ERIC Number: ED186903
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1980-Mar
Pages: 48
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Journalism Education at the Master's Level. Journalism Monographs No. 66.
Ryan, Michael
A survey of 77 master's degree programs in journalism was used to gather data on admissions criteria, program structures, and problems that the programs have encountered. Undergraduate grade point averages, letters of recommendation, Graduate Record Examination scores, and statements of goals were the four admissions criteria most often used by the master's programs studied. More than half the programs required oral/written comprehensive examinations of their graduating students, though many faculty did not enforce the requirement. Only 25% of the programs required a thesis from graduating students, while 12% did not allow them; the thesis was an option in the other programs, reflecting a choice between "professional" and "teaching-research" tracks. Few programs required formal language proficiency testing. Nearly half the programs required cognate courses in fields outside journalism. Some of the problems that were reported related to physical facilities, graduate faculty, students without journalism backgrounds, high dropout rates, teaching foreign students, getting research support for students, establishing fair admissions procedures/standards, establishing a professional track within a thesis program, and giving graduate credit for undergraduate courses. (RL)
Descriptors: Administrative Problems, Admission Criteria, Core Curriculum, Curriculum Problems, Degree Requirements, Educational Research, Graduate Study, Journalism Education, Masters Programs, Program Content, Program Design, Surveys
AEJ Publications Manager, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 ($2.50)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Association for Education in Journalism.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A