Abstract
In contrast to previous years, enrollments in journalism and mass communication programs in the United States were relatively stable from 2015 to 2018. Although strategic communication sequences remained the most popular, the percentage of undergraduates enrolled in journalism sequences increased since the previous survey, whereas the percentage enrolled in strategic communication sequences decreased slightly. In addition, the demographic composition of journalism and mass communication programs is changing, as the survey found an increase in the percentage of minority students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. The 2018 survey also revealed growth in online offerings, both at the undergraduate and master’s level.
Keywords
Undergraduate and master’s enrollments in journalism and mass communication programs remained relatively stable between 2015 and 2018, showing only slight levels of decline. However, there was a larger decline in PhD enrollments over this 3-year period.
Although strategic communication sequences remained the most popular journalism and mass communication track, the percentage of students enrolled in journalism sequences increased between 2015 and 2018, whereas the percentage of students enrolled in strategic communication sequences slightly decreased.
There were some notable demographic shifts since 2015. In particular, although females continue to comprise the majority of journalism and mass communication students, the gender gap is closing. In addition, the percentage of minority students has increased since 2015.
These are some of the key findings from the 2018 Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Enrollments. More detailed findings, and the implications of these findings, are discussed below.
Method
The population for the 2018 Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Enrollments was constructed using The Journalism & Mass Communication Directory (published by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication), which included 429 colleges and universities that offer courses in journalism and mass communication. This included schools that are members of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC)—both accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education and Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) as well as not accredited—as well as schools that are not members of ASJMC.
Journalism and mass communication program administrators were individually contacted via email in mid-March 2018 with a link to the survey hosted in Qualtrics. Administrators were also provided with the option to fill out a PDF or Word version of the questionnaire and return it via email. Email reminders were sent mid-April, early May, and early June. In addition to providing the link to the survey, email reminders in May and June also contained PDF and Word versions of the questionnaire as attachments. Phone call reminders were made early May and early June; although, the third round of phone calls was made only to ASJMC member schools. In addition, a short-form of the survey that included only the basic enrollment questions was emailed to nonresponding schools in mid-June, and phone call reminders were made to ASJMC member schools in mid-June. Finally, email reminders were sent late June to schools who participated in the 2015 iteration of the survey to facilitate same-school comparisons.
These efforts resulted in a sample of 225 schools and an overall response rate of 52.4%, with a response rate among ASJMC member schools of 79.5%. Among the participating schools, 58 (25.8%) were ASJMC member schools accredited by the ACEJMC, 47 (20.9%) were ASJMC member schools not accredited by ACEJMC, and 120 (53.3%) were nonaccredited and non-ASJMC member schools.
The survey asked administrators questions about enrollments (Fall 2018) and the number of degrees granted (2017–2018 academic year) in their undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as enrollments and the number of degrees granted broken down by sequence area and demographics. In addition, the survey asked questions about curriculum and student development (i.e., competencies, student-run media, internship opportunities, study abroad opportunities), finances and administration (i.e., operating budget changes, hiring freezes, program changes), as well as institution characteristics (i.e., type of institution, funding, total enrollment size, and Carnegie classification) to facilitate comparisons with peer institutions. For institution characteristics, see Table 1.
Characteristics of Schools.
Trends in degree programs offered, overall enrollment, and degrees granted were captured by comparing data from the schools that responded to these questions in both 2015 and 2018. 1 All other trends were captured using the full set of data from both years. 2
Findings
Degrees Offered
Among the 218 journalism and mass communication programs that reported the types of degrees offered by their unit, all offered a bachelor’s degree, 42.2% offered a professional master’s degree, 36.3% offered a research master’s degree, and 17.4% offered a doctoral degree. In terms of trends in distance learning, 12.4% offered a bachelor’s degree online, 17.9% offered a professional master’s degree online, 4.6% offered a research master’s degree online, and only 0.4% offered a doctoral online. Comparing across the 128 programs that reported data in 2015 and 2018, there was an overall increase in the percentage of programs that offered degrees online, with the largest increases in the number of programs that offered online bachelor’s degrees (4.6 percentage points) and online professional master’s degrees (5.4 percentage points).
Enrollments and Degrees Granted
As shown in Figures 1 and 2, among the programs that reported enrollment data in both 2015 and 2018, undergraduate enrollments decreased by only 0.9% and master’s enrollments decreased by only 1.1%; however, PhD enrollments decreased by 14.5%. Also, the number of bachelor’s degrees granted increased by 0.6%, and the number of master’s degrees granted increased by 29.0%; however, the number of doctoral degrees granted decreased by 18.2%.
Undergraduate enrollments and degrees granted for 2015 and 2018, same schools.
Graduate enrollments and degrees granted for 2015 and 2018, same schools.
In addition, in terms of trends in distance learning, 1.4% of undergraduate students, 40.1% of professional master’s students, and 16.8% of research master’s students were enrolled online. Comparing across the 131 programs that reported data in 2015 and 2018, the percentage of undergraduate students enrolled online remained about the same, the percentage of professional master’s students enrolled online increased by 10.1 percentage points, and the percentage of research master’s students enrolled online increased by 20.1 percentage points. There were no programs that reported data for enrollment of PhD students online.
Also, 0.1% of bachelor’s degrees, 33.1% professional master’s degrees, and 0.2% of research master’s degrees were granted to students in online programs. Comparing across the 80 programs that reported data in 2015 and 2018, the percentage of bachelor’s degrees granted to students in online programs remained about the same, whereas the percentage of professional master’s degrees granted to students in online programs increased by 16.3 percentage points, and the percentage of research master’s degrees granted to students in online programs decreased by 10.7 percentage points.
Enrollments and Degrees Granted by Sequence Area
As shown in Figure 3, strategic communication sequences remain the most popular among undergraduate students (37.6% enrolled), followed by journalism sequences (26.3% enrolled), and then electronic media sequences (8.8% enrolled). 3 However, the percentage of undergraduate students enrolled in strategic communication sequences decreased by 1.5 percentage points from 2015, whereas the percentage enrolled in journalism sequences increased by 1.4 percentage points. The percentage enrolled in electronic media sequences stayed about the same.
Undergraduate enrollments by sequences for 2015 and 2018.
Also, as shown in Figure 4, the highest percentage of bachelor’s degrees granted was in strategic communication sequences, followed by journalism sequences, and then electronic media sequences. Moreover, the percentage of bachelor’s degrees granted in strategic communication sequences increased by 1.4 percentage points from 2015, the percentage granted in journalism sequences decreased by 4.0 percentage points, and the percentage granted in electronic media sequences increased by 2.7 percentage points.
Bachelor’s degrees granted by sequences for 2015 and 2018.
Enrollments and Degrees Granted by Student Demographics
Females continue to comprise the majority of journalism and mass communication students (undergraduate: 61.6%; master’s: 65.3%; PhD: 58.4%); however, the proportion of female students decreased from 2015 among both undergraduate and graduate students. Specifically, the percentage of female undergraduate students decreased by 3.8 percentage points, the percentage of female master’s students decreased by 4.1 percentage points, and the percentage of female PhD students decreased by 2.0 percentage points.
Similarly, females were granted the majority of degrees (undergraduate: 66.7%; master’s: 68.9%; doctoral: 62.0%); however, the proportion of degrees granted to females changed slightly from 2015. Specifically, the percentage of bachelor’s degrees granted to females increased by 0.6 percentage points, the percentage of master’s degrees granted to females increased by 2.8 percentage points, and the percentage of doctoral degrees granted to females decreased by 2.4 percentage points.
Minority students (non-White, U.S. citizens) comprised about one third (35.7%) of undergraduate students, one third (34.6%) of master’s students, and one fourth (24.1%) of PhD students. Moreover, the proportion of minority students increased from 2015 among undergraduate and graduate students. Specifically, the percentage of minority undergraduate students increased by 2.1 percentage points, the percentage of minority master’s students increased by 6.5 percentage points, and the percentage of minority PhD students increased by 5.8 percentage points. Among specific racial and ethnic minority groups, the largest increases were among Hispanic undergraduate students (from 11.8% to 16.1%) and master’s students (from 6.7% to 11.5%). In addition, the percentage of international master’s and PhD students decreased from 2015 (master’s: from 20.4% to 9.1%; PhD: from 35.8% to 28.8%).
Minority students were granted about one third (30.8%) of bachelor’s degrees, about one third (37.0%) of master’s degrees, and about one fifth (20.5%) of doctoral degrees. Moreover, the proportion of master’s and doctoral degrees granted to minority students increased from 2015. Specifically, the percentage of bachelor’s degrees granted to minority students increased by only 0.2 percentage points, whereas the percentage of master’s degrees granted to minority students increased by 7.6 percentage points, and the percentage of doctoral degrees granted to minority students increased by 8.4 percentage points. As with enrollments, among specific racial and ethnic minority groups, the largest increases were among bachelor’s degrees (from 11.0% to 14.0%) and master’s degrees (from 5.5% to 11.2%) granted to Hispanic students. In addition, as with enrollments, the percentage of master’s degrees and doctoral degrees granted to international students decreased from 2015 (master’s: from 15.6% to 13.5%; doctoral: from 42.4% to 31.5%).
Curriculum and Student Development
As shown in Figure 5, the majority of programs reported offering courses that focus primarily on media ethics (86.5%), cross-cultural communication (62.4%), media literacy (66.0%), visual storytelling (88.7%), web layout and design (66.0%), and web content production (66.0%). Moreover, in addition to remaining the most frequent, the percentage of programs offering courses that focus primarily on media ethics and visual storytelling showed the largest increases from 2015. Specifically, the percentage of programs that offered courses focusing primarily on media ethics increased by 5.9 percentage points, and the percentage of programs that offered courses focusing primarily on visual storytelling increased by 11.6 percentage points. Although these saw the largest increases, it is worth noting that the percentage of programs offering courses focused primarily on each of the specific competencies or skills mentioned in the survey increased from 2015.
Percentage of programs that offer undergraduate courses focused primarily on the development of specific competencies or skills for 2015 and 2018.
As shown in Figure 6, newspapers (80.0%), radio stations (63.4%), and TV stations (51.7%) remain the most common student-run media; however, the percentage of programs that reported having a student-run newspaper and/or student-run TV station decreased from 2015. Specifically, the percentage of programs that reported having a student-run newspaper decreased by 6.2 percentage points, and the percentage of programs that reported having a student-run TV station decreased by 4.1 percentage points.
Percentage of programs that have student-run media for 2015 and 2018.
About one third (33.8%) of programs reported internship credit as a requirement for students in all major sequences, which represents a decrease by 4.4 percentage points from 2015. Also, 96.7% of programs reported offering study abroad opportunities, and 53.7% reported offering domestic study away opportunities, such as study at another U.S. institution and faculty-led trips. These percentages remained unchanged from 2015.
Finances and Administration
As shown in Figure 7, 29.7% of programs reported an increase in their operating budget, which represents an increase of 8.7 percentage points from 2015. Also, 81.5% of programs reported no hiring freezes, which represents an increase of 1.1 percentage points from 2015.
Percentage of programs that saw changes in their operating budget for 2015 and 2018.
Finally, about one fourth (25.5%) of programs reported adding new sequences, which represents no change from 2015. However, 14.0% of programs reported eliminating sequences, which represents an increase of 5.0 percentage points from 2015.
Discussion
Although there has been plenty of concern in previous years about enrollment trends in journalism and mass communication programs (Becker et al., 2014; Gotlieb et al., 2017), undergraduate enrollment in journalism and mass communication programs has remained relatively stable since 2015. Although there was a 0.9% decline in undergraduate enrollments, this occurred over the course of 3 years. When compared with the annual declines of 1.1% to 1.5% noted in previous iterations of the survey (Becker et al., 2014), the decline since 2015 is relatively modest and suggests that it may be leveling off.
It is also particularly noteworthy that there was an increase in the percentage of students enrolled in journalism sequences. Given the rather large declines in enrollment in journalism sequences in recent years (Becker et al., 2014; Gotlieb et al., 2017), these findings may provide reason for optimism for the field of journalism. As has been noted previously, undergraduate students may be able to more easily see the practical application of a strategic communication degree for employment compared with journalism (Gotlieb et al., 2017). However, the increase in journalism enrollments may indicate that some of the measures journalism programs have taken to modernize and diversify their curriculum (e.g., Mensing, 2017) are helping journalism sequences to better appeal to undergraduate students.
Also encouraging is the success of online degrees programs, particularly at the master’s level. There was an increase in the number of online degree programs at both the undergraduate and master’s levels since 2015. Furthermore, the substantial increases in percentage of students enrolled in online professional and research track master’s degrees highlight the appeal of these programs. The continued growth of online master’s degree programs is not surprising, as they cater to demographics (e.g., working professionals) who would otherwise not be able to pursue a graduate degree (Weismann et al., 2016).
There were also some notable shifts in the demographic make-up of journalism and mass communication students between 2015 and 2018. Of particular note, there was an increase in the percentage of minority students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs, especially Hispanic students, and this trend within the discipline reflects similar growth in higher education in general (McFarland et al., 2019).
Among other positive news, a higher percentage of programs saw increases in their operating budgets and/or decreases in hiring freezes. This suggests a positive outlook for the financial health of journalism and mass communication programs.
In terms of skills and competencies, courses that focus primarily on media ethics and visual storytelling were the most prevalent and showed the most growth. Given the ease with which social media platforms afford the creation and distribution of content, emphasis on media ethics is more important than ever before (Mills et al., 2019). The continued emphasis on visual storytelling, as well as other web content production skills, is encouraging, as these courses can help students navigate a workplace that is increasingly interested in potential employees with digital production skills. It is worth noting, however, that there are some concerns that while students are integrating social media into their professional repertoire, they may not sufficiently understand the distinction between how social media should be used in the professional world compared with daily life (Saks et al., 2019). Courses that clearly emphasize these distinctions and provide students instruction on professional “best practices” are particularly important (Cozma & Hallaq, 2019). Even if work needs to be done to further understand how to best train students in the application of these skills, the increased emphasis on these important skills and competencies is an encouraging sign.
One area where we did see decline was in student-run newspapers and TV stations; although, these student-run media remained prevalent. One likely explanation for these declines is that an increasing number of programs have begun moving college newspapers and student-run broadcasting operations online (Kopenhaver, 2015). Unfortunately, this survey did not capture this data. Future iterations of the enrollment survey should incorporate student-run online media to further explore this trend.
In addition, the percentage of programs requiring students to earn internship credit in all major sequences decreased from 2015. Although internships have long been an important way for students to gain professional experience, journalism and mass communication programs are increasingly finding alternative ways for students to acquire practical experience, such as through “practicums” (Madison, 2014). Practicums reflect a partnership between a university and a company or organization, where students work under the supervision of a professor and/or industry professionals to develop professional content.
The findings discussed above should be interpreted in light of the sample, which comprises only 225 of the 429 programs in the population. Furthermore, they should be considered in light of the composition of the sample across the 2 years. That is, it may be the case that some of the observed trends were influenced, in part, by differences in the mix of programs represented in 2015 and 2018.
Taken together, the findings from the 2018 Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Enrollments suggest an overall positive outlook for the field as well as opportunities for growth.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) declared receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Funding for the 2018 Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Enrollments was provided by the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (principal sponsor) and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (supporting sponsor).
