In November 2023, the grand opening of the Student Media Centre, a regional platform of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, took place at South Ural State University.
The Newsroom Digital Media Centre has become part of the Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities and operates at the unique SUSU media complex, which includes the SUSU-TV Television Company, SUSU Radio, the SMART University Newspaper, Multimedia Newsroom, Photography Studio, as well as Virtual Reality and Neuromarketing Technology Media Laboratories.
Director of the SUSU Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities, Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Professor Lidiya Lobodenko notes: “The activities of the participants of the Media Centre are aimed at involving students in digital media production, creating conditions for the development of professional, social, creative activity of student youth, as well as forming of a positive information agenda in the youth environment.”
The SUSU Newsroom Digital Media Centre actively works in the field of education, practice and technology, providing students with the opportunity to consolidate their acquired knowledge and professional skills.
"The Regional Student Media Centre has become a platform that unites the information activities of media structures of leading universities in the Chelyabinsk Region," says Liudmila Shesterkina, Head of the Department of Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations at the SUSU Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities, Doctor of Sciences (Philology). "It includes Chelyabinsk State University, Chelyabinsk State Institute of Culture, Tchaikovsky South Ural State Institute of Arts, International Institute of Design and Service, and others."
The Media Centre's student activists create materials for the SUSU Newsroom Digital account on the VKontakte social network and in Telegram, as well as for the youth media outlet of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, NOS: Science, Education, Students. Throughout the year, the Media Centre's participants not only cover the most exciting student events, but also host regular author's columns that have become popular with the youth audience. Among them are the podcasts Book Dessert, and Live Life (authors: Nadezhda Shirko and Valeriia Rossel), Che poChem (authors: Nikita Biriukov, Lilit Grigoryan), StudHack (authors: Lilit Grigoryan, Vera Ovcharuk), and The Voice of a Student Is the Voice of the Era (author: Daria Populova). Materials in the format of cards and articles are regularly published (authors: Anastasiia Matveeva, Mariia Manichenko, Marina Voronaya, Anastasiia Bezmen, Svetlana Vasina).
Head of the SUSU Regional Student Media Centre Arina Marfitsyna:
"Correspondents of our Student Media Centre have taken part in major socially significant events at the all-Russian and international levels. Among these: the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, "VYZOV" All-Russian Congress of the Youth Community in St. Petersburg, the "Media Industry" Russian-Belarusian Media Forum in Pskov, the Summer School of Journalism of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Media Forum in Senezh, and other events."
The activities of the enthusiastic students of the Newsroom Digital SUSU’s Regional Student Media Centre were recognized with letters of gratitude from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and in February 2024, the Media Centre’s account entered the Top 10 student media accounts in Telegram.