History The Catholic Church in India had active collaboration and involvement with the international Catholic media bodies like UNDA and OCIC (SIGNIS) which helped in the area of developing media skills and training. The church in India has several regional communication centres at the regional or local level. However the need was felt to have a national centre to train personnel to be able to take on issues and programmes that will be relevant and useful to the whole nation. After several consultation and feasibility studies from 1994, the CBCI in its General Body Meeting held in Trivandrum in 1996 decided to establish National Media Training and Research Institute. It was also decided that the centre should be in or around Delhi, as it was felt that such an institute of national importance should be located in the capital of the nation, as this would enable the institute to have access to the policy-makers as well as to the major media centres of the country. Further, it directed the CBCI Media Commission to initiate the necessary steps towards its realization A new Society was registered in September 1997 under the legal title: “CBCI Society for Social Communications, Research and Training”, while the Institute itself was christened as: “NISCORT” (National Institute of Social Communications, Research and Training). From that time onwards, the NISCORT team operated from the Archbishop's House, New Delhi. From 1999 onwards the Institute functioned temporarily at Palam Vihar, Gurgaon (Haryana). In 2002 the Institute was shifted to its permanent campus at Vaishali, Gaziabad, UP. Accordingly, a new Society was registered in September 1997 under the legal title: “CBCI Society for Social Communications, Research and Training”, while the Institute itself was christened as: “NISCORT” (National Institute of Social Communications, Research and Training). From that time onwards, the NISCORT team operated from the Archbishop's House, New Delhi. From 1999 onwards, the Institute began to take shape: in February the Institute was set up temporarily at Palam Vihar, Gurgaon (Haryana), in July 1999, Fr. Sebasti L. Raj, SJ took over as the first Director of NISCORT and a few more new staff members also joined the Institute in 1999 and in the following years. In early 2001, NISCORT purchased a four-acre plot of land from the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), at Vaishali, at the Delhi-UP border, situated about 16 Kms. away from the CBCI Centre. On August 5, 2001, the foundation was laid for the first building of the new campus. When this first building (the hostel building) was completed after about a year, the Institute was shifted to its permanent campus on September 10, 2002. The second building (academic building) was completed in August 2003. The formal inauguration of the permanent campus of NISCORT and the blessing of the academic block took place on August 17, 2003. Along with the construction of these two buildings, the entire campus has been developed adequately and attractively.
Vision The vision of NISCORT is to serve as an effective communication think-tank and as a centre for advanced learning, training and research in matters related to communication and give to the mass media of the nation, a specific thrust, which will promote and uphold the cherished media values and morality.