It was a memorable period last week at the Imo State University, Owerri, as the Department of Advertising, in the newly unbundled Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, welcomed its first year students at a colourful and glamorous dinner party.
The party, which marked the formal induction of the freshers into the first ever Department of Advertising in the Southeast and probably in Nigeria, was well attended.
The Head of the Department of Advertising, who was also the immediate past HOD of the defunct Mass Communication Department, Prof K.O. Nworgu, urged the newly admitted students to embrace professionalism, ethical standards and technology, which the unbundling brings, saying that was the future of advertising worldwide.
He admonished the new students to be focused and results-oriented, saying that was the sure way to taking over the advertising industry of the future.
Prof Nworgu advised the freshers not get “loose and get lost” as it is usually the case with some misguided freshers in the university.
The dinner event, which attracted cross sections of the town and gown communities, including some dignitaries, was used by the department to honour some of their corporate and private partners.
The guests described the event as the first of its kind as they were lavishly entertained.
A cross section of students in attendance expressed delight in the honour of being admitted in the department that prides herself as the glamour and wealth of the communication industry.
The high point of the occasion was the crowning of Mr/Miss Advertising and the Face of Advertising Department respectively.
It will be recalled that the National Universities Commission (NUC) approved the unbundling of Mass Communication into nine distinct courses/programmes.
Consequently, Mass Communication in the Imo State University (IMSU ), Owerri, was among the first departments in Nigerian university to create six new departments/programmes based on the unbundling programme.