Director General of the HACA Mr. Jamal Eddine Naji visited on 26^th May 2017, in the company of Director of Legal Studies Mr. Mahdi Aroussi Idrissi, the Arab States Broadcasting Union- ASBU- new training, development and teaching academy), of which the doors opened on 29^th April, at the organization’s headquarter in Tunis, and the training sessions for member states professionals started right after its opening with a session on “mobile journalism”.

After a premises and equipment visit, including TV and radio studios with the latest digital norms, Mr. Naji and Mr. Aroussi have been received by Director General of the academy Dr. Abderrahim Seuleiman (Sudan), and Pr. Ridha Najar (Tunisia), international expert, founder and executive manager of the African Center for Training of Journalists and Communicators (CAPJC) for 25 years in Tunis, of which the ASBU entrusted the design and the setting of the pedagogic device and training content.  

During this meeting, Mr. Seuleiman and Mr. Najar expressed ASBU academy’s wish to build expertize, research and training relationships both with operators, obviously, and regulation institutions including the HACA, which in their opinion stands out as an influential model in the region and in Africa. “There are needs for media professionals training on the regulation concept and missions, and it would be extremely helpful if the regulators participate in defining and exploring professionals training and development in our region”, says Dr. Seuleiman.

It is to be noted that ASBU academy offers training sessions (continuous training and development) about various topics and different terms curricula: two to three days sessions, one to four weeks sessions, long sessions of one to 30 months, and these two latter are attested by diplomas. The ASBU is in fact in negotiation with many Arab and international universities to set full-attested by diplomas university curricula. The academy intends also on organizing training sessions in the Arab sub-regions as well as in an international scale, in partnership with other international unions such as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Let us recall that the ASBU (founded in Khartoum in 1969 under the Arab league) had a training center based in Damas since 1972. As for the new academy, it has been established under the Union’s executive Council recommendation issued on December 2015, enshrined in a Decision adopted during the Union’s 35^th General Assembly in the same date.