This is a new and unique course, offering the first ever opportunity to study public relations at Masters level in London, the centre of Europe's communications and public relations industries; a unique opportunity for independent postgraduate study of the increasingly important discipline of public communication, as practised by governments and other organisations in Britain and abroad, and including the topical and much-debated issue of 'spin'.
The course includes both practical and theoretical elements, and covers a wide range of issues which professional practitioners need to address; iii a chance to benefit from the wider strengths of the University of Westminster's School of Media, Arts and Design. This includes the Communication and Media Research Institute which has twice received the top 5 rating in the Government's two successive research assessment exercises; and the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, which received a teaching quality assessment of 23 out of a possible 24 in 1998; and iv related course modules in highly relevant aspects of the media, communications, journalism and marketing, designed to complement the Public Communication and Public Relations modules. Could you benefit?
The course is particularly relevant if you who want to enter - or further - a career in public communications and public relations, or you are someone in whose working life communication issues play an important part. It is designed to help you broaden, enhance and update your practical skills, while engaging you in serious study of the (cut) key issues which you need to address.
It is also designed to make you a better strategic manager - someone who can seize the opportunities presented by rapid changes in communication rather than simply following in their slipstream. Many aspects of the course are designed to be particularly relevant to people working in the public and voluntary sectors, in Britain and overseas, but the course content also relates to those working for - or hoping to work for - PR consultancies or other organisations.
The University of Westminster's long experience of teaching closely-related disciplines means that it can call upon a wide range of leading practitioners, (cut) providing unrivalled up-to-date expertise. The course is also pioneering in that it fully embraces the potential for the use of new media. We will use our contacts to arrange placements, provide networking opportunities, and organise attendance at the many key events that take place in London. Another major advantage of the course is the opportunity it provides to study alongside postgraduate journalism students. The MA can be studied full-time over one year, or part-time over two years. A full range of dynamic teaching techniques will be used.