Course description
This course was the first taught full-time postgraduate degree in Communication, and recruits both international and local students. It provides a detailed understanding of the Communications industry – providing theoretical as well as practical awareness of the concept of communication, public relations, advertising and marketing, and organisational communication.
The Postgraduate Diploma comprises six taught modules in Public Relations, Research Methods, Advertising and Communication with an additional two optional 15 credit modules, including, but not limited to, marketing and political lobbying. These are offered across semesters I and II. Following successful completion of the PGDip, students may proceed to Semester III, which consists of a research dissertation leading to the award of MSc in Communication, Advertising and Public Relations.
COURSE STRUCTURE AND REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD
Academic progression and internal coherence and opportunities for student choice:
Full time:
This course is studied full time over a period of one year. The learning is divided into study units called modules. Each module has a credit value of fifteen or thirty credits, excepting the project module at sixty credit points. The credit weighting is in proportion to the nominal effort required by the student, thus a fifteen-credit point module corresponds to one hundred and fifty hours of student effort, including self-directed study. At this academic level, it is clearly expected that students will be responsible for a great deal of their own learning. In Semester One, students will take two compulsory modules: Public Relations, Research Methods, and one option, such as Marketing Principles.
In Semester Two, students will take two compulsory modules –Advertising and Communication – as well as one optional module from a choice of Communication and Marketing modules, such as Video for Corporate/Organisational Broadcasting, Aspects of Political Communication, International Marketing and Quality in Services Marketing). The rationale for this structure is that the core modules provide students with the fundamental theoretical and practical underpinnings of the course; the optional module will enable each student to choose one module which is of particular academic or professional interest to him or her
Upon successful completion of the taught modules in Semesters One and Two, students can exit from the course with a Postgraduate Diploma. In order to progress to the MSc level, students must have an overall average at this stage of 50%. In Semester Three, students undertake an individual dissertation, the successful completion of which allows them to exit the course with an MSc.
Particular features of this course include the balance between academic and professional skills, the varied teaching and learning methods, and the opportunity to devise and execute a detailed piece of personal research through the dissertation. Students may take the course, in the traditional face to face teaching mode in a part time mode for part of the course (special circumstances). Progression and coherence is maintained through the application of pre-requisites and co-requisites where relevant.
Part Time:
This Taught part of the course is normally studied part time over a period of two years.
In Semester One, students will normally take a compulsory thirty credit point module, Public Relations.
In Semester Two, all students take a compulsory generic 15 credit point module –Communication – as well as one optional module from a choice of modules relevant to the course and available through e-learning. For these students the range of options is more restricted, depending on the rollout of the e-learning mode for Communication modules. Marketing options are not available on this route.
The rationale for this structure is that the “core compulsory” and “generic compulsory” modules provide students with the fundamental theoretical and practical underpinnings of the course whilst the optional module will enable each student to choose one module which is of particular academic or professional interest to him or her. The structure also has the advantage of facilitating inter-professional learning and debate across specialisms.
Upon successful completion of the taught modules in Semesters One and Two, students can exit from the course with a Postgraduate Certificate in Communication and Public Relations .
In year two in the third semester all students study a compulsory and generic module in Research Methods and an additional option. In the fourth semester students complete a final core specialist 30 point module which consolidates learning.
At this point students may exit with a Postgraduate Diploma in Communication, Advertising and Public Relations .
In order to progress to the MSc level, students must have an overall average at this stage of 50%. In Year Three, students undertake an individual dissertation, the successful completion of which allows them to exit the course with an MSc.
Particular features of this course include the balance between academic and professional skills, the varied teaching and learning methods, and the opportunity to devise and execute a detailed piece of personal research through the dissertation
