Strategic Communication and Public Relations (Taught)

Are you looking to advance your career into a more senior strategic communications role? Or do you already have a bachelor's degree and are looking to move into public relations?

Working in partnership with the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and accredited by the Digital Marketing Institute (DMI), this forward-looking MSc in Strategic Communications and Public Relations will equip you with the right blend of knowledge and skills to work as a communication and public relations professional. You will develop industry connections, a professional portfolio, and the confidence to grapple with any challenge in this fast-evolving industry.

The course is suitable if you:

• already work in a communication or PR role and want to step into a more senior strategic role - you can study part-time and tailor your learning to your own development needs;

• want to make a career change from journalism, management or business and focus more on organisational communications and public relations;

• want to move into a communication and PR role  after completing a bachelor's degree in business, humanities or social sciences - you can do an optional industry placement and we’ll support you in developing industry relevant knowledge and skills, help you to produce a professional portfolio, and provide you with opportunities to meet and network with current practitioners and learn from their experiences through guest talks and events; and

• aim to progress to a research career in communication or PR - members of QMU’s teaching team are influential published authors and regularly present at conferences all over the world.

Social media, smartphones and the Internet have changed how we talk to each other, and how organisations talk to their customers, forever. Stories spread around the world in the time it takes to order a latte. Word of mouth has never been more powerful at generating interest for organisations. But how can this wave of change be harnessed? In our digital age, there is a rising demand for communications professionals with the skills to plan strategic communication campaigns and drive success for businesses, charities and government organisations.

In this course, you will develop the specialist skills needed to communicate effectively across a range of media and digital platforms. It’s important to understand the bigger picture, and you will study within a framework that emphasises strategic thinking and a critical stance, enabling you to make an effective, ethical and responsible contribution to your organisation.

You can tailor your learning to your career aspirations and gain practical experience developing strategic campaign proposals for live clients, undertaking a crisis simulation exercise, creating podcasts and social media materials, gaining valuable work experience and bringing it all together in a final capstone project or dissertation.

Course Modules

• Strategic Communication Campaign Planning: On this module you will develop a critical understanding of the role of strategic communication within wider contexts including business, organisations, agencies, campaign groups and NGOs. You will take a critical perspective to ethics, social responsibility and social justice and explore how strategic communication can impact society. Theory is applied to produce strategic and creative PR campaigns including a range of communication activities and digital tactics.

• Reputation, Issues and Crisis Management: This module examines organisational issues and crises and explores the impact this can have on reputation. It will equip students with the knowledge and tools to critically examine risk, synthesise knowledge on strategic responses to crises and develop leadership skills in recommending courses of action to senior management. Through a critical examination of case studies, students will evaluate repair strategies and apply them to practices through a table-top simulation.

• Creating Digital Content: You will produce a range of professional digital content to help organisations achieve strategic communication goals. You will develop a critical understanding of storytelling on different platforms to reach a range of stakeholders. You will develop the skills needed to produce professional content, such as podcasts, social media content, blogs or thought leadership articles. You will apply ethical frameworks to guide the ways in which they represent or include stakeholders in their content and consider the impact of the content they produce on society

• Digital Communications: The evolution, diffusion, and adoption of digital technologies have fundamentally altered the way we live, work, relate to one another, and conduct business. These technological and societal changes are having a far-reaching impact on the communications, public relations and marketing disciplines, presenting huge challenges as well as opportunities to the industry. This module provides a sound theoretical and practical knowledge of digital communications based on a critical understanding of current and emerging technologies, digital strategies and social media platforms. The module examines a number of topics including: using AI, digital strategy; social media; search engine optimisation and AI-powered search engines (SEO and GEO); online community building and management; stakeholders analysis; issues management; web analytics and big data; content marketing; online customer journey and ethical and legal aspects of digital communications.

• Public Affairs: On this module you will develop knowledge of public affairs as a strategic organisational function focused on the political environment. It enables you to develop a sound conceptual framework for professional public affairs practice (with special attention to aspects of political communication) and strategic planning and public affairs competencies including research and problem definition, argumentation and campaign planning. You will reflect on public affairs as a professional practice including consideration of ethics and regulation.

• Plus one optional module:  The optional module may include an Industry-based Learning and Professional Development module (this involves a communication placement or other forms of experiential learning such as a work-based project or freelance working)

• Dissertation OR a Master’s Communication Project: Students taking the Dissertation will normally be required to take a research module as their option.

Optional modules may include the following:

• International Marketing

• Leadership in an International Context

• Strategy and Sustainability within Cultural Organisations

• Designing Qualitative Research

• Contemporary Issues in Political Communication

• Fundraising, Development and Finance

• Planning and Marketing Cultural Projects

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• Public Relations, Chartered Institute of