MISSION STATEMENT

Advance the mission of the church by honing the communication skills of students to reposition them for the challenges of the time.

A.    Objectives of the Programme

The media have been recognized as powerful tools for social engineering and political manipulation. In the bid to employ the power of the media for political ends, the players in the socio-political milieu have misused the media to promote cultures that are detrimental to social progress. The PhD programme in Mass Communication aims to produce graduates who would employ the power of the media to promote Godly virtues by prudently applying biblical ethics to Mass Media practice.

With the inclusion of courses from the Religious Studies Department and an integration of faith through the entire curriculum, the Mass Communication programme is expected to produce individuals who would live their private, professional and family lives in the light of the Word of God as taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This includes but is not limited to the sanctity and sacredness of the family, the pursuit of good health and healthy living, the care of the environment, and the practice of integrity and compassion, as delineated in the Word of God.

The PhD programme is research-based. To this end, it aims to produce individuals who are capable of applying the fundamental principles of research in solving everyday social, economic and political problems, as these relate to the area of Mass Communication. They shall be expected to develop basic research problems and formulate designs to solve them with appropriate research tools and apply the findings to solving problems within the society.

Programme Objectives

i) To upgrade the intellectual capacity of students to appreciate the role of the mass media in modern society.

ii) To improve the ability of students to tap into the principles and techniques of mass communication to produce communication material and programme that promote the church campaigns.

iii) To refine the orientation of students to internalize the quantitative and qualitative approaches to empirical research in the field of modern mass media study.

iv) To sharpen and deepen students understanding of the place of new media in modern mass communication practice.

v) To provide better opportunities for students to engage in experiential learning through exposure to internship and practical studies session that seeks to leverage theoretical advances in specialized areas of communication.

vi) To advance the knowledge and management capacities of students to roundly fit them into the communication function of pan-profit organization and transnational non-governmental institutions.

Admission Requirements

Prospective candidates for admission into the Ph.D programme in Mass Communication are required to have a Master’s degree in Mass Communication with at least 60% pass (4.00 on a 5-point scale). Candidates are required to submit official transcripts for verification.

a.  Candidates with a CGPA of between 3.50 and 3.99 on a 5-point scale or between 55 -59% in the Master’s degree in Mass Communication, may be admitted into the PhD programme on the condition that they successfully complete a minimum of 16 credit units of remedial courses at Master’s level coursework in Mass Communication at Babcock University with a CGPA of not less than 4.00 on a 5-point scale before commencing any coursework in the PhD in Mass Communication programme.

b. Candidates with a CGPA of between 3.00 and 3.49 on a 5-point scale or 50 -54% at the Master’s level shall be admitted into the MPhil Programme which shall run for 2 years (4 semesters). In the first year, the MPhil candidate will be expected to complete the first year (2 semesters) of PhD coursework. In the second year, the MPhil candidate will complete the MPhil program, with a supervised MPhil thesis. The MPhil must be completed with a minimum of 60% for the candidate to be eligible for regular admission into the PhD in Mass Communication. After the successful completion of all requirements for the MPhil, the candidate may directly proceed to the second year of the PhD programme. However, credits in the MPhil years will not count for the last two years of the PhD.

An MPhil in Mass Communication from Babcock University, with a minimum proficiency level of 60%, will count for the first year of the PhD programme, with the student commencing with the activities of the 2nd year of the PhD programme of studies. If the student has an MPhil in Mass Communication from any other institution, with a minimum proficiency level of 60%, the student will commence with the first year of the PhD programme of studies.

c.   The candidates must have satisfied:

     -   The Department in a selection process, and

     -    All other admission requirements of the College of Postgraduate Studies.

Note: Much as professional experience could be an added advantage in the admission selection process based on the departmental postgraduate Board’s assessment, no amount of professional experience may be counted to waive a deficiency in the program requirement.

Policies pertaining to admissions to a PhD programme

-   Regular admission:  to a PhD programme may be granted when the applicant brings a Master’s degree from a recognized university and all admission requirements have been successfully completed.

-   Provisional admission: to a PhD programme may be granted when the applicant brings a Master’s degree from an institution whose recognition cannot be adequately determined (especially in the case of a foreign institution), but who otherwise has successfully completed all other admission requirements to the PhD programme.

-   Conditional admission: to a PhD programme is granted when the applicant brings a Master’s degree in a non-related area or in a professional rather than academic programme and must consequently complete remedial coursework. No coursework may be taken which will be counted as part of the doctoral programme while the student is under conditional admission.

  Note: The CPGS policies on transfer of credits will be strictly adhered to while handing the cases of students who have started the PhD programme in another university but wish to transfer earned credits to a Babcock University PhD programme should they wish to transfer to Babcock University.

-  The Department reserves the right upon the approval of the CPGS to offer or deny admission to prospective applicants based on existing faculty and/or staffing needs, budgetary considerations, strategic needs/plans, and so on.

Graduation Requirements

Candidates for the PhD will be required to complete two years (four semesters) of coursework in areas related to the focus of their PhD programme, and then will spend a minimum of one year (two semesters) developing and successfully defending a doctoral thesis, thus carrying out research related to the attainment of the PhD.

Coursework for the PhD shall amount to 44 credits, and the thesis shall amount to 16 credits, for a total of 60 credits. The thesis must be approved by the designated internal and external examiners. The minimum CGPA for graduation shall be 4.0 on a 5-point scale.