From the early days of apprenticeship method of study in mass media like print, mass communications, or mass comm., as an area of academic study has come leaps and bounds. Especially with the industry having had tremendous growth recently, today a number of leading educational institutions offer majors in mass communications. Mass communication can be pursued after class XII or after graduation. If you are completely focused regarding mass communication, then pursuing after class XII is a good idea, but if you want to keep your options open then pursue after graduation.

From a course/degree point of view mass communication, in India is branched into:

• Advertising
• Visual Arts
• Journalism
• Public Relations (PR) & Corporate Communications
• Event Management & Live Entertainment
• Films & Television (TV) Studies
• Radio Studies
• Theatre & Presentation Arts
• Web Media & Cyber Journalism
• Print Media
• Media & Production Management
• Broadcast Media Technologies

Course Content
A bachelor's degree in mass communications exposes a person to the world of mass media and proper communication. Through the study of mass communications, a student hones and polishes his/her verbal and writing communication skills. Critical and analytical skills are also a major part of mass communications. Mastery of these skills enables graduates to properly react to and understand important political and social issues.

For a prospective employer a candidate with a degree in mass communications signifies that he/she student underwent a broad-based study of the communications field. The field of mass communications studies revolves around the distribution of information within the mass media, either through print or broadcast journalism, public relations or advertising. While the practical applications are stressed in every program, larger research institutions have degree-bearing programs for academia. Research, both quantitative and qualitative, programs within mass communication departments set the stage to produce the next generation of educators to mentor the next generation of journalists.

Some of the important parts of a undergraduate course in mass communication include a lot of emphasis is placed on improving the communication skills of the candidate via both theory classes and workshops like Communication Lab. Basic historical/cultural knowledge that the person would require is provided by knowledge oriented subjects like State & Politics, Social History - Socio-Economic-Milieu of India since Independence etc. Most of the functional/domain specializations that were talked about in the start are touched upon to give a basic idea to the student about all these options. State of the art tools which are required by any one engaged in mass communication like computer related tools and videography tools etc are practically introduced. Finally most courses also contain an internship with an agency involved in mass comm. and also a final project to give the student a hands on idea about the industry.

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