A Survey of Master's Programs Documents Diversity

Abstract

Sixty years after the first university undergraduate course in journalism was offered at Cornell in the mid-1870's, Columbia University pioneered the first exclusively graduate program in journalism.From that first program in 1935 at Columbia, graduate education in journalism/mass communication has grown to more than 160 programs with enrollment exceeding 8,000.(1)Columbia's denture into graduate journalism/mass communication study was a strictly professional journalism program. Programs that followed went in different directions, with some emphasizing theory, others taking a professional orientation, and still others offering multiple tracks.Media professionals and academics debate whether graduate education is needed or not, whether graduate programs should be theoretical or practical, broad or specialized, rigid or flexible. There appears to be no consensus.The result is that graduate programs today are a diverse group.Admission criteria, content, and graduation requirements differ among the programs in response to different goals, the needs of a diverse clientele, and competition for students.This article reports the results of a 1991 mail survey(2) of 120 masters programs in journalism and mass communication. The survey collected data on admission criteria, program types and content, and graduation requirements.The data are also compared with survey in 1971(3) and 1979(4) of journalism/mass communication graduate programs.METHODQuestionnaires about their master's program were sent to graduate program coordinators at all 120 graduate schools of journalism and mass communication in the United States listed in the 1991 Journalism and Mass Communication Directory of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.(5)The initial mailing (November 1991) resulted in the return of 70 questionnaires (58%). The second mailing (December 1991) resulted in the return of an additional 26 questionnaires, for a total response rate of 80 percent.Only 91 responses were usable because five program coordinators disqualified themselves for various reasons.(6)Partial information on 11 graduate programs of schools that did not respond to the questionnaire was obtained from the respective 1991-92 graduate school catalogs and from Rudolf's 1990 profile of 65 accredited master's programs.(7) Thus, a total of 102 schools were included in the study. Results are expressed as a percentage of 102, unless otherwise noted. (The N varies among findings because not all schools answered every question.)The questionnaire had four sections:1. General questions--types of degrees offered, enrollment, and accreditation.2. Admissions requirements---tests and other requirements for admission to graduate programs.3. Course requirements--required graduate courses, areas of specialization available, and whether graduate credit was given for internships and work experience.4. Graduation requirements--theses, professional projects, comprehensive exams, and formal tests of writing abilities.FINDINGSGeneral questions. Eighty-four percent of the programs offered only one type of master's degree, and the remaining 16 percent offered two or more types of master's degrees, most commonly the M.A. and the Some had several categories of degrees within the M.A. or type, such as M.S. in Advertising or M.S. in Journalism.Seventy-six percent of the programs offered an M.A. degree, 29 percent an M.S., 21 percent a Ph.D and 22 percent offered other degrees, including master's degrees in Journalism, Arts in Journalism, Mass Communication, Fine Arts, Communication, As in Mass Communication, International Journalism, and Journalism Education. Seven percent of the schools offered dual degrees through cooperation with other departments, such as Journalism and East Asian Studies or Journalism and Law.The range of total student enrollment (full-and part-time] in master's programs in journalism and mass communication was 6-250 (mean = 59), and the range of international student enrollment was 0-50 (mean = 9). …