BS Development Communication: Course and Careers

TL;DR: BS Development Communication is a four-year degree governed by CHED Memorandum Order No. 36, series of 2017, which prescribes 43 subjects totalling 128 units, including a six-unit thesis or special project and an internship with a minimum of 200 hours of communication-related work. There is no PRC board exam for development communication.

Development communication is communication put to work on development problems: getting farmers to adopt a practice, moving health behaviour in a barangay, running risk communication before a typhoon, building an extension programme that people actually use. It is not general media studies with a conscience attached, and CHED's curriculum makes the difference concrete.

What CHED Prescribes

CMO No. 36, series of 2017 is titled "Policies, Standards, and Guidelines (PSGs) for Bachelor of Science in Development Communication (BS DevCom) Program," adopted by virtue of Commission en banc Resolution No. 231-2017 dated 28 March 2017.

The order describes the field of study this way: "Communication as a field of study covers the various ways by which humans communicate. It focuses on how verbal and non-verbal messages are used to create meanings in various contexts using various media platforms. It includes a broad range of subject matter ranging from communication, natural and social sciences and other technical courses such as agriculture, health, and environment."

That last clause is the whole point. Agriculture, health and environment are named as subject matter, not as optional context.

The programme goal in the order is stated plainly: "This program aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed in teaching, managing, and implementing communication programs for development."

Curricula vary by school within CHED's minimum. Confirm the current curriculum, elective offerings and internship arrangements with your target school.

The 128-Unit Curriculum

CMO No. 36, s. 2017 sets 43 subjects totalling 128 units:

The order adds a useful note: "The Core Courses are non-negotiable. HEIs may select Required Courses based on their institutional expertise. Electives may be modified based on the Institutional and Program Outcomes as long as minimum number of units required for each group of elective courses is complied with."

Core courses (18 units) — the same everywhere

1. Introduction to Communication Media
2. Communication Theory
3. Communication Research
4. Communication, Culture and Society
5. Communication Media Laws and Ethics
6. Communication Programs and Campaigns

Required courses (18 units)

Three are CHED-required at every school:

• Cross-Cultural Communication
• Risk, Disaster, and Humanitarian Communication
• Knowledge Management

The other three are chosen by the school from a list that includes Fundamentals of Community Broadcasting, Fundamentals of Development Journalism, Fundamentals of Educational Communication and Technology, Fundamentals of Public Information, Introduction to Science Communication, Interpersonal Communication in Development, and Introduction to Multimedia Writing.

This is where schools genuinely differ. A school that runs a community radio station will select differently from one built around instructional design. Ask which three a school actually offers before you choose it.

Electives (33 units) — the distinctive part

The elective block splits three ways:

The specialised options in the order are Writing and Reporting for Development, Participatory Development Journalism, Multimedia Materials Planning and Design, Multimedia Materials Production and Management, Multimedia-Based Learning Systems, Communicating Science for Development, Community Media Management, Behavioral and Social Change Communication, and Communication in the ASEAN Setting.

The natural and technical and social science courses are, in CHED's own words, "taken in other department/colleges within the same university." The order explains why: courses in the natural sciences "equip the students with knowledge of subject matter content used in communicating development concepts/issues," while social science electives "enrich the student's understanding of communication as a field of study and to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of development communication."

Fifteen units of agriculture, forestry, physics, chemistry or biology inside a communication degree is unusual, and it is the single clearest structural difference from a general communication programme.

Thesis and Internship

Thesis or special project (6 units). The order describes it as enabling students "to apply research skills, from conceptualization of a research topic to data gathering, report writing, and presentation of findings or production of a creative work," offered in the final year. CHED's guidance is that schools implement it as a six-unit course with the first three units in the first semester for conceptualisation and proposal development, and the remaining three in the second semester for data gathering, analysis, interpretation and defence.

Note the phrase "or production of a creative work." A special project route exists — a campaign, a documentary, a materials package — rather than only a conventional research paper. Ask a school whether it actually allows the creative-work option, because not all do.

The order also clarifies that Communication Research, taught as a distinct third-year subject, covers "the basic concepts, traditions of inquiry, methods and processes of communication research," and that "proposal development is not included in Communication Research." So the proposal work belongs to the thesis course, not the research course.

Internship (3 units). CMO No. 36, s. 2017 requires "an internship course with a minimum of 200 hours of communication-related work, preferably in a development-oriented organization," which "may be taken during the summer after the student's third year or during his/her fourth year or final year."

Two hundred hours is a modest requirement compared with practicum-heavy degrees such as tourism or nutrition. That makes the quality of the placement matter more than the count. A government information office, an NGO running a live campaign, or a development agency's communication unit will teach you more than a general office placement, so ask where students were actually placed last year.

Is There a Board Exam?

No. PRC supervises 46 professional regulatory boards. None of them covers communication, journalism, broadcasting or development communication. There is no licensure examination, no PRC identification card, and no board-passing requirement between graduation and employment.

The practical consequence is that your portfolio is the credential. Campaign work, published writing, produced multimedia, a defensible thesis and a good internship carry the weight a licence would carry in a regulated profession. Build the portfolio deliberately from second year rather than assembling it in a panic before graduation.

Our list of courses with board exams covers the degrees that do end in a PRC examination, if that matters to your decision.

Where DevCom Graduates Work

CMO No. 36, s. 2017 lists the occupations directly: "public and corporate communication/information officers, social science and communication researchers/analysts, communication/media planners and managers, program/project development officers, media practitioners, learning system designers, multimedia designers, and in the allied/related professions."

In practice the reliable employer categories are:

• Government information and communication offices — national agencies, local government units, and agencies with heavy public-communication mandates in health, agriculture, environment and disaster risk
• NGOs and development agencies — communication officers, campaign and advocacy roles, community engagement
• Corporate communication and CSR — internal communication, sustainability and community relations work
• Media and production — journalism, documentary, community broadcasting
• Instructional design and learning systems — the Multimedia-Based Learning Systems and educational communication side of the curriculum
• Research — social science and communication research organisations

Government roles run through Civil Service qualification standards for the specific position, so check the posted requirements rather than assuming the degree is sufficient on its own.

DevCom Versus the Alternatives

If you want newsroom, advertising or corporate media work in general, AB Communication is the more direct fit. If you want to work on health, agriculture, environment or disaster risk communication — and especially if you want to work in government or the development sector — DevCom's subject-matter grounding is a real advantage.

CMO No. 36, s. 2017 also names the allied programmes, which is useful if you are considering shifting: Communication, Journalism, Broadcasting, Multimedia (Digital Media) Studies, Film, Communication Research, Agricultural Education and Extension, and Development Studies. Related fields include anthropology, economics, history, human services, political science, psychology, social work and sociology. Our guide to shifting course in the Philippines covers how credits usually transfer.

Preparation and Fit

There is no strand prerequisite. HUMSS students arrive with useful social science grounding — see the HUMSS strand guide — but the 15-unit natural and technical block means STEM students are not disadvantaged, and in some ways start ahead on the science-communication side.

The degree suits students who write well and are willing to keep writing, who are comfortable in communities rather than only in offices, and who are genuinely interested in a substantive field such as agriculture or public health. It suits students less well if you want a purely creative or purely corporate media career, where a general communication or multimedia arts programme is more efficient.

Tuition and fees are set by each school and published on its own admissions pages. Several of the strongest DevCom programmes are at state universities, where free tuition arrangements may apply for eligible students — see our CHED free tuition guide. Budget separately for fieldwork travel, production costs for multimedia courses and thesis expenses, which are usually not in the headline tuition. If you are still weighing options, what course to take in college walks through the decision.

Sources

• CHED Memorandum Order No. 36, series of 2017 — PSG for BS Development Communication (official PDF)
• Professional Regulation Commission — Professional Regulatory Boards
• SchoolFinderPH — AB Communication Guide
• SchoolFinderPH — Courses With Board Exams
• SchoolFinderPH — HUMSS Strand Guide