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Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies

Objectives of the Exit Exam

All students must successfully pass the Exit Exam. This exam has the following objectives:

1. Evaluation of the student’s extent of mastery of academic material of the major before leaving the university.
2. Obtaining from the student feedback that would assist in evaluating the overall educational system and programs of the university.
3. Implementation of remedial work after an early assessment for those who need it, prior to their graduation, so that they can adequately reflect our programs and easily integrate into the job market.

Format for Communication Studies

Communication courses combine theoretical and practical work in various fields of communication such as media studies, professional writing/communication and promotion/advertising. Therefore, the assessment process should reflect this experience. For this reason, the exit examination will have two parts within an oral Review Diagnosis Session and then a follow up session at the end of the last semester, as stipulated by the AUI catalog, for those who do not pass the first exam.

Review Diagnosis Session

This session has two sections. In the first section, the student will be asked to prepare himself/herself in the format of a job interview which will be conducted with the members of the Review Committee. This committee is made up of the student’s academic advisor and one other faculty member from the Communication Studies Department (the Program Coordinator or other) and the Dean of SHSS (when possible, or the Dean will nominate a non-communication faculty as replacement) for a total of 3 members. These members should, between them all, be able to assess language competencies in Arabic, French and English. The student will be asked to prepare and submit, at least 10 days before the scheduled exam date (a deadline will be announced for each semester), a formal portfolio of academic work that best reflects his/her accomplishments in the field of communication. This portfolio may contain such items as: technical studies, reports, research papers, and class projects in any media, as well as Capstone or internship materials. In addition, the student must also submit a copy of his/her transcript, a resumé in English and in French, and 3 formal motivation letters (in English, French and Arabic). During the exam, which should last 30 minutes, committee members will ask questions of the student with the aim of identifying strengths and weaknesses in three major areas as well as seek feedback about the program. The areas of mastery are:

• Mastery of the main courses of the major
• Communication skills
• Readiness for the job market.

If the committee identifies weaknesses in the performance of the student, or in the portfolio, they may ask for remedial work. For problems relating to mastery of course material, the primary instructor for that course will recommend appropriate work. The student is thereafter responsible for improving the needed skills. The student’s advisor will know that the student has completed this work through written confirmation from the above-mentioned instructor. For deficiencies in language and communication skills, it is the student’s own responsibility to improve the deficiency and we will not ask language faculty or the CAD faculty to work with the student. It is the job of the advisor (with help of faculty fluent in the target language) to ensure acceptable levels of competence are met. For deficiencies in the portfolio, recommendations will be made on a case-by-case basis.

At the end of the session, we will seek general feedback on the program.

Documents for Download

Exit Exam Cover Sheet

Exit Exam Directions for Students