The Accrediting Council does not define specific curricula, courses or methods of instruction. It recognizes that each institution has its unique situation, cultural, social or religious context, mission and resources, and this uniqueness is an asset to be safeguarded. The Council judges programs against the objectives that units and institutions set for themselves and against the standards that the Council sets forth for preparing students for professional careers in journalism and mass communications in the United States and in other nations. ACEJMC will apply its standards and indicators in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and, where appropriate, with religious or cultural prescriptions and practices.
ACEJMC standards apply to all delivery channels including, but not limited to, traditional face-to-face instruction on the home campus or other locations, distance instruction using any technology, or a blend of distance and face-to-face instruction.
Each begins with a statement of the basic principle of the standard.
Units should demonstrate that they meet the expectations defined for each of the indicators. However, the site team may recommend a waiver of the expectations for any indicator if the unit provides a compelling reason for the waiver. In such cases, the team must provide justification in the site report for its decision as part of its discussion of the standard. Units requesting evaluation of their professional master’s program(s) are expected to demonstrate how those graduate programs meet all appropriate indicators.
Visit teams will not specify compliance/non-compliance for each individual indicator, but will state judgments of compliance/non-compliance for each standard as is currently done.
Each standard concludes with a list of various forms of documentation and evidence that the unit should include in its self-study report to demonstrate that it meets the expectations defined for indicators. The site team will supplement this evidence by inspection of the facilities and equipment, by observation of the activities of the unit, by meetings and interviews with university administrators and faculty from other units and with unit faculty, staff and students, and by calls to professionals who hire the unit’s students as interns and full-time employees.
The list of evidence for each standard is only a guide to possible forms of evidence.
The policies and practices of the unit ensure that it has a well-led, effective, and fairly administered working
and learning environment.
Before discussion of indicators, the site team will offer an opening framing narrative on the university and unit’s history, place in the university today and other salient facts. This is designed to give the Committee and Council an overall sense of the unit and what is to come throughout the report.
Indicators:
(a) The unit has a written mission statement and a written strategic long-range plan that provides vision and direction for its future, meaningful short-term measurements, identifies needs and resources for its mission and goals and is supported by university administration outside the unit.
The unit posts its mission statement and strategic plan in a prominent, easy-to-find place on its website.
Describe in detail how the mission statement/strategic plan is implemented, plays into the daily life of the unit and its effectiveness in driving progress.
(b) The unit’s administration provides effective leadership within the unit and effectively represents it in dealings with university administration outside the unit and constituencies external to the university.
Characterize in depth the leadership of the unit as an agent for progress, advocate for the unit’s fields of study within the university and aggressive connector with alumni. What significant achievements can be attributed to the leader? Has the leader built partnerships within the university? Is the leader seen as a strong advocate for equitable opportunities and broad participation? Is faculty and student representation of persons with limited representation in the field of journalism and media communication improving? Do scholars and professionals work collaboratively? Is creativity in curriculum, teaching and research sought and rewarded? Is the leader driving forward the curriculum (while respecting faculty governance and required process) to keep up with a rapidly changing media world?
(c) The unit annually updates its data on the ACEJMC searchable database website (https://lookup.acejmc.org).
(d) The unit gathers, maintains and analyzes enrollment, retention and graduation data and posts them annually in a prominent, easy-to-find place on its website.
On indicators (e), (f) and (g) the site team should make sure that the unit operates within accepted academic norms and need only report in detail on extraordinary situations, cases or variances from policy.
(e) The unit has policies and procedures for substantive faculty governance that ensure faculty oversight of educational policy and curriculum.
(f) The institution and/or the unit defines and uses a process for selecting and evaluating its administrators.
(g) Faculty, staff and students have avenues to express concerns and have them addressed.
Evidence:
A written mission statement, posted to the unit’s website
A written strategic long-range plan, posted to the unit’s website, with date of adoption/revision and any timeline for achieving stated goals
A faculty policy manual, handbook or other document specifying the roles of faculty in governance and the development of educational policy
Minutes of faculty meetings, committee meetings and reports
Assessment of unit administrator by faculty and by administration outside the unit
Files on searches and hiring decisions for administrators
Files on concerns and complaints
Current data published on unit website and at https://lookup.acejmc.org
For units requesting evaluation of a professional master’s program:
Indicators:
(h) The unit has a separate written mission statement and a written strategic long-range plan that provides vision and direction for its future, identifies needs and resources for its mission and goals and is supported by university administration outside the unit.
(i) The unit has designated administrative oversight of the professional graduate program as well as policies and procedures that ensure faculty oversight of educational policy and curriculum in the professional graduate program.
Evidence:
A written mission statement for the professional graduate program, posted to the unit’s website
A written strategic long-range plan with date of adoption/revision and any timeline for achieving stated goals, posted to the unit’s website
Documents demonstrating administrative oversight for the professional master’s program
A faculty policy manual, handbook or other document specifying the roles of faculty in governance and
the development of educational policy for the professional master’s program
Current enrollment and graduation data published on unit website
The unit provides a curriculum and instruction, whether on-site or online, that enable students to learn the knowledge, competencies and values the Council defines for preparing students to work in a diverse domestic and global society.
Professional Values and Competencies:
The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications requires that graduates of accredited programs be aware of certain core values and competencies and be able to:
• apply the principles and laws of freedom of speech and press, in a global context, and for the country in which the institution
that invite ACEJMC is located;
• demonstrate an understanding of the multicultural history and role of professionals and institutions in shaping communications;
• demonstrate culturally proficient communication that empowers those traditionally disenfranchised in society, especially as grounded in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and ability, domestically and globally, across communication and media contexts;
• present images and information effectively and creatively, using appropriate tools and technologies;
• write correctly and clearly in forms and styles appropriate for the communications professions, audiences and purposes they serve;
• demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and service to all people and communities;
• apply critical thinking skills in conducting research and evaluating information by methods appropriate to the communications professions in which they work;
• effectively and correctly apply basic numerical and statistical concepts;
• critically evaluate their own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style and grammatical correctness;
• apply tools and technologies appropriate for the communications professions in which they work.
Units requesting evaluation of a professional master’s program must also demonstrate how their master’s graduates attain this additional core competency:
• contribute to knowledge appropriate to the communications professions in which they work.
Indicators:
(a) Students in the unit complete academic requirements for a baccalaureate degree that meet the liberal arts and sciences/general education requirements of the institution. Programs may identify classes within the unit that contribute to a liberal arts and social sciences perspective for graduates from the unit.
(b) The unit provides a balance among theoretical and conceptual courses, professional skills courses, and courses that integrate theory and skills to achieve the range of values and competencies listed by the Council.
(c) Instruction, whether on-site or online, synchronous or asynchronous, is demanding and current, and is responsive to professional expectations of contemporary digital and technological media competencies.
(d) The unit demonstrates efforts to connect faculty and administrators to the professions they represent, with a specific understanding of the changing skills needed to be successful in the workplace.
(e) Student-faculty classroom ratios facilitate effective teaching and learning in all courses. Except for campaigns courses, the ratio in skills and laboratory sections, whether on-site or online, should not exceed 20-1.
(f) The unit advocates and encourages opportunities for internship and other professional experiences outside the classroom and supervises and evaluates them when it awards academic credit. Units may award academic credit for internships in fields related to journalism and mass communications, but credit should not exceed six semester credits (or nine quarter credit hours).
When students take courses for internship credit at appropriate professional organizations, the unit must show ongoing and extensive dual supervision by the unit’s faculty and professionals.
Students may take up to nine semester credits (or their equivalent) at professional media outlets owned and operated by the institution where full-time faculty are in charge and where the primary function of the media outlet is to instruct students.
Evidence:
Student records and transcripts
Unit bulletins and brochures
Syllabi or course materials that demonstrate students are provided with instruction to enable them to acquire digital, technological and multimedia competencies in keepin with professional expectations
Syllabi or course materials that demonstrate students are provided with instruction that contributes to a liberal arts and social sciences perspective
Records of teaching awards and citations, curricular and course development grants, attendance at teaching workshops, and publications and papers on teaching
Class enrollment for skills courses
Records and statistics on and evaluations of internships, with and without academic credit
For units requesting evaluation of a professional master’s program:
Indicators:
(g) At least half of the required credit hours are in either professional skills courses or integrate theory and skills appropriate to professional communication careers.
(h) Instruction and curricular requirements for professional graduate students are more advanced and rigorous than for undergraduate students, including courses open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Evidence:
Course syllabi and other documents demonstrating the unit has a professional graduate curriculum that prepares master’s degree graduates for significant professional careers that provide leadership and influence
Graduate student records and transcripts
Undergraduate student records and transcripts demonstrating student experience equivalent
to liberal arts education
The unit regularly assesses student learning using direct and indirect measures that engage communication professionals and annually “closes the loop” to make tangible improvements to curriculum and instruction.
Indicators:
(a) The unit has a written assessment plan that has been implemented, is up to date and addresses contemporary curricular issues, including instruction related to the rapidly changing digital media world.
The unit posts its assessment plan in a prominent, easy-to-find place on its website.
(b) The unit defines the goals for learning that students must achieve, including the professional Values and Competencies of the Council. (See Standard 2: Curriculum and Instruction)
(c) The unit assessment plan uses multiple direct and indirect measures to assess student learning.
(d) At least one direct and/or indirect measure should include journalism and mass communication professionals engaged in assessment data collection.
(e) The unit collects and reports data from its assessment activities and applies the data to improve curriculum and instruction. There is substantial, concrete evidence of “closing the loop,” generally and specifically. Multiple examples of “closing the loop” are evident.
Evidence:
A written assessment plan that has been implemented and posted to the unit’s website
A written statement or matrix describing how the competencies map to course learning
Records from multiple years, showing information collected from direct and indirect measures, when different measures are assessed if not done annually, and the application of this information and other information gathered during the assessment process to improve curriculum and instruction
A clear articulation of what constitutes a direct and indirect measure
Annual assessment reports, analysis and curriculum/program changes resulting from assessment report findings
For units requesting evaluation of a professional master’s program:
Evidence:
A separate written assessment plan, posted to its website
A separate written statement/matrix on competencies
Records of information collected from multiple direct and indirect measures and on the application of this information to course development and improvement of teaching, ensuring that the assessment findings have been systematically gathered, synthesized and applied
Evidence could include results and actions from direct and indirect measures that demonstrate a graduating cohort’s mastery of the Council’s professional values and competencies and of critical-thinking and analytical abilities appropriate to the professions.
Measures could include exit surveys or interviews, a comprehensive examination, professionally oriented project, thesis or portfolio.
Annual graduate program assessments
The unit demonstrates it offers a program that fosters equal opportunity, respect for a range of points of view and provides participatory opportunity for all elements of society while educating culturally proficient communicators prepared for a global society. The unit ensures that all individuals are treated fairly and with dignity, emphasizing shared values of professionalism, personal responsibility, and excellence. The unit focuses on empowering all individuals through equal access to opportunities and the promotion of skills, regardless of background or identity.
Indicators:
(a) The unit has a written plan, implemented and discussed annually, that promotes a standards-based and inclusive curriculum and fosters a culturally proficient faculty, staff, and student population. The program embraces differences and offers a supportive climate for learning, working, and collaborating, and it assesses progress toward the achievement of the plan. The plan includes the unit’s definition of equal opportunity and standards-based success. It identifies current populations and groups with limited representation in the field of journalism and media communication and focuses on identifying opportunities to broaden intellectual and ideological diversity, ensuring all individuals are treated with fairness and dignity.
(b) The unit’s curriculum develops skilled and culturally proficient communicators capable of collaborating through multicultural teams and understanding global perspectives. Curriculum instruction addresses a wide range of issues and viewpoints relevant to media communications in an interconnected world.
(c) The unit demonstrates effective efforts to strengthen all faculty members’ awareness of the value of social and societal dynamics, plus fairness and accessibility in preparing students to embrace a variety of perspectives. The unit takes proactive steps to recruit and retain faculty and staff who bring professional expertise and varied perspectives, including from groups with limited representation in the fields of journalism and media communication, to enrich the educational experience.
(d) In alignment with the institution’s mission, the unit demonstrates efforts to recruit, retain, and graduate students from all backgrounds, reflecting the institution's commitment to preparing individuals for professional success in a global society.
(e) The unit demonstrates it has an inclusive climate of belonging, free of harassment and all forms of discrimination, consistent with applicable laws. The unit accommodates the needs of individuals with disabilities and values the unique contributions of each member of the community, including contributions from historically underrepresented groups, promoting fairness and respect for all.
Accreditation site visit teams will apply this standard in compliance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations, as well as the laws of the countries in which non-U.S. institutions are located.
Evidence:
A written plan, accessible to prospective and current faculty, staff and students, and discussed at least annually by the faculty. The plan will outline goals, strategies, and measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) focused on fostering fairness and involvement, including efforts to address the groups with limited representation in the field of journalism and media communication.
Documentation of progress toward achieving KPIs, with descriptions of adjustments and new strategies implemented to address areas where progress has not been met.
An explanation of how the plan aligns with the unit’s mission and professional values, highlighting its focus on preparing students for collaboration within teams that include a range of ideas and perspectives.
Course syllabi that demonstrate learning outcomes emphasizing fairness, global awareness, and collaboration across a variety of perspectives, both domestically and internationally.
A detailed grid in the self-study report indicating how the curriculum integrates communication proficiency and the ability to embrace a range of ideas and perspectives.
For units with specific missions related to gender, race, religion, or ethnicity, evidence of efforts to prepare students for professional collaboration with individuals and teams not represented within the institution.
Faculty vitae that demonstrate professional achievements and contributions to teaching and research demonstrating intellectual diversity and cultural proficiency.
Reports on faculty professional development initiatives aimed at enhancing teaching strategies that prepare students to collaborate effectively and excel in diverse professional environments.
Results of climate studies or other indicators of the unit’s commitment to fostering an inclusive environment that values fairness, equal opportunity, and respect for all.
Glossary:
Equity – Fairness and equal opportunity. People have different circumstances and therefore need different resources and types of support to achieve equal outcomes.
Involvement – The practice of creating environments in which every person feels respected, valued, and able to fully participate, regardless of their backgrounds or identities.
Cultural Proficiency – The ability to communicate effectively and work with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds, recognizing and respecting differences while fostering understanding and collaboration.
Equal Opportunity – Ensuring that all individuals, regardless of their backgrounds, have the same chances to succeed, including fair access to resources, opportunities and advancement.
Underrepresented Individuals or Groups – Persons with limited representation in the field of journalism or media communication whose involvement helps provide a broader range of viewpoints.
Discrimination – Unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of nationality, race, age or sex.
Harassment – Any unwanted or inappropriate behavior that demeans, threatens, or intimidates individuals based on their identity or background.
Bias – A preconceived opinion or judgment, typically negative, that may affect one’s ability to make fair or objective decisions.
The unit hires, supports and evaluates a capable faculty with a balance of academic and professional credentials appropriate for the unit’s mission. It supports faculty as they contribute to the advancement of scholarly and professional knowledge and engage in scholarship (research, creative and professional activity) that benefits the disciplines and society.
Indicators:
(a) Full-time faculty have primary responsibility for curricula, oversight of courses, research/creative activity and service.
(b) The unit’s faculty (full- and part-time) are highly qualified and keep their expertise current through professional development opportunities and maintain relationships with professional and scholarly associations.
(c) The unit requires, supports and rewards faculty research, creative activity and/or professional activity. Expectations for promotion and tenure are clear.
(d) Faculty members communicate the results of research, creative and/or professional activity to other scholars, educators and practitioners through presentations, productions, exhibitions, workshops and publications appropriate to the activity and to the mission of the unit and institution.
(e) The faculty has respect on campus for its university citizenship, the quality of education and the scholarly contributions the unit provides.
Evidence:
Faculty and staff manuals or relevant policy procedural documents
Vitae for full-time and part-time faculty
Faculty guides or manuals on tenure and promotion
Records of sabbatical and other leaves, travel funds and grant support
Records on faculty promotion, tenure and other forms of recognition
Faculty vitae and unit reports on research and creative and professional activities
For units requesting evaluation of a professional master’s program:
Indicators:
(f) Faculty members teaching in the graduate program meet the criteria for graduate instruction at that university.
(g) Graduate faculty oversee the curricula and course quality for professional master’s courses.
Evidence:
Faculty vitae that demonstrate a clearly defined graduate faculty who meet the criteria for graduate instruction at that university.
Schedules of master’s courses taught
The unit provides students with the support and services that promote learning and ensure timely completion
of their program of study.
Indicators:
(a) The unit and institution ensure that students are aware of graduation requirements.
(b) Professional advisers, and faculty where appropriate, provide students with academic and career advice.
(c) The unit keeps students informed about its policies, activities and requirements.
(d) The unit and institution provide extra-curricular activities and opportunities relevant to the curriculum and that help develop students’ professional and intellectual abilities and interests.
(e) The unit uses retention and graduation data to improve student services, such as advising, and to reduce barriers to student success.
Evidence:
Advising guides, manuals, newsletters and internal communications, and faculty office hours
Statistics on enrollment, scholarships, retention and graduation
Annually updated website containing retention and graduation data that is clearly made available to the public
Examples of student media, information about student professional organizations, and guest speakers and other extracurricular activities associated with the unit’s mission
For units requesting evaluation of a professional master’s program
(f) The unit has appropriate admissions and retention policies for the professional master’s program
Evidence:
Documents and records demonstrating that the graduate program has appropriate admissions and
retention policies
Statistics on graduate enrollment, scholarships, retention and graduation and a website link where the unit regularly publishes this data
The unit plans for, seeks and receives adequate resources to fulfill and sustain its mission.
Indicators:
(a) The unit has a detailed annual budget for the allocation of its resources that is related to its long-range, strategic plan.
(b) Resources provided by the institution are adequate to achieve the unit’s mission and are fair in relation to those provided to other units.
(c) The unit’s facilities and information resources enable and promote effective scholarship, teaching
and learning.
(d) The institution and the unit provide faculty and students with equipment, or access to equipment, and technical assistance needed to support student learning, curriculum and the research, creative and professional activities of the faculty.
Evidence:
A detailed budget
Tour of buildings and review of equipment
Details of private annual fund-raising efforts
Details of unit endowments for faculty chairs and professorships, programs, scholarships and other
restricted accounts
Evaluation of adequacy of resources and an assessment of their fairness in relationship to similar units
on campus
The unit and its faculty advance journalism and mass communication professions and fulfill obligations
to its community, alumni and the public.
Indicators:
(a) The unit consults and communicates regularly with its alumni, and actively engages with them, other professionals and professional associations to keep curriculum and teaching current and to promote the exchange of ideas.
(b) The unit provides leadership in the development of high standards of professional practice through such activities as offering continuing education, promoting professional ethics, evaluating professional performance, and addressing issues of public consequence and concern.
(c) The unit contributes to its communities through unit-based service projects and events, service learning of its students and civic engagement of its faculty.
(d) The unit supports scholastic journalism.
Evidence:
Faculty vitae
Unit records, brochures and publications of public service activities related to its mission and strategic plan
Alumni advisory boards, newsletters, surveys, social media initiatives, reunions and other activities
Information about courses and services available to professionals and the public Activities such as workshops, visiting lectures and critiques of student work in support of scholastic journalism
