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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) The bachelor’s degree program in communication at Valley City State University has recently been recognized by two independent sources as one of the top online communication degrees in the nation.

The program was recently ranked fourth among the top online communication degrees for 2015–16 by Affordable Colleges Online and ranked seventh by SuperScholar in its 2016 Smart Choice list of best online bachelor’s in communication degree programs.

Available entirely online (in addition to being offered face-to-face), VCSU’s professional communication degree offers three concentrations: corporate communication, digital media management and media communication. A key component of the VCSU program is a professional internship during the junior or senior year which provides real-world, hands-on learning.

“We’re very pleased to have our program recognized in both of these national rankings,” said Jonna Ziniel, Ph.D., assistant professor and chair of the VCSU Department of Communication Arts. “Effective communication is a vital 21st century skill, and our ability to deliver a quality education in the discipline says a lot about the caliber of our students, faculty and program.”

To create their list of top programs, Affordable Colleges Online ranked not-for-profit colleges and universities using various criteria, including online tuition rate, student-faculty ratio, percentage of students receiving financial aid, academic and career counseling services, six-year graduation rate, job placement for graduates, loan default rate and a proprietary, peer-based value comparing quality metrics of colleges with similar costs, and the costs of colleges with similar quality metrics.

The SuperScholar Smart Choice list ranked online programs from regionally accredited schools listed by the National Center for Educational Statistics. The rankings were based on reputation, flexibility, accessibility, student satisfaction and affordability.

In addition to these recent rankings, this past summer the VCSU communication program was recognized with a 2015–16 Students Before Profits Award for Best Online Bachelor’s in Communication and Public Relations by Nonprofit Colleges Online.