Courses offered by the Professional Communication Program at Hopkins are designed to enable students from all disciplines to develop effective communication skills relevant to their educational and professional goals. These courses are consistent with the findings of Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. The study, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities, had as a top-10 priority "linking communication skills and course work."

Effective management requires effective communication. It is one of the most important skills a successful leader uses. Toward that end, the PCP program emphasizes a collaborative, appliedlearning environment that uses and simulates work produced in the real world and academic settings. To help students understand the impact of their work in a global and economic context, PCP courses use case and project based methods focused on contemporary issues. Classes emphasize individual, team, and group activities and assignments designed to help students learn how to skillfully interact with each other, disciplinary peers, managers and broader, non-specialist audiences.

Professional Communication courses also directly address ABET Criterion 3 and provide students an opportunity to gain skills needed for success in other courses as well as their future careers. The relatively small class size of the Professional Communication courses (typically 10 to 18 students) fosters close cooperation between instructor and student. Topics range from technical and business communication to oral presentations and medical writing.