Your complete guide to studying Communication Studies

Everything you need to know about studying Communication Studies in 2024

part of Social Sciences

Communication Sciences is the study of human speech, language, and hearing. It also examines methods and tools used to treat communication disorders, such as language impairment, hearing impairment, dyslexia, stuttering, and many others.

Communication Sciences seeks to answer questions like: What are the most efficient ways of communicating? Which are the leading causes of communication disorders? Are there any external factors which could decrease the number of people suffering from speech, language, and hearing impairments? Which are the most efficient tools and approaches to integrate and support people with communication disorders?

Communication Sciences is often confused with Communication Studies like Digital Communication, Business or Corporate Communication, and Strategic Communication. These disciplines focus on mediums of communication and proper ways to send a message in different contexts — e.g. business, politics, public speaking — and don’t study communication disorders or the development of speech and language.

A typical Communication Sciences curriculum includes subjects such as Hearing Mechanism, Phonetics, Physiology of Speech, Speech Science, Hearing Science, Language Pathology, Psycholinguistics, Communication Disorders in Childhood, etc.

Universities often list Communication Sciences programmes as “Communication Sciences and Disorders”, but you can also encounter alternative titles, like “Speech and Language Pathology” or “Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences”.

Communication Science graduates can find high paid jobs in public relations, online media, journalism and other publishing institutions, as well as in the advertising industry.

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View all PhDs in Communication Studies. Keep in mind you can also study an online PhDs in Communication Studies.

Interesting programmes for you

Best Universities for Communication Studies on PhDPortal

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Universities Location Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking (2017) TopUniversities Ranking (2018)
The Ohio State University Upper Arlington, United States 1 21
Michigan State University East Lansing, United States 2 12
University of Texas at Austin Austin, United States 3 6
University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands 4 2
University of Wisconsin Madison Madison, United States 5 5
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, United States 6 10
Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, United States 7 51
Pennsylvania State University State College, United States 8 29
Cornell University Ithaca, United States 9 23
Northwestern University Evanston, United States 10 17
University of Washington Seattle, United States 11 32
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, United States 12 18
University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, United States 13 18
University of Southern California Los Angeles, United States 14 1
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Urbana, United States 15 24
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands 16 51
Purdue University West Lafayette, United States 17 51
University of Minnesota Twin Cities Minneapolis, United States 18 -
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, United States 19 30
Rutgers University New Brunswick, United States 20 101
Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich München, Germany 21 51
University of Kentucky Lexington, United States 22 -
University of Zurich Zürich, Switzerland 23 40
London School of Economics and Political Science London, United Kingdom 24 3
Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Singapore 25 14
Harvard University Cambridge, United States 26 -
Ghent University Ledeberg, Belgium 27 151
The University of Arizona Tucson, United States 28 101
University of Georgia Athens, United States 29 101
City University of Hong Kong Kowloon, Hong Kong (SAR) 30 27
University of Maryland College Park, United States 31 51
Arizona State University Tempe, United States 32 51
Washington State University Pullman, United States 33 -
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, Hong Kong (SAR) 34 20
University of Antwerp Antwerpen, Belgium 35 151
University of Oxford Oxford, United Kingdom 36 -
The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, United States 37 -
University at Buffalo Buffalo, United States 38 151
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem, Israel 39 151
George Mason University Fairfax, United States 40 -
University of Vienna Vienna, Austria 41 51
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Mainz, Germany 42 101
National University of Singapore Singapore, Singapore 43 12
University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, United States 44 -
University of Sydney Sydney, Australia 45 35
Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, United States 46 -
University of Utah Salt Lake City, United States 47 -
Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia 48 24
KU Leuven Brussels, Belgium 49 51
Stanford University Stanford, United States 50 4
American University Washington DC Washington, D. C., United States 51 151
Erasmus University Rotterdam Rotterdam, Netherlands 51 51
Florida State University Tallahassee, United States 51 151
Georgia State University Atlanta, United States 51 -
Loughborough University Loughborough, United Kingdom 51 39
New York University New York City, United States 51 16
North Carolina State University Raleigh, United States 51 151
Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands 51 151
Seoul National University Anyang, South Korea 51 37
Stockholm University Stockholm, Sweden 51 51
Syracuse University Syracuse, United States 51 51
Texas Tech University Lubbock, United States 51 -
George Washington University Washington, D. C., United States 51 101
Melbourne Business School Melbourne, Australia 51 31
University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark 51 51
University of Florida Gainesville, United States 51 51
The University of Iowa Iowa City, United States 51 101
University of Kansas Lawrence, United States 51 101
University of Leicester Leicester, United Kingdom 51 51
University of Mannheim Mannheim, Germany 51 -
University of Missouri - Columbia Columbia, United States 51 42
University of Oklahoma Norman, United States 51 -
University of Oslo Oslo, Norway 51 48
University of Tennessee Knoxville Knoxville, United States 51 151
Yale University New Haven, United States 51 15
Aarhus University Aarhus, Denmark 76 38
Brigham Young University Provo, United States 76 -
Cardiff University Cardiff, United Kingdom 76 34
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, United States 76 101
Korea University Seoul, South Korea 76 51
McGill University Montréal, Canada 76 51
Monash University Clayton, Australia 76 51
Ohio University Athens, United States 76 101
Sungkyunkwan University Seoul, South Korea 76 49
Temple University Philadelphia, United States 76 -
Texas A&M University College Station, United States 76 -
The University of Manchester Manchester, United Kingdom 76 -
University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia 76 46
University of Queensland Saint Lucia, Australia 76 27
University College London (UCL) London, United Kingdom 76 -
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Los Angeles, United States 76 9
University of Haifa Haifa, Israel 76 -
University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland 76 42
University of Leeds Leeds, United Kingdom 76 51
University of South Carolina Columbia, United States 76 101
University of Toronto Pickering, Canada 76 -
University of Twente (UT) Enschede, Netherlands 76 -
Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden 76 51
West Virginia University Morgantown, United States 76 -
Yonsei University Seoul, South Korea 76 51
University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, United States - 6
Goldsmiths, University of London London, United Kingdom - 8
Columbia University New York City, United States - 11
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Cambridge, United States - 22
The University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan - 26
The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR) - 32
King's College London London, United Kingdom - 35
University of Minnesota Minneapolis, United States - 40
University of Navarra Pamplona, Spain - 42
University of Chicago Chicago, United States - 45
University of Westminster London, United Kingdom - 47
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Villa Presidente Frei, Ñuñoa, Santiago, Chile, Chile - 50
Bologna Business School Bologna, Italy - 101
Brown University Providence, United States - 101
Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, United States - 101
Deakin University  Burwood, Australia - 101
Fudan University Shanghai, China - 101
Griffith University Nathan, Australia - 101
Kyoto University Kyoto, Japan - 101
Lancaster University Lancaster, United Kingdom - 101
Leiden University Leiden, Netherlands - 101
Lund University Lund, Sweden - 101
National Chengchi University Taipei, Taiwan - 101
Queen Mary University of London London, United Kingdom - 101
Simon Fraser University Burnaby, Canada - 101
SOAS University of London London, United Kingdom - 101
The University of Milan Sesto San Giovanni, Italy - 101
The University of Western Australia Perth, Australia - 101
Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) Paris, France - 101
University Kebangsaan Malaysia Semenyih, Malaysia - 101
University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain - 101
University of Bergen Bergen, Norway - 101
University of Bristol Bristol, United Kingdom - 101
University of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina - 101
University of California, Davis Davis, United States - 101
University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, United States - 101
University of East Anglia Norwich, United Kingdom - 101
University of Groningen Groningen, Netherlands - 101
University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, United States - 101
University of Miami Coral Gables, United States - 101
University of Montreal Montréal, Canada - 101
University of Quebec Québec, Canada - 101
University of Southern Denmark Neder Holluf, Denmark - 101
University of Stirling Stirling, United Kingdom - 101
University of Tampere Tampere, Finland - 101
University of York York, United Kingdom - 101
Utrecht University Utrecht, Netherlands - 101
Victoria University of Wellington Wellington, New Zealand - 101
Waseda University Shinjuku, Japan - 101
Western Sydney University Paramatta, Australia - 101
York University Toronto, Canada - 101
Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China - 101
Birkbeck, University of London London, United Kingdom - 151
Boston College Newton, United States - 151
Bournemouth University Bournemouth, United Kingdom - 151
Charles University Prague, Czech Republic - 151
Concordia University Montréal Montreal West, Canada - 151
Dublin City University Dublin, Ireland - 151
Ewha Womans University Seoul, South Korea - 151
Hanyang University Seoul, South Korea - 151
Kazan Federal University Kazan, Russia - 151
Rey Juan Carlos University Coslada, Spain - 151
La Trobe University Melbourne, Australia - 151
Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) Moscow, Russia - 151
National Chiao Tung University Hsinchu, Taiwan - 151
HSE University Moscow, Russia - 151
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Jamundí, Colombia - 151
Queen's University Belfast Belfast, United Kingdom - 151
Rhodes University Grahamstown, South Africa - 151
RWTH Aachen University Aachen, Germany - 151
Sapienza University of Rome Roma, Italy - 151
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China - 151
Swinburne University of Technology Hawthorn, Australia - 151
Tecnológico de Monterrey Monterrey, Mexico - 151
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano, Italy - 151
University of Münster Münster, Germany - 151
University Sains Malaysia George Town, Malaysia - 151
University of Adelaide Adelaide, Australia - 151
University of Calgary Calgary, Canada - 151
University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, United States - 151
University of Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa - 151
University of Granada Granada, Spain - 151
University of Hamburg Hamburg, Germany - 151
University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, United States - 151
Leipzig University Leipzig, Germany - 151
University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand - 151
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, United States - 151
University of South Florida Tampa, United States - 151
University of Tartu Tartu, Estonia - 151
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Johannesburg, South Africa - 151
University of Wollongong Wollongong, Australia - 151
Autonomous University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain - 51
Boston University Boston, United States - 51
City, University of London London, United Kingdom - 51
Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Steglitz, Germany - 51
Hong Kong Baptist University Kowloon, Hong Kong (SAR) - 51
Humboldt University Berlin Berlin, Germany - 51
Macquarie University Sydney, Australia - 51
National Autonomous University of Mexico Coyoacán, Mexico - 51
National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan - 51
Peking University Beijing, China - 51
Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona, Spain - 51
RMIT University Melbourne, Australia - 51
Royal Holloway University of London London, United Kingdom - 51
The City University of New York New York City, United States - 51
Tsinghua University Beijing, China - 51
Complutense University of Madrid Madrid, Spain - 51
University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada - 51
University of Auckland Auckland, New Zealand - 51
University of Birmingham Birmingham, United Kingdom - 51
University of California, Irvine Extension Irvine, United States - 51
University of California, San Diego San Diego, United States - 51
University of Glasgow Glasgow, United Kingdom - 51
University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 51
University of Nottingham Nottingham, United Kingdom - 51
University of Sao Paulo São Paulo, Brazil - 51
University of Sheffield Sheffield, United Kingdom - 51
University of Sussex Brighton, United Kingdom - 51
University of Technology Sydney Sydney, Australia - 51
University of Warwick Coventry, United Kingdom - 51
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Brussels, Belgium - 51
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