The AJK Mass Communication Research Centre is a premier media institution in India. Founded in 1982 by Anwar Jamal Kidwai (former VC of Jamia Millia Islamia and later, Chairman of the Centre), the MCRC offers graduate and post-graduate courses in the art, craft and technology of the modern media. The MCRC provides the highest standard of media education and training with a professionally and academically accomplished faculty and a broad spectrum of visiting professionals.

A.J. Kidwai established the MCRC in collaboration with York University, Toronto and the Canadian International Development Aid Agency. The CIDA provided the MCRC with a range of sophisticated production equipment while York University sent the first generation of teachers. The team from York was led by distinguished documentary filmmaker James Beveridge, a close associate of documentary pioneer John Grierson, founder of the National Film Board of Canada.

AJ Kidwai envisioned the institute as providing an intensive and integrated media education that would enable students to develop their individual expertise and skills within a secular and collaborative working environment. Upholding the philosophy & vision of its founders, the institute continues to provide its students a comprehensive media education that nurtures the individual aspirations of students while inspiring them to make a meaningful contribution to the social environment within which they work. The Centre continues to work within this broad mandate while regularly updates its courses to meet the growing challenges of contemporary media. These efforts have been constantly appreciated and supported by generous grants from the government and other international agencies like Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

To provide international exposure and expertise to the students, the Centre has also forged collaborative ties with the University of York, Toronto (Canada), University of Westminster, London(UK) and Sciences Po, Paris(France).

The whole attempt at the MCRC is to create competent and thoughtful media practitioners whose engagement with the world of media is both professional and intellectual.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES FOR THE CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL CONSORTIUM (CEC) OF UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION

For more than two decades the AJK MCRC has been at the forefront of producing high quality educational programmes for the CEC of the University Grants Commission (U.G.C.). The CEC programming follows from the legacy of the UGC, which started its UGC-INSAT Television Project in 1984, to cater to the needs of undergraduate students studying in rural and semi-urban places. The AJKMCRC has so far produced over 1000 Programmes of which a substantive number are award-winners. Today it is a leading production centre of educational programmes for the CEC.