The University of Missouri Journalism School celebrated its 100th anniversary in September 2008. Classes began on September 14, 1908, after more than ten years of controversy. The main problem, more than financial, was the intense civil service examination to establish programs of study journalism in the United States as a degree program university. Walter Williams, director of the Columbia Missouri Herald, a local newspaper, was the direct founder of the School, and its first Dean.

In the middle of last November, and still in an atmosphere of celebration of such a well-deserved centenary, I had the opportunity to attend to congress organized by the School of Journalism of the University of Missouri and the association American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), under the degree scroll, "Public Trust through Public Engagement". The most immediate conclusion of the discussions among university professors, professionals and students claimed the timeliness of the "Journalists' Creed" elaborated by Walter Williams in 1914.

More than ever it seems necessary to say, with Walter Williams, "I believe in the profession of journalism" and to regain the trust of the public and readers, because of the public commitment that the profession implies. In his credo, Williams stated: "I believe that successful journalism fears God and honors man. It is strongly independent, unmoved by the desire for power, constructive, tolerant but not careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of readers (...) it is a humane journalism, of and for today's world." Almost a century later, today's world demands professionals like those that American society needed at the beginning of the 20th century, and that led those pioneers to establish the world's first university center for the training of journalists.

In Spain, with half a century of difference and similar ideals and understanding of the profession, the Institute of Journalism of the then Estudio General de Navarra, today the University of Navarra, opened its doors in 1958. Fifty years later, the programs of study of journalism already enjoys a recognized tradition in the Spanish university; a theoretical body of the main disciplines has been developed; the scientific research produces relevant results for the university community and for the profession; and our careers are demanded by a high issue of students.

I believe that all of us, citizens, journalists, and university professors, would subscribe to Walter Williams' credo. And we are all aware of the difficulties of public recognition and trust that journalism professionals face today. We all have an important role to play in regaining the public's trust. From the citizens themselves, public administrations, professional associations and communication entrepreneurs. And for the university centers, it is presented to us as a kind imperative promote and revive the university spirit that drove the creation and the development of the programs of study of Journalism in the University. Better Schools will give society better journalists.

With the adaptation to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) Education , Schools has now opened a great opportunity for us to rethink the content of our offer professor, the professional profiles we are preparing and the competencies our students need to develop in order to achieve professional excellence.

The contents taught in our classrooms have evolved in line with the academic research and the needs of the profession. The topicality of the contents demands, on the part of the university community, a continuous attention to one or the other. We need a academic staff capable of developing relevant research, of reference letter for the academic world, susceptible to interdisciplinary dialogue and with a strong international dimension.

The best Schools of Journalism are characterized both by excellent graduates, who occupy outstanding positions in the profession, and by researchers who have created around them authentic schools of scientific knowledge . A researching academic staff necessarily transmits to student intellectual habits and the necessary depth to face the seriousness of the work that will be at hand. It is precisely in the classrooms, from the first courses, where, given the scientific and intellectual rigor of the knowledge taught, the student begins to become aware of the nature of the journalistic profession and thus discovers that superficiality is his worst enemy.

Our programs of study includes more and more subjects aimed at training professionals for a globalized world, making them capable of reflecting and attending to multicultural audiences; subjects dedicated to deepening the economic logic of communication companies and its consequences in the elaboration of news products; courses aimed at specializing students in certain contents, developing an interdisciplinary knowledge ; and of course, subjects that allow them to tell stories in the new multimedia languages.

It is still essential to provide our students with a solid humanistic training , which will make them educated professionals; and of course, a consistent and rigorous teaching of the specific science of communication, from the theory and history of communication, to epistemology and deontology.

In addition, we need our Schools to look at the communication industry and try to anticipate its problems and needs from the training taught in the classrooms. It would be pretentious, and in final, very ununiversity-like to design professional profiles with our backs to the industry. The participation of professionals in the teaching of journalism, or the monitoring of students' professional internships by journalists in the media are increasingly necessary tools. The Schools needs professionals to get involved in the training internship of their students.

Many of the principles of Walter Williams' credo are hidden in the exercise of the professional competences of the journalist in the design . Concern for quality and thoroughness, ethical or deontological commitment or the capacity for analysis, synthesis and self-criticism are some of the competencies included in the reports of the Degrees Journalism courses adapted to the European Higher Education Area Education .

Beyond the bureaucracies or political controversies surrounding the Bologna plan, for Schools it has meant an excellent opportunity to rethink the activity professor, putting the student, the future professional, at the center of the process. We are in a privileged moment to say, with Williams, I believe in the profession of journalism, I believe in the university training of journalism professionals.