.

By Sara Sherif