Universities and schools

There is no Journalism University in El Salvador. This means that the media are not obliged to recruit only graduate professionals as journalists in their newsrooms. Graduate studies in journalism are almost non-existent at the main universities of the country, which have instead activated graduate courses in Organisational Communication and Strategic Communication. It is important to say that the degree in Journalism by the University of El Salvador, the only public university in the country, has a curriculum that dates back to 1993.

Communication degrees are relatively recent. Most of them were created during the 1990s, and in their inception had a generalist journalism-oriented approach (Marroquin, 2005). After that, they moved to organisational communication studies, due to labour market demands and socioeconomic conditions of those dedicated to the informative activity. In this process, the discussion about the journalistic profession and its specific norms was not faced thoroughly by the academy, which has contributed to the weakness of this career. In addition, regarding the undergraduate and graduate degrees, it is necessary to look beyond the instrumental vision of the journalistic activity and rediscover the public vocation of this activity.

There is a challenge to create and maintain an academic community that can contribute to the discussion on the journalism identity in the current transformation of the communication media system, so that the journalistic activity can provide answers to the issues faced within the country and the region.

These are the universities that, to date, issue a degree in journalism or similar:

  • Andrés Bello University: Bachelor Degree in Communications
  • Central American University: Bachelor’s degree in Social Communication
  • Don Bosco University: Bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences
  • José Matías Delgado University: Bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences
  • Mónica Herrera Communication School: Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Digital strategy
  • Technological University: Journalism technician degree University of El Salvador (public): Bachelor’s degree in Journalism