Annual Enrollment Report Number of Students Studying Journalism and Mass Communication at All-Time High

Abstract

Undergraduate enrollments in journalism and mass communication programs around the country increased dramatically in the autumn of 2000. Total enrollments were up by 12.0%; same unit enrollments were up 8.5%. The number of students enrolled in journalism and mass communication programs was the largest it has ever been. The undergraduate enrollment growth in journalism and mass communication is mirrored in undergraduate enrollment growth across the university. The projection is for continued growth in undergraduate enrollments nationally, and all indications are that journalism and mass communication enrollments also will continue to increase. Graduate enrollments in journalism and mass communication also grew in the autumn of 2000 after several years of stagnation, but the growth in graduate enrollments resulted from the opening of new programs rather than growth within existing programs. Total enrollments were up 4.3% for master's programs and 26.1% for doctoral programs, but same unit enrollments declined at the master's level (-- 1.4%) and were up at the much smaller doctoral programs by 9.8%. Graduate enrollments have shown little growth nationally in recent years, reflecting, most likely, the inducements of a strong economy to remain in the labor force. An estimated 38,311 students earned bachelor's degrees from journalism and mass communication programs in the academic year ending in the summer of 2000, representing an increase of 8.4% from a year earlier. Same unit growth was 7.7%. An additional 3,300 master's degree recipients earned journalism and mass communication degrees in academic year 1999-2000, up 9.9% from a year earlier. These same programs granted an estimated 217 doctoral degrees, up 19.9% from a year earlier. Same unit change was 1.1% at the master's level and 7.8% at the doctoral level. These are among the key findings of the 2000 Annual Survey of Journalism fr Mass Communication Enrollments. In addition, the survey showed: * The percentage of undergraduates who are women increased just slightly in 2000, resulting in the highest percentage for women since at least 1988. Women also were a larger percentage of those enrolled in master's programs than ever before and continue to be the majority of those enrolled in doctoral programs. * One in ten of those enrolled in undergraduate journalism and mass communication programs across the country is African-American, and one in ten is Hispanic. The percentage of enrolled undergraduates who are African-American dropped from a year earlier and is at the lowest point since 1991. The percentage of enrolled undergraduates who are Hispanic has grown dramatically since 1988 and was the highest it has been since at least that year. * An estimated one in four of the bachelor's degrees granted by journalism and mass communication programs in the 1999-2000 academic year was earned by a minority, representing 9,575 individuals. The survey also found that only about four in ten of the journalism and mass communication programs report enrollments by race, suggesting many administrators are not closely monitoring these figures. Half report enrollments by gender. Methodology The methods used in the Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Enrollments have remained unchanged since 1988. Schools listed in either the Journalism Fr Mass Communication Directory published by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication or The Journalist's Road to Success, A Career and Scholarship Guide, published by The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Inc., are included in the population of surveyed schools. All degree-granting senior colleges and universities with courses organized under the labels of journalism and mass communication are invited to be listed in the AEJMC Directory. To be included in the Guide, the college or university must offer at least ten courses in news-editorial journalism, and those courses must include core courses, such as an introduction to the mass media and press law and ethics, as well as basic skills courses, such as reporting and editing. …