Under normal circumstances, the time limit to complete this program is within two calendar years, and no longer than four calendar years (as per SFU general graduate regulations).
Supervisory
Each student will be supervised by a senior supervisor from one university and at least one faculty member from the other university. The program will assign the supervisor to the student.
Lyne Lin, one of our cohort students is having a rewarding Field Placement opportunity in Beijing. She got a chance to interview Arnold Schwazennager at the 2015 Beijing International Film Festival.
Program Requirements
Students must complete 27 units at SFU and 38 Units at CUC (SFU and CUC credits are not equivalent).
Year 1 at SFU
Fall Term (September to December)
- CMNS 844-5 (core course)
- One of Group 1, Group 2, or Group 3 courses
CMNS 844-5 Communication and Global Power Shifts
This course examines the mutually constitutive relationship between rapidly transforming global communication systems and shifting structures of global political economic and cultural power. Competing claims of global power shifts - between the West and the Rest, between labour and capital, and between established institutions and networked "multitudes" – are analyzed in relation to enduring patterns and emerging dynamics in global communications.
Spring Term (January to April)
- CMNS 881-5
- CMNS 848-5
CMNS 881-5 Field Placement Requirement
All Students are required to complete two field placements, one at each university, leading to the submission of a field report to each university. The field report will take the form of a critical essay (15-20 pages) on the experience of the field placement. The field placement will involve either a work project or assignment undertaken for a host organization, or a policy investigation involving observation and field interviews with relevant organizations. Students will spend at least two weeks or equivalent time in the “field” under the supervision of a faculty member who will provide guidance and assess the completed report. At SFU, students complete the field placement requirement by enrolling in CMNS 881-5.
CMNS 848-5 Communication and Global Social Justice
Examines communicative responses to transforming global communications systems and shifting structures of global economic and cultural power. Considers how communicators and producers of knowledge and culture interact with and produce these systems and structures and the implications of these processes for social justice. Note: Priority will be given to students enrolled in Global Communication Double MA Degree program. Students with credit for CMNS 858 (Special Topics: CMNS & Global Social Justice) in Spring 2014 & Spring 2015 may not take this course for further credit.
The Communications University of China is an integral part of the overall program to increase access and exposure to China's media industries! Vanessa Kong, one of our very first cohort students in Beijing, played a Cantonese speaking journalist role in a short film about China's most famous agricultural scientist Yuan Longping (袁隆平), also known as the father of China's hybrid rice. This film was broadcast on CCTV6.
Summer Term (May to August)
- CMNS 860-2
- CMNS 894-5
CMNS 860 -2 Graduate Colloquium in Global Communication
Discussion of essentials of researching, writing, and presenting papers. Students will present drafts of an extended essay for critical review by course supervisor and fellow students. Enrolment restricted to Global Communication Graduate Double Degree Program MA students. Course will be graded S/U.
CMNS 894-5 MA Extended Essay
Year 1 Extended Essay at SFU.
Group 1 Surveys of History and Theory
This course group contains survey courses that define and map the field and expose students to faculty interests and research programs.
- CMNS 800-5 Contemporary Approaches in Communication Studies
- CMNS 802-5 History of Communication Theory
- CMNS 804-5 Seminar in Advanced Communication Theory
Group 2 Research Design and Methods
This course group contains research methods and methodology courses that help with research projects.
- CMNS 801-5 Design and Methodology in Communication Research
- CMNS 805-5 Communication Research Methods and Techniques
Group 3 Research Area Courses
This course group contains the school’s various research area and selected topics courses.
- CMNS 815-5 Social Construction of Communication Technologies
- CMNS 820-5 Communication, Media and the Concept of the “Public”
- CMNS 830-5 Popular Culture and Media Theory
- CMNS 840-5 Political Economy of Communications
- CMNS 845-5 Communication and Development
- CMNS 855-5 Selected Topics in Communication Studies
- CMNS 856-4 Graduate Seminar
- CMNS 857-5 Selected Topics in Communication Studies
- CMNS 858-5 Selected Topics in Communication Studies
- CMNS 859-5 Acoustic Dimensions of Communications
For Year 2 at CUC, all students must complete the following two core program courses for a total of 15 units:
- Media and Chinese Society: Theory, History, and Practice
- Chinese Communication Industries, Markets and Regulation
- Comparative Asian Media Systems and Regional Markets
To meet the breadth requirements of the program, all students must complete an additional 4 units that consist of either a survey course on media production techniques and processes or a course on Chinese politics, economy, culture and society as specified by CUC