Why did two international students choose to go to DMJX – and how did they end in Ukraine?

Constance Waerseggers and Louis Hanoteau are both from IHECS, a university located in Brussels, Belgium, where they study ‘Applied Communication’.

They spent the fall semester 2024 at DMJX, attending these courses:

• Feature Video Journalism
• People behind the figures
• Foreign News Reporting
• Semester Project

We asked them why they came to DMJX and what they think about our teaching methods.
Furthermore they tell about an assignment, that led to a reporting trip to Ukraine.

Watch the assignment 'Children of the war' below.

Why did you choose to apply for studies at DMJX?

It was important for me to do my exchange semester in a school that offered high-quality education, with enough funding, with high-level motivated students. I was looking for lots of audiovisual practice, that would further help my journalism career, more specifically in documentary making. The program “Video Journalism and Foreign News Reporting” seemed spot on for that. Denmark is also a very comfortable country for foreigners and journalists.

Can you tell us a little bit – in your own words – how the teaching methods have been on the Foreign Reporting course at DMJX?

We had lots of learning opportunities: different video and writing assignments, a field trip to Copenhagen with institutional visits, different guest lectures that went in-depth on certain topics. For most assignments, were were put into groups with other students. Teachers mainly served as mentors, making sure students stayed on track with their different deadlines, offering sporadic feedback and guidance.

What do you think about the teaching methods at DMJX?

I appreciate the fact that teachers gave more creative freedom and autonomy to students. I appreciated the fact that there was a lot of opportunities to practice videomaking and article-writing, but on those matters I expected to be a bit more challenged. I also expected to be more challenged on my knowledge of the world, of the news, and to be taught more theory.

Why did you choose to apply for studies at DMJX

I wanted to apply for DMJX because of its program and the country. I was really interested in the foreign reporting and video journalism option. From the information I could get about it, I was convinced that it would really help me to get into the international scale of journalism. I also wanted to discover Denmark as it was my first time there.

Can you tell us a little bit – in your own words – how the teaching methods have been on the Foreign Reporting course at DMJX?

They were very different from what I have experienced in Belgium. The methods give a lot of freedom to express our thoughts and experiences from our environment on all topics. The consequence of it is that you learn so much from other students because we come from all over the world, and we share our different values and norms.

What do you think about the teaching methods at DMJX?

They were quite refreshing for me as we have much more freedom and practice compared to Belgian teaching methods. I had the feeling to work like a real journalist and not like a student with achieving his studies as only purpose. The courses are much more based on practical assignment while in Belgium we still have a lot of theoretical courses. The teachers at DMJX were guiding us to achieve our assignments in the best way possible without framing our creativity and personal touch.

What have been the most important learnings points for you during the Foreign Reporting course?

• Having the most primary sources as possible to write a good and relevant article.
• Calling and mailing sources is the most important part of writing your article 
• Working as a team with your newsroom is really helpful to improve your work. 

What was the assignment you were given, that led to your reporting trip to Ukraine?

We went to Ukraine for our International Semester Project, for which we were asked to report on an international topic, either in a written article with audiovisual elements or in a video. We chose the latter. 

Can you tell us a little bit about the stories you have been working on in Ukraine?

We prepared different stories, one of them was about how it feels to grow up in a country at war (and this is the topic we ended up submitting for our Semester Project). We filmed a class of young children, interviewed their teacher, filmed sports activities for children, asked them about their experiences, their childhood. We also got a chilling interview of a 22 year old man, explaining the mental toll the war had on him, and what he does on a daily basis to help children overcome those same difficulties he had as a child. Our 8-min documentary "Children of War: Impact and Adaptation of Ukraine's children" can be watched here on the school's Youtube channel "Students TV" . 

Being in Ukraine for a whole week was also a unique opportunity for us to push our future career in journalism. We used this opportunity to film a bunch of content that we plan on pitching to different media. For example, that same 22-year-old man brought us to his hometown Bucha, that suburb that got invaded, occupied, and cruelly tortured by the Russian army at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. We followed him, with his father and his younger brother, through the destruction, the war memorials, listening to their touching recounting of what his family had gone through during the war. We collected first-hand testimonies of alleged war crimes, of heroic war acts, of mental health problems, of grief and torn families. All topics of high significance.

This whole experience left long-lasting impressions on us. We are deeply proud that we managed to pull this off, we are deeply grateful for everything we have learned through it all. Even though this project was not an easy pill to swallow for our teacher - he obviously showed his concerns and reservations - we are grateful he didn't scare away from such project. Seeing a school give freedom and support -even remotely- to their students to accomplish their wildest dreams and significant ambitions was refreshing for us to experience. And this was partly made possible by the learnings we got from the DMJX.

Watch the assignment Children of the war' - Impact and Adaptation of Ukraine's children. (Link goes to YouTube).