The department of mass communications at North Bengal University (NBU) will introduce a six-month certificate course on Communication in Social and Behavioural Change in association with Unicef.

Barun Roy, head of the mass communications department, said graduates of any subject can join the certificate course.

“This will be a value-added course for six months. After graduation, students from any stream can join the certificate course. In fact, students of other universities can also join it,” said Roy.

The course, he said, would be designed in such a manner so individuals of all genders and ages can study it.

“The idea is to stress the department's commitment to equal opportunities for education. After completion of the course, the certificate will bear both the university’s logo and the Unicef logo. This is something unique in the North Bengal University's history. We have taken up the task of preparing an innovative and inclusive curriculum for the course,” the mass communications department head added.

The department, he said, had also received a certificate from Unicef, which confers the department the title of “Centre of Learning with Potential for Excellence”.

“With this recognition, the department also becomes the sole institution in north Bengal and Sikkim to receive such an honour,” said a source in the department.

Sonia Menon, a CSBC specialist in Unicef, said they are eagerly waiting for the start of the course at the NBU mass communication department to gauge its social impact.

“The course will not just directly benefit the department's stakeholders, but also have considerable societal reach, resulting in a transformative effect in the region. We hope the department will play an important role in this regard,” Menon said.

Unicef, she said, will provide expertise and use its global network to connect to leading educationists and specialists in CSBC and liaise between them and the department for the benefit of students.