Intergal Courses for Public Relations +Sub-majors

Submajor 1: Global Societies

Borders and cultural identity, including transnational and fragmented identities and citizenship; globalisation and sustainability, globalisation of culture, issues related to labour mobility, and the structures of power and the role of activism; ethics and justice incorporating an analysis of human rights issues, gender and human security, and the role of democracy in contemporary international society.

Submajor 2: Peace Justice and Reconciliation 

Examines non-violent negotiations in conflict-affected countries including: peace processes, UN peacekeeping and dealing with crimes against humanity; transitional justice, gender justice, truth commissions and grassroots peacebuilding; and the role of justice, apology and forgiveness in reconciliation

Submajor 3: Language and Culture in Professional Life

Investigating language in professional cultures - a multi-perspectived approach; discourse and professional expertise; cultures of professional practice; the construction of meaning in professional/client interaction, including interviews, consultations, negotiations, and appraisals; evaluating professional communication.

Submajor 4: Introduction to Communication and Cultural Studies 

Historical development, major theorists and theoretical movements in Communication Studies and Cultural Studies; media and consumer culture; texts, language and semiotics; poststructuralism; postmodernism; ideology and power: identity politics, race, gender, sexualities and class, postcolonialism; regulatory society, technologies of surveillance; psychoanalytical theory, body/pleasure.

Elective: Spanish 1 A 

Introduction to the pronunciation of Spanish; a range of vocabulary; development of the four skills, speaking, reading, listening and writing; cultural knowledge integral to the range of situations and tasks set in the texts; awareness of the function of language in everyday life; exposure to language in real-life situations to show it in action.

Communication and Organisations

Organisational theory, its history and development, the culture of organisations and the interrelationship of communication and culture relating to communications media in its changing forms; introduction to theories relevant to decision making processes, power, ethics, current approaches to theory and practice; analysis and understanding of how new technologies reframe communication in the organisational context, examination of future trends and issues facing organisations; understanding organisations as communication events and as cultures; organisation cultures and socialisation practices; ethics and organisation culture; diversity in the workplace. Development of understanding of the role of communication and the use of media management in organisational culture.

Public Relations 2

Extend and develop understanding and application of public relations theories and practice, as introduced in Public Relations 1. Explore and provide analysis of the role and practice of Public Relations in issues management, event management, crisis management, media management; exploration of the place of tools of new and traditional media in contemporarypublic relations practice; develop understanding of the integration of public relations withmarketing and advertising; develop advanced understanding of the importance of sophisticated use of language and visual communication in contemporary public relations practice.

Professional and Creative Communication 

Introduction to issues in professional and creative communication, including ways of representation in different media, but particularly in writing, including electronic and other visual modes; introduction to the study of discourse communities and the social construction of knowledge, and the representation of knowledge in different media; extensive and intensive reading and writing of appropriate texts for a range of disciplines and fields; the opportunity to write / produce texts for creative and professional communication based on participation and observation and awareness of context.

Global Security and Sustainability  

Global, national and human security; international relations theories, strategic history, strategic analysis and intelligence; major conflicts; changing global polarity; nuclear deterrence, proliferation and missile defence; interdependence and constructing cooperative security; terrorism; practical human security issues, including natural disasters; the global politics of energy security and ecological sustainability.