In a piece titled "J-School Makeovers," Inside Higher Ed highlighted USC Annenberg's decision to condense its two-year M.A. degree in journalism to a nine-month M.S. program starting 2014.

"The shorter program will have a greater emphasis on multimedia reporting and will 'connect the classroom more directly with the newsroom,'" the piece read.

Notably, the move puts USC Annenberg in direct competition with Columbia and Northwestern in terms of the program length and cost.

"While some have debated whether a graduate degree in journalism is really worth that much, [USC Annenberg School of Journalism Director] Michael Parks argued that journalism schools could be more important than ever, because employers no longer have the time nor the resources to train their journalists," the article read. "They want candidates who already know what they’re doing when they walk into the door, and journalism schools make their students competitive candidates by giving them skills and professional experiences."

Read the article here.