Annual Surveys of Journalism and Mass Communication

Evaluating Journalism and Mass Communication Education: Are U.S. Efforts Applicable Globally?

Lee B. Becker and Gerald M. Kosicki

Abstract

Government agencies, educational policy planners, students and prospective students, and media industries are among the many groups in society today seeking accountability of institutions of higher education. All want to know if the educational institutions are doing their jobs; many want to know which ones are doing those jobs better than others.

Answers to these questions depend on a central issue: measurement of university and specific program performance. How can one know which universities and which programs within those universities are the best? How can performance be observed, measured and quantified so others can understand the standards and the criteria used to evaluate them?

In the United States, commercial firms, educational leaders, and media leaders have developed different procedures for the assessment of quality in journalism and mass communication education. The Gourman Report and U.S. News & World Report are two commercial organizations that have evaluated journalism education in recent years. Another type of evaluation is provided by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). Academics in the field of educational research have developed yet additional approaches to program evaluation, including of journalism and mass communication programs at the university level.

Each of these evaluators applies its own methods in reaching its conclusions about which are the best universities and university programs in the country. In some cases, the methods overlap. Others are unique. None employs the full range of evaluation possibilities.

Becker, L. B. and Kosick, G. M. (1998, July). Evaluating journalism and mass communication education: are U.S. efforts applicable globally? This paper was presented at the Professional Education Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research at the 21 st Scientific Conference and General Assembly, Glasgow, Scotland.