Welcome to the School of Communication and Development Studies
We strive to be a leading humanities and social science based academic school in Papua New Guinea and in the Pacific Islands Region to develop and offer academic teaching, initiate and carry out research, and provide community service aimed at cultivating knowledge and skill levels, developing innovative and creative abilities, and instituting discipline and proper conduct of behavior.
History
The school was first established as the Department of Language and Social Sciences (DoLSS) in the early 1970s. Its function was to teach English skills for academic purposes to students in all academic departments of the university. Then in the 1980s, the DoLSS underwent further name-change to Department of Language and Communication Studies (DoLCS).
In 1995 the school began offering a certificate course which, four years later led to seeing its first graduates with Bachelor of Technology in Communication for Development (BTCD) in 1999.
In 2010, the DoLCS changed its name once more to the Department of Communication and Development Studies (DoCDS) to better reflect relevant changes in the university structures and DoCDS undergraduate academic programs, as well as meeting industry demands. The name-change also reflects the introduction of its post-graduate programs in the two-year Master of Communication Studies (MCS), three-year Master of Arts in Organisational Leadership (MAOL) and three-six-year Doctor of Philosophy courses introduced in 2009, 2011 and 2013 respectively.
While maintaining its original purpose of teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) to students of other academic departments, currently with name change from department to school, it is also actively offering its own professional C4D program to students and has since been training and graduating human resources to serve as public relations officers, community affairs officers, liaison officers, personnel officers, and communication officers serving in both the public and the private sectors.
The school has become a vibrant academic school of the university and is in the forefront in the growing field of development communication in Papua New Guinea.
