Length of course:	Three-year, full-time
UCAS code:	P210
Location:	Harrow
Course fees:	See westminster.ac.uk/fees

This course is offered as part of our wider media programme and includes intensive professional training provided by active practitioners. As well as the practice, you will analyse the role PR plays in society and its relationship to the media. The University’s interest in the media means you study broader issues relating to the media alongside students of journalism, TV and radio. The PR course is a particularly international one and brings together students from the UK and all parts of the world.

Course content

The course places equal emphasis on mastering practical skills and on developing your academic potential. Some of the academic work is specific to the PR degree, but there are also opportunities to develop a critical understanding of the media industries, their products and their audiences. You will learn how to analyse media output and examine the relationships between media, society, politics, culture and technology. The lecturers are among the top names in their field, and are regularly supplemented by current practitioners. There are opportunities to choose from a wide range of optional modules. You can take advantage of our Study Abroad agreements with overseas universities, spending half an academic year at another university – for example in Australia or the USA – with those studies counting towards your degree here.

Year One (Credit Level 4)

You are introduced to key public relations skills – from writing press releases to dealing with journalists – as well as academic approaches to the subject. You are also introduced to campaigning, and to some of the major academic approaches to the media and society. In the second half of the year you will additionally study Digital PR.

Year Two (Credit Level 5)

You will construct and present your ideas for a PR campaign, study Corporate Communications, PR Ethics and Law, and may choose to study Advertising Practice and Specialist Public Relations. You will also study Media Transformations and Network Society and the Media.

You can choose additional modules from a wide range including: Advertising and Promotional Culture • Arts and Entertainment Journalism • Audience Studies • Celebrity Culture and the Media • Cultural Industries and Media Markets • Fashion Journalism • International Journalism • Multiculturalism and the Media • News and Public Opinion • Sex, Violence and Censorship • Sound, Music and Media

Year Three (Credit Level 6)

You will produce a major final PR project and study current issues in PR. You will also apply the analytical and research skills you have acquired by producing an academic dissertation, a substantial original piece of work on a media/PR-related subject. Other lecture courses are chosen from the list of options available in Year 2.

Work placement

During the course you are encouraged to do as many work experience placements as possible. There is also a compulsory Work Experience element to the degree, which can be done at any time from the end of the second year to the end of the third year, or during the intervening vacations. You are required to find your own placements, and write reports on your work.

Teaching and assessment

All the PR tutors are experienced professionals in their field. The teaching of practice and analysis is combined in many of the modules, which often include practical sessions – for example, running a press conference, or presenting ideas for PR campaigns – alongside more academic lectures and seminars. You will typically have teaching on three days a week (this can vary), but will also have to undertake work on individual and group assignments outside your classes. Staff are available for individual tutorials. There are no exams (other than in some optional modules). All practical work is assessed on output – individual and group activity, including written work and oral participation and presentations. All analysis work is assessed on essays and other written work, and performance in seminars.

Associated careers

We have very strong links with the PR industry. Our students have a particularly high success rate in gaining employment in PR and related sectors. Recent graduates have gone to top PR agencies and in-house PR teams in the UK and internationally.

Typical offer for September 2011

Qualification type	Grade/points
A Levels	BBB
International Baccalaureate	30 points (minimum)
BTEC National Diploma	DDM

Contact

Contact Course Enquiries for more information

T: +44 (0)20 7915 5511
E: course-enquiries@westminster.ac.uk