Stellenbosch University (SU) student Aurelia Mouton, 25, has been announced as vice-president of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Africa Correspondents Corps (HBCU-ACC) programme, an initiative of the Center for African Studies at Howard University in the US.
The programme aims to provide student journalists and political scientists with the “knowledge, skills, networks and exposure to pursue a career as an international reporter or foreign policy commentator”.
The HBCU-ACC also works to “broaden networks between HBCU students and their counterparts in Africa and the global African diaspora”, and students from other American and African universities also participate.
This year, students from Penn State University, Durban University of Technology and Stellenbosch University are taking part in the programme.
Mouton is currently doing her BA (Honours) in journalism at SU.
She said she got involved in the programme last year after HBCU-ACC adviser Michael Walsh reached out to her in her capacity as the former editor-in-chief of Die Matie, the independent student-run newspaper at SU.
“I joined the cohort because it offered not only the opportunity to develop a very specific skill set, foreign correspondence, but also incredible networking opportunities that I would not have access to otherwise.
Our classes focus on developing our pitching and reporting abilities, while giving us insight into the world of foreign correspondence through guest speakers of esteem.
“I am very excited for my term as VP under the leadership of Akofa Bruce, our president. Our big goals for the term are to create structure within the cohort, as officers, as well as ensuring we build and maintain relationships between not only the involved institutions, but also among ourselves as aspiring journalists.
“My personal goal with the programme is to establish myself as a foreign correspondent and as a future expert in the field of geo-politics and conflict reporting, as well as building a network of high-value contacts and connections,” she said.
SU Department of Journalism head Professor Herman Wasserman said they were very proud of Mouton’s selection as vice-president of the HBCU-ACC programme.
“While it is already an honour for us to have two of our postgraduate journalism students selected to join the programme, Aurelia’s selection speaks to the quality of young trainee journalists in South Africa,” Wasserman said.
Walsh said the idea for the programme was mapped out “on the back of a napkin on the eve of the US-Africa Leaders Summit”.
“Prior to that event, I had been asked to meet with Dr Krista Johnson (director, Center for African Studies).
The Biden administration had indicated that they wanted the African diaspora to play a bigger role in US-Africa relations. And we were meeting to brainstorm ways that American universities could help.
“As a result, Howard students and faculty translated the US National Security Strategy into African languages for the first time. Those were released in the middle of the summit.
One was isiZulu. A few weeks later, we had the kick-off for the HBCU-Africa Correspondents Corps Programme. That was in January 2023,” he said.
Cape Times