Enrollment Growth Rate Slows;Field's Focus on Undergraduate Education at Odds with University Setting

Abstract

Undergraduate and graduate enrollments in the field of journalism and mass communication grew again in the autumn of 2004, but at rates considerably smaller than in recent years. Enrollment at the freshman level was considerably higher than a year earlier, however, suggesting increased enrollment demand at the undergraduate level for the future. While the field of journalism and mass communication is heavily slanted toward undergraduate education, new analyses show that these undergraduate programs are mostly in university settings where graduate education is highly valued. Journalism and mass communication as a field clearly underperforms in terms of graduate education.