At the beginning of the program, students take an intensive one-day orientation seminar. The orientation offers a number of workshops to introduce students to the program, during which students are introduced to Blackboard (virtual classroom software), case study and analysis, library resources, and the writing of reports and reference citations.

The Master of Arts in Communications (Specialization in Tourism Communication) curriculum consists of 12 six-week courses for a total of 36 credits for the masters degree.

Year One

• COM 501 Foundations of Communication Studies
• COM 502 Introduction to Communication Research
• COM 520 Tourism Principles and Practices
• COM 522 Tourism Communication
• COM 504 Cross Cultural Communication
• COM 506 Understanding Consumer Trends

Year Two

• COM 521 Strategic Planning and Development
• COM 523 Event and Festival Planning and Promotion
• COM 525 Tourism in the U.A.E. and MENA Region
• COM 550 Applied Research Seminar
• COM 551 Advanced Research Project 1
• COM 552 Advanced Research Project 11

The Master of Arts in Communications (Specialization in Tourism Communication) program takes an integrated approach to advanced academic study that enables students to relate their course work to their daily professional activities. Assessment will be continuous throughout the program, using a combination of case studies, research projects, written papers and presentations, relying on both formal and informal faculty and peer-review activities. Each student's program of study will culminate in a significant piece of research, preferably tied to their current professional duties. The advanced research project will be evaluated through established procedures of faculty committee review.