Maputo, Mozambique — Plans have been floated to transform the Maputo Journalism School into a Higher Media and Marketing Institute.

Mozambique news agency reported Thursday that a detailed project has been submitted to the government's press office to assess its feasibility.

The director of the Journalism School Tomas Jane confirmed that besides studying the proposal, the government had pledged to finance the rehabilitation of the school, budgeted at 700,000 US dollars.

If the project is endorsed, the institute would offer training in areas related not only to journalism, but also to public relations, marketing, and documentation.

Jane said that the school would also have a language laboratory, as well as a small printing shop. The Japanese government has pledged to donate 500,000 US dollars to purchase the required equipment.

The courses are to run between two and four years for bachelor's and "licenciatura" degrees. (The "licenciatura" is a degree in the Portuguese language system which has no exact equivalent in English speaking countries - it is usually regarded as something in between a bachelors and a masters degree).

Currently, the school only offers pre-university courses, which Jane though might be scaring off would-be sponsors and donors.

Jane told AIM that the school has been negotiating with the Chilean authorities to provide assistance for up-grading the school into a higher education institute.