Enrollments in the undergraduate and master’s level journalism programs are declining, write  Melissa R. Gotlieb, Bryan McLaughlin and R. Glenn Cummins, all of Texas Tech University. This trend has continued for a few years now. The authors analyse data from the 2015 Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Enrollments and the Annual Survey in 2013.

The results show that traditional journalism degrees don’t seem particularly marketable. The authors encourage journalism and mass communication programs to demonstrate the value and applicability of a journalism degree, as well as provide evidence of career opportunities.

Even though enrollments in journalism have decreased, other communication subjects, such as public relations, have seen some growth after 2013. Also online degree programs and online course offerings seem to offer possibilities to growth among journalism and mass communication programs.

The article “2015 Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Enrollments: Challenges and Opportunities for a Changing and Diversifying Field” was published by Journalism & Mass Communication Educator. It is available online (abstract free).

Picture: Day 60: Getting to the point by Bruce Guenter, licence: CC BY 2.0

Edited on 18.4.2017: A link to the research article on the publisher’s website was added.