Universities and schools
Given the central role of journalists in the development of a peace culture, the government was anxious to train professionals in this field. Therefore, in 2007, it promoted the first general assembly of media in the Central African Republic, held in Bangui from 28 August to 1 September of that year and in 2008 it was able, in partnership with UNESCO, to create the Department of Information and Communication Sciences (DSIC), which has a professional character even though it is under the auspices of the Faculty of Humanities (FLSH) of the University of Bangui. The DSIC is the only university department in the country training media professionals over three years and recruiting students on the basis of an admission exam. Like other professional institutions, each year it sends all end-of-cycle students on internships to both public and private media outlets in the marketplace for a period of three months, in order to combine practice with the theoretical knowledge acquired at school. It should be noted that at the end of the internship, the students must write a report that must be discussed before an academic panel in order to obtain a professional degree in journalism. Even though it doesn’t indicate a minimum quota allocated to women each year during its admission examinations, the DSIC clearly indicates that female applicants are encouraged. Since its creation, the school has already trained about 100 media professionals.