University of Navarra

Located in: Spain

The University of Navarra is the best School of Communication in Spain, according to the annual ranking of El Mundo, which evaluates the quality of all the Spanish universities.  The University of Navarra gets the leading position in the Journalism degree and the second in Audiovisual communications as well as in Advertising and Public Relations.

The University of Navarra chooses to focus on both learning in the classrooms as well as practical experience.  Practical work and contact with professionals in the field are keystones of the educational programs offered.

In order to achieve this goal, the school of communication:

• involves more than one hundred distinguished media professionals and former students who take active part in the teaching of communication and theory and practice.
• has excellent facilities including: a TV studio, eight digital editing suites, five radio studios, information editing suites, an archive, a sound studio and computer rooms.

The official degrees include:

Corporate Communication

Cultural Communication

Integrated Marketing Communication

Political Communication

Media Management

Cinema and Television Scriptwriting

Visual Journalism

Production for film and TV

One of the well-known programs is the International Media Program, the first qualifications of its kind in Spain.  Its purpose is to provide graduates with an international profile in the communications sector.  This program can include an academic year in universities in Europe, North American or Asia, Internships in international media, and bilingual classes.

Jönköping University

Located in: Sweden

The Media and Communication Studies Program at Jönköping University stared in the 1970s and is one of the most well-established universities in Sweden.  It requires three years to complete and leads to a Bachelors of Social Science in Media and Communication Studies.

The Program has a strong international perspective and students have numerous opportunities to study and perform practical work abroad.

There are three different areas of specialization in the Communication Studies Program:

Media Production - focuses on producing information in traditional media as well as new media.  Courses include: news production, radio and TV production.

Organizational Communication -  focuses on the management of communication in organizations.  Courses include: crisis communication, internal and external communication.

Public Relations/Market Communication - focuses on PR in a broad sense, and on market-oriented communication.  Courses include: market communication, brand management and copy-writing.

This major is separated into a three year tentative schedule

Year 1: Media and Communications Science

The first year is the same for all students.  The courses include classes such as Mass-Media Studies, Visual Communication, Political Communication, and Communication and Technology.

Year 2: Specialization

The three different areas of specialization are public relations/market communication, organizational, and media production.  All areas of specialization focus on practical work.  The students also receive an international perspective, and the School of Education and Communication cooperates with other partner universities all over the world.  This provides students with the opportunity to meet professors and lecturers from other universities to do their work placement abroad.

Year 3, Semester 1: Media and Communication Science, includes an exam paper

Year 3, Semester 2: Optional

This semester has options for students to choose to study at a partner universities abroad.

Jönköping University Foundation is one of three independent institutions of higher education in Sweden offering postgraduate programmes

 

Link Campus University

Location: Malta

Link Campus University has a three-year Bachelor of Arts in Communications Management program.  Subjects studied can include: history, theory and techniques of Communications, professional writing, journalism, radio, TV, and the new media.  Management and economics of the communications field is also included.

All modules are paired with labs, which incorporate Link TV by writing and realizing TV programs and also write for internal magazines and papers.

Link TV is the tv-laboratory of the campus that acts like an university and as an instrument for the students in interact with the world of work, to comprehend the new communication forms and new media.

In the first semester of the students' third year of study, students have the option to join a study abroad programs.  Their credits can be transfered and students cans study at the University of Malta, the University of Westminister (London) or Santa Barbara in California, and many more.

Link Campus University is an International University that was initially constituted as the Italian branch of the University of Malta.  It was founded in 1999, and has been the first foreign university authorized to operate in Italy.

European University

European University has several campuses in different countries. All campuses follow an the same curriculum. Students are allowed and encouraged to transfer between campuses between semesters.

The campuses are in the folowing locations:
-Barcelona (Spain)
-Geneva (Switzerland)
-Montreux (Switzerland)
-Yvorne (Switzerland)
-Munich (Germany)
-London (UK)
-Freiburg (Germany)
-Vienna (Austria)
-Istanbul (Turkey)
-Aktobe (Kazakhstan)
-Uralsk (Kazakhstan)
-Singapore
-Damascus (Syria)
-Taipei (Taiwan)
-Shenzhen (China)
-Shanghai (China)
-Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia)

European University is primarily a business school but offers a variety of courses. The main goal of EU is to use the American education model by relating classroom theory to professional skills. Clases are taught in English.

European University offers a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Public Relations in all of their locations. The program takes 3 years to complete. It offers students practical media skills and a broad theoretical understanding of public relations and corporate communication.

Many of the courses that students are required to take concentrate on business

Information found on http://www.euruni.edu/en/Programs-Tree.html

The American University of Paris

The American University of Paris has a well noted major in Global Communications. There is a Bachelors program as well as a masters degree offered in this field of study. 

 It strives to provide students with understanding in current research with practical skills to understand and be involved in communications at global, local, and individual levels.  Graduates of this major understand the new rapid trends such as new media and new cultural forms.

Students also learn a solid liberal arts background necessary for success in the communications field.  The program also focuses on research methods, including historical, textual, socio-cultural, and empirical approaches and procedures for writing and presenting research.

The Global Communications program also has the opportunities for students to specialize in different areas.  These include: Production, Media Convergence, Integrated Marketing Communications, and Journalism. 

 Each specialization has a group of related courses in which if the student takes 3 of the classes, that specific specialization will be complete.

The American University of Paris is a non-profit educational institution incorporated in the State of Delaware and licensed by the State Board of Education as a Delaware institution of higher education.

Bournemouth University in England

Bournemouth University has 17,000 students and 2 campuses in the UK. They offer over 40 courses of study including public relations.

Bournemouth University offers a masters program for public relations. In order to receive the degree students must take 3 terms which takes one year at full time.

Term 1 – Core

Focuses mostly on theories and principles of public relations. Some written and oral communication is emphasized as well.

Public Relations: Principles and Foundations

Corporate Public Relations

Public Relations Communication Skills

Term 2 – Core

These courses focus on how to be an effective public relations practitioner. Each course gives students experience to utilize the theories and principles they learned in the past term. There is an emphasis on new media, research, and campaigning.

Public Relations Programmes

Interactive Media Strategies

Research Principles and Practice

Term 3 – MA Stage
Students who successfully complete the first two terms of the course will be entitled to the award of Post Graduate Diploma in Public Relations. Those who proceed to Term 3 will undertake the Integrated Campaign Planning unit AND either the Academic or Consultancy Project.
Core Unit
Integrated Campaign Planning
This class is assessed through a live brief, usually from a UK advertising agency, that will allow students’ knowledge to be used to address a current and “real” marketing communications situation. In collaboration with students from the MA in Advertising and Marketing Communication degree, students will work as part of a team of advertising, marketing communications and public relations specialists.

Independent Project
To complete the MA stage of the degree, students must choose and undertake ONE of the following independent projects:

Academic Project
The academic project consists of a 10,000 word research paper or book chapter of publishable standard designed for a publication in an academic journal or book of the student’s choice. Students will write on a subject of interest to them from the public relations field.

Consultancy Project
This project is a 10,000 word report/proposal wherein the student acts as a consultant for a selected organisation, company or individual. Within the report, students will identify and define a communication problem or situation and develop appropriate public relations solutions. Students will be expected to engage in research in order to justify their recommendations.

Information found at: www.bournemouth.ac.uk

Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication in India

SIMC is a university in India with three separate campuses; Lavale, Viman, and Bangalore. These campuses are spread out around India but Lavale is home to the communication program. 

There are several different graduate level programs offered by SIMC. There are programs in mass communication, which includes journalism, audio-visual communication and visual communication. There is also a program in communication management, which includes advertising. Public relations falls under the communication management umbrella. 

The communication management program offers courses in advertising and public relations. Advertising courses include client servicing, account planning, media & creative, and art & copy. Public relations courses include public relations, corporate communication, and event management. This program also requires six minor industry projects, one major industry project, one social communication project and dissertation writing. This program of study will take two years, spread over 4 semesters with 16 credit hours in each. 

All information was adapted from: http://www.simc.edu/pgp_curriculum.aspx 

Deakin University of Australia

About Deakin University
Established in the 1970s as one of the new generation of Australian universities, Deakin combines a university's traditional focus on excellent teaching and research with a desire to seek new ways of developing and delivering courses.
Deakin has recieved nine Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in the 2007 Carrick Awards (now the Australian Learning and Teaching Council awards).


Course structure for a focus in Communication and Media
Students complete 24 credit points of study which comprises a major sequence
of 8 credit points in Professional and Creative Writing and a sub-major of 4 credit
points in Anthropology, Australian Studies, Film Studies, History, International
Relations, Journalism, Language and Culture Studies, Literary Studies, Philosophy,
Public Relations, Politics and Policy Studies or Sociology. The remaining 12 credit
points enable students to make unusual study combinations with the freedom
to choose from a wide range of electives and major sequences. This flexibility
ensured depth in promotional and creative writing – essential for developing
writers.

For those concentrating in Public Relations
This course is accredited by the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA),
granting graduates automatic eligibility for membership. You will have the
opportunity to establish links with professionals in industry through the
PRIA Young Practitioners’ program.

The course has a strong industry work experience component, enabling you
to gain valuable skills and experience within a public relations organisation in
Australia.



‘The lecturers have all been heavily involved in the
industry and were able to give a real perspective of
what kind of environment we would be working in’.
Caitlin Stonehouse
Bachelor of Arts (Public Relations), graduated 2007
Research Communications and Partnerships Officer,
Heart Foundation

Information found at http://www.deakin.edu.au/

IULM University of Languages and Communication

Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione (IULM) was the first university in Italy to formally offer undergraduate courses in public relations. Around 40,000 students now take public relations as either part of their major or as an elective. There is confusion in Italy over the function of public relations, especially the disciplines of public relations. IULM wants to explore the confusions in public relations and come up with a mutual understanding over the functions of PR. 

The website highlights the education levels of students taking public relations courses. "The levels of education for those working in public relations include 23.2 percent with a high school degree, 56.3 percent with a bachelor’s degree and 20.4 percent with a master’s degree."(http://www.prssa.org/prsic/italy.aspx) Clearly more students work in public relations with a bachelor's degree but there are less working with a masters degree, mainly because there are limited programs available for a masters degree in public relations. 

IULM offers an exchange student program, however all courses are taught in Italian. 

All information was adapted from http://www.iulm.it/?idPage=960

University of Texas travels to Ireland

After sending out emails to many public relations professionals around the world, I received very little information back. Making phone calls and sending more emails didn't seem to work, so now we need to work with the information we can find.

I found a great study abroad program from the University of Texas: Austin to University College Dublin. This is solely a public relations study abroad opportunity. The website for this opportunity is as follows: http://communication.utexas.edu/students/international/ip-maymester.html 

Students have the opportunity to study in Ireland during a summer session. They will enroll in two courses that are equivalent to courses offered at the University of Texas. Students will stay in the dorms to gain a better perspective on international education. 

This is a great opportunity to study abroad in Ireland for undergraduate students. I have done a lot of researching and this is one of the study abroad programs that really stood out!

University of Leicester

"Elite without being Elitist" stated the Times Higher Education Winners Brochure when discussin the University of Leicester when it named the University THE University of the Year in 2008.

Although the University does not have a specific degree in Public Relations, the Department of Media and Communication offers an extensive list of communication and media classes. The University website states that "Graduates from a degree such as this tend to find employment in the communication mix in the widest sense, that is, in all areas from public relations and advertising, through to media production itself". This is much like the program offered here at James Madison: a student takes many communication courses with only a few specialized Public Relations Courses, and from graduation they can go into a wide variety of fields.

In order to be accepted to the program, a student must apply and be offered a position, but once accepted, students learn about the changing nature of communications and the impact of media on individual and societies (locally, regionally, and globally). Students leave the program with a broad social and scientific understanding of the roles media and communications play in Britain and around the world. The program lasts three years with 6 modules (courses) per year. In their final year, students are required to complete a 12,000-15,000 word dissertation within the field of media and communications.

http://www2.le.ac.uk/

TEI of Western Macedonia

TEI of Western Macedonia began their Department of Public Relations and Communication at their Kastoria campus in 1999, making it the first program of it's kind in the Greek Higher Education System. The four year program emphasizes practical and specialized knowledge of the PR and communication fields.

Students at TEI take many communication-based courses, much as they do here at James Madison; however they do have a wider selection of PR classes than they do here, and they go into more depth in certain areas (such as Principles of Marketing, and International Communication and Public Relations).

Students are also required to do Practical Training during their 8th semester in the program, where they work 5 days a week for 6 months in the PR field before they can receive their degree. During this time they can implement the skills and knowledge they acquired in their coursework. They then give a dissertation about their experiences before graduation.

The department takes part in the European project Erasmus and is a member of Euprera (the European Public Relations and Education and Research Association). The department also organizes conferences and symposia which helps it's students make contact with professionals and provides information for it's students and the academic community.


http://kastoria.teikoz.gr/pr/html_eng/index.php

University of Westminster

The University of Westminster allows you "a chance to specialise in public relations while studying in London, the hub of Europe's PR industry". The university offers both a BA and a MA in public relations, within their school of Media, Arts, and Design, much as James Madison offers a Public Relations Concentration within their Communication Studies program. The courses at Westminster include intensive training by active PR practitioners. Students gain a good understanding of the media in general, and journalism specifically, while studying journalist techniques and media theories from the perspective of the Public Relations Industry.

During the three year BA program, students gain concrete skills, from running a press conference, to constructing websites and written work, to developing and running PR campaigns. These skills are very similar to the skills stressed in the public relations program here at James Madison: we take several public relations- specific writing courses as well as designing and analyzing public relations campaigns in our senior-year capstone course.




Information:
http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/media/public-relations/ba-public-relations

Images:
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-http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://internationalvuedu.easycgi.com/international/opea/library/infophotos/westminster- Uni.jpg&imgrefurl=http://internationalvuedu.easycgi.com/international/opea/OPEA_Exchange_Info.asp%3FID%3D231&usg=__GoI7rWuslR9_AExTr06fs_R4CQQ=&h=317&w=399&sz=152&hl=en&start=1&sig2=iZH2ediACPOewTtTTqucew&tbnid=gvdQh5U5FFFSGM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Duniversity%2Bof%2Bwestminster%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den&ei=n5PoSpy3KZHIMZnfzfYH

First Response

 I posed a few questions to the graduate program at NYU. I asked the graduate admission counselor a few questions about the Master's program in Public Relations and Corporate Communication. Their master's program offers a wide variety of classes as well as a Capstone project, which students can focus on international public relations. Ms. Schlam wrote me back with some useful information.

 "The M.S. in Public Relations and Corporate Communication has some classes that deal with international issues, and some students complete their internship at corporations that deal with international issues. We do not have the option for graduate students to study internationally at this point. All classes are completed on site in New York City. Students who are full-time complete the degree in 1 ½ - 2 years. Part-time study can range from 2-5 years. As a graduate student you are eligible to partake in research with faculty members. The Capstone project acts as a thesis or senior presentation to conclude your degree."

Emily Schlam

Graduate Admission Counselor

New York University

School of Continuing and Professional Studies

Beginning of the project

This blog was created for an International Public Relations project at James Madison University. We are interested in exploring public relations education around the world. We wanted to create an online dialogue about different programs that exist. Any information is welcomed!