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The Degree Programme in Journalism at Sofia University started in the academic year 1952/1953, which marked the beginning of higher education in Journalism in Bulgaria. In 1968 a Department of Journalism was set up within the Faculty of Slavic Studies, which in 1974 developed into a separate Faculty. In 1991 it was named Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communications. It has been almost five decades since the establishment of this program. For these five decades over 4500 students have been granted M. A. degrees, and as many practicing journalists from the press, radio and television have upgraded their qualifications. Students from over 50 countries have also been trained at the Faculty. In the academic year 1994/1995 a new degree program in Public Relations (a UNESCO Chair) was introduced, while the academic year 1997/1998 witnessed the onset of training in Book Publishing. On the premises of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication are situated radio and television training complexes, a cinema and a video centre, a photo lab, a press studio, a specialized library, an editorial and publishing centre, computer rooms. These facilities enhance students’ publishing activities, as well as the production of their own radio and television programmes. Alma Mater, the first Bulgarian university radio station entirely operated by students, broadcasts 24 hours a day. It transmits at a frequency of 88 MHz. Broadcasts are aimed at a student and academic audience. The programmes broadcast focus on news, education, culture, health, politics, economics and entertainment. The Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication maintains steady contacts with foreign universities and higher schools, as well as with a number of leading scholarly and public organizations in Bulgaria and abroad. There is an ongoing exchange of students, professors and researchers, literature and curricula. Joint research projects are developed within the framework of UNESCO, PHARE, Erasmus-Socrates, TEMPUS and other European programs. The global aspects and social responsibilities of the journalistic profession, specialized publications, regional electronic media, educational satellite TV, advertising, and public relations are the fields of the most active cooperation with foreign universities. Jointly with the Open Society Fund, the St. Cyril and Methodius Foundation, the Bertelsmann, Konrad Adenauer and Friedrich Ebert Foundations, the Goethe Institute, the British Council, the BBC, the French Cultural Institute, the Austrian Institute for Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and the European Journalism Training Association, the Faculty organizes conferences, symposia and education programmes for students and young researchers.