The largest media training centre in New Zealand adopted Whitireia’s journalism school this month, bringing it back from the brink of closure.

Reopened by tertiary education minister Steven Joyce, the school has moved to new premises in the Whitireia Media Training Centre, and now offers re-developed journalism programmes. have since been re-developed and now occupy brand new premises along with other Whitireia media courses.

‘I’m passionate about radio,’ Joyce told 150 media, education and business people at the launch.

The new facilities support more than 300 campus-based and distance learning students and are part of a NZ$350,000 upgrade of the campus. As well as journalism, the campus has a long-established creative writing programme, the recently acquired New Zealand Radio Training School and the country’s only book publishing diploma.

‘Today sees the dream become reality,’ said journalism head Jim Tucker. ‘With the facilities in this building, we’ve got the most modern multimedia training centre in the country.’

From seven students in 2007, the school will accommodate 70 students this year, studying journalism in all its forms, with the learning showcased on NewsWire, Whitireia’s news website. The newly-established Diploma in Radio Journalism is the only course of its kind in the country.

NZRTS programme manager Jono Manks says he and his 30 radio students, who are training towards a qualification in commercial broadcasting, have ‘hit the ground running’ since moving in. ‘Our students will be more than ready when they leave here. The standard of the equipment – from our computer software, to the seven recording studios we use – these are what they will find when they enter the industry.’

Completing the multimedia scene is the NiuFM radio station, broadcasting live 24-hours a day from its studio just down the hall from the centre’s classrooms.

More: www.whitireia.ac.nz