Annual Survey of Enrollment and Degrees Awarded

Abstract

Total enrollment nationally in the field of journalism and mass communication has stabilized at 141,167 students, up only one-half of 1 percent over last year's figure. This number is down about 14,000 from the peak the programs reached in 1989, nearly 155,300. Much of the reduction seems to have been due to planned reductions, or in response to budget reductions, or both. The size of the combined freshman and sophomore classes increased in the autumn of 1995 versus a year earlier, however, indicating that some growth in enrollments can be expected in the next few years as the baby boom echo spreads Through the universities.(1) The stability in the level of overall enrollments masks continued growth in enrollments in graduate programs in journalism and mass communication, which have slowly increased their share of total enrollments from 8 percent in 1993 to 8.3 percent in 1994 and 8.4 percent in 1985. These are some of the key findings of the Annual Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Enrollments. Other findings are: * M.A. enrollment is up 485 to 10,934, an increase of 4.6 percent. * Ph.D. enrollments have declined to 957 from an all-time high of 1,239 a year earlier. This represents a decline of 22.8 percent. * Undergraduate ranks continue to be dominated by women, as 59.7 percent of undergraduates are women, and 63 percent of M.A. students are women. * here is a widening gender gap in doctoral degrees, with women declining from 50.5 percent last year to 38.1 percent. This represents a significant setback in terms of the long-term goal of recruiting female faculty. * There also was a setback in terms of diversification of the undergraduate student body in journalism and mass communication programs. Whites in the autumn of 1996 made up 75.4 percent of the undergraduates --up from 72.9 percent in 1994 and 1993, but down from 82.8 percent in 1989. The percentage of whites among M.A. students is 66.2 percent, down from 72.1 in 1994 and 68.6 percent in 1993. Among doctoral students, the percent white is 50.2 percent, down from 73.1 in 1994 and from 64.0 percent in 1993. * Undergraduate degrees granted in public relations and advertising by journalism and mass communication programs continued to decline. * Graduate programs are experiencing an unprecedented influx of international students, such that international students made up 12.9 percent of master's and 33.7 percent of doctoral enrollments in 1995. METHOD The School of Journalism at Ohio State University has conducted the annual survey of journalism and mass communication enrollments every year since 1968.(2) The survey methods were revised in 1988 and have remained basically unchanged since. Schools listed in either the Journalism and 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 10 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. A combination of these two directories produced 42 7 active programs in 1995.3 Combination of the two directories resulted in 431 operational programs in 1994, 430 operational programs in 1993, 420 in 1992, 414 in 1991, 404 in 1990, 395 in 1989, and 394 schools in 1988. In October 1995, a questionnaire was mailed to the administrator of each of these programs. Subsequent mailings of this same questionnaire were sent to non-responding schools in December, January, and April. …