The Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana has launched an extraordinary call for the Journalism program aimed at university students who are already pursuing other disciplines, a measure that highlights the deep enrollment crisis affecting this field of study on the Island.
According to the post, the aptitude test will take place on September 10 and 11 at 10:00 AM at the Faculty's location on San Pedro Street, between Avenida Independencia and Ermita, in Plaza de la Revolución.
Students who have completed the first, second, or third year of any other program at the University of Havana—whether in the daytime mode or through intermittent classes—may apply, provided they are under 28 years old and reside in Havana, Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Mayabeque, or the Island of Youth.
The test will assess general knowledge, current information, writing skills, and language proficiency.
The call, presented institutionally as a contribution to "broaden the training of journalism professionals that the country demands," is actually a warning sign about the collapse of a career that just a decade ago was one of the most selective and sought-after in Cuba.
The journalist, professor, and former president of the Union of Journalists of Cuba (UPEC) in Matanzas, Yirmara Torres Hernández, reacted strongly on Facebook: "My beautiful career... in Journalism... is sinking... The problem is not the career, nor the Faculty. It is the country, it is the journalism being done... and above all, the stubbornness of a Mandatory Military Service for women who want to study Journalism."
Torres Hernández, who resigned from the provincial presidency of the UPEC in 2023 after 14 years in executive positions, emphasized that the Faculty of Communication at the University raised concerns about this situation in official settings without being heard: "We are used to those in power not listening to us."
He also questioned whether candidates who pass the extraordinary exam will be "politically and ideologically prepared without going through SMO," referring to the year of Mandatory Military Service that will be required of women choosing Journalism starting in the 2024-2025 academic year, a requirement unprecedented in any other Cuban university program.
The exiled Cuban journalist José Raúl Gallego was more emphatic in his analysis, pointing out that this call is not the first time it has been made and that it addresses systemic issues that have accumulated over the years.
“The imposition of compulsory military service on women selected for the Journalism career -who were usually the majority in the classrooms- was a self-inflicted wound by Castroism in its quest to ensure ideological commitment over professional competence,” wrote Gallego on Facebook.
Graduated in Journalism in 2010 and expelled from the University of Camagüey in 2018, Gallego recalled that during his final year of study, there was a similar initiative "directly sponsored by the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the PCC, which practically forced professors to graduate these students as it was a political task."
"Every day it becomes more difficult to be part of a system that forces you to lie publicly, putting your face on the line, while the everyday life and the people around you remind you that this is neither the reality of the country nor the world," concluded Gallego.
The vocational interest in Journalism in Cuba is waning. In 2025, only two students took the aptitude exam for the program at the Ciego de Ávila University campus.
In addition to the drop in enrollment, there is also the exodus of those who do graduate: they emigrate, move to independent journalism, or seek better-paying sectors, as salaries in state media do not exceed 5,060 Cuban pesos per month, which is less than 10 dollars at the informal exchange rate.
The regime fears the work of independent journalism: Decree 160, signed by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz and in effect since August 4, consolidates the state monopoly over the press and declares journalism an "activity not authorized for non-state economic actors," removing any possibility of independent activity in the sector.
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