Four years ago, a local newspaper editor in Tbilisi, speaking from the employer's point of view at an academic conference in Tbilisi, said a professional training program for journalism students, based on a practical, hands-on teaching style, was not necessary in Georgia. What was needed, he said then, was a more general humanities education and special training in Georgian language - not a professional skills program.

But last month, participating in a conference on journalism education in Tbilisi, that same newspaper editor had a completely different viewpoint He extolled the virtues of the Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management (CSJMM) saying that he looks to its graduates at his newspaper. He is now a teacher himself, and has developed a curriculum at a local university very similar to the CSJMM model.

Close to 35 journalism educators and administrators from universities and journalism schools in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia met in Tbilisi on March 24 to discuss the state and the future of journalism education in the Caucasus. The conference coincided with the fifth anniversary of CSJMM, established by ICFJ and the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs in Tbilisi.

Rowena Cross-Najafi, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi, said that the embassy was "very proud of its long association with GIPA's journalism school, which has trained and continues to train the best journalists in the South Caucasus." Speaking of the geographically diverse student body at CSJMM, Cross-Najafi added that "the network of CSJMM alumni crosses international borders and ideological divides; we believe that this network, through its objective reporting of often-emotional issues, is a powerful force for conflict resolution in the region."

The conference was the latest in a series of half a dozen such meetings by the Caucasus Journalism Educators Association, founded in 2003 by CSJMM's Georgian dean Maia Mikashavidze and ICFJ's former academic director at CSJMM, Margie Freaney. IREX was the major funder for the first such conference, and a co-funder for the second.

Freaney sees the widespread support for the kind of professional training that CSJMM provides as a sign for the improved state of journalism education across the three South Caucasus countries. "I remember very clearly our first J-educators conference in 2003," Freaney said. "There were a lot of older journalism teachers there, from all three countries, and they were extremely resistant and skeptical about our approach. Now, many of them no longer attend these sessions, but in their places are much younger people who are enthusiastic, committed and who 'get it.'"

Among the conference participants were deans and faculty members of the established, large State Universities in Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan, as well as faculty and administrators from newly developed, private journalism schools, such as Khazar University in Baku, CSJMM and the Caucasus University of Social Sciences.

Baku State University's deputy journalism dean Seving Alieva and faculty member Zaur Babayev lamented the lack of independence from the educational ministry, and the hardship of getting approval for every little change proposed. Tbilisi State University's new journalism deputy dean David Paichadze further explained that as a result of large number of students and lack of professional experience among his journalism faculty, few graduates end up with media jobs after their graduation, contrary to CSJMM, where 87 percent of graduates work in professional media outlets across the three countries.

Yerevan State University's journalism department is likely the one most open to changes and curriculum reform. As a result of its ongoing cooperation with ICFJ, a new master's degree was developed at YSU that incorporates lessons learned and a hands-on, a practical-oriented curriculum based on ICFJ's experience at CSJMM. YSU faculty member and ICFJ's Armenian branch manager Aram Mkrtchyan noted that the institutional support from his dean and faculty enabled ICFJ to take great strides in Armenia with their grant from USAID.

The conference concluded with a reception to celebrate CJSMM's fifth anniversary, with many alumni, faculty and media representative in attendance. Two of the founding forces behind CSJMM - GIPA dean Mikashavidze and former U.S. Public Affairs Officer Victoria Sloan - addressed the crowd, in addition to GIPA director Levan Tsutskiridze and U.S. Ambassador John F. Tefft. ICFJ's former vice president Whayne Dillehay, who wrote the original concept paper and proposal for CSJMM, unfortunately was not able to fly to Tbilisi from Alaska.