The PatchU program provides students internships and coursework at local Patch online outlets. In addition to covering stories for Patch, the program also aims to teach students to create a business model, as well as shoot and edit photos and videos, integrate content with social media and produce stories online using Patch’s leading content management system.

SEE ALSO: AOL’s Patch Aims To Quintuple In Size By Year-End

While the connection between a business like AOL and university j-schools might seem a little too cozy, these particular communications programs are certainly under a lot of pressure considering the contraction of jobs at more traditional publications like newspapers and magazines. On top of that, j-schools need to evolve to face the more technical and entrepreneurial demands individuals will face when they graduate. Meanwhile, AOL has been one of the largest hirers of journalists en masse over the past two years as it has sought to build up its content side.

The PatchU news also comes on the heels of other reforms in educating budding journalists. The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, which is also one of the starting partners with AOL on this program, just announced it has received $3 million funding to create the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. The center, which will be directed by Buzzmachine’s Jeff Jarvis, who is also an associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the CUNY j-school, will establish the country’s first master’s degree in entrepreneurial journalism and offer certificates in the field for mid-career professional journalists. (More about that here)

Among the 13 schools kicking off the PatchU program are:

—Hofstra University School of Communication (founding partner)
—The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism
—University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication
—Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism
—Missouri School of Journalism
—University of Connecticut Department of Journalism
—Indiana University School of Journalism
—Stanford University Graduate Program in Journalism
—Columbia College Chicago Journalism Department
—University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
—University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communications & Journalism
—Seton Hall Department of Communication and The Arts
—Quinnipiac University Department of Journalism

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