Wie sollte ein ausgewogenes Studienprogramm an einer Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften aussehen? Es kommt darauf an, den Dreiklang von Wissen, Können und Tun zu treffen, also Grundlagen lehren, Anwendung gemeinsam erarbeiten und dann so trainieren, dass die Absolventen am Ende des Studiums „berufsfertig“ sind und sich nicht noch erst in Praktika „freischwimmen“ müssen.
In meiner Zeit an der SRH Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Medien entwickelte ich einen solchen Studiengang mit dem Namen „Media Management and Public Communication“. Das Besondere ist: Ich konnte diesen Studiengang komplett im Alleingang „bauen“ ohne kollegiale Abstimmung. Das führte zu einem unverwässerten Bild meiner Vorstellungen für einen solchen Studiengang (die übrigens ohne Auflagen sofort akkreditiert und dann 2014 auch in die Praxis umgesetzt wurde).
Objective and central idea
Media Management and Public Communication combines different fields of communication studies like business communication, cross-cultural communication, communication design, mass communication, project communication, media ecology, and journalism.
In today’s global media landscape, technologies and markets are evolving at lightning speed. In this environment of opportunity and change, business knowledge and broad management skills are critical to career success.
This unique program is designed for students acquiring broad-based media and leadership competencies. The course places emphasis on project-related work, the presentation of independently developed results, and the ability to work in teams. It prepares students for careers in the communications and media industries as well as in general management, project management and marketing management of all kinds of organizations.
The curriculum combines a strong foundation in managerial skills with communication practice and critical analysis of media products. It is designed to encourage innovative thinking and entrepreneurship.
Curriculum Overview
1st Semester
Introductory course Media Management and Public communication
- Media Management (Grounding of the fundamental assumptions and theories according to business communication (i.e. advertising, public relations, customer relationship and societal relations) and internal communications (i.e. communication that stabilizes organizational structure, enables collaboration, forms business processes, and facilitates adaptiveness to the organization’s environment)
- Public Communication (Grounding of the fundamental assumptions and theories according to mass communication e.g. agenda setting, spiral of silence, media ecology, public opionion, cognitive dissonance etc.)
- Academic Newsroom (In this tutorial students read, analyze, and discuss contributions from the international discourse of media management and public communication. They publish their results as abstracts for the university blog).
Enterprise Lifecycle Pt. 1
- The first part of the case study deals with founding of a startup business. Students learn how to write a business plan for startup funding, know the essentials of creating organizational structure and acquire first customers
- A tutorial deepens the special aspect of value added taxation for media products
Media Exercise I
- Writing Lab (Skill course to train the students in writing techniques especially for business purposes – agenda, reports,proposals – and academic papers)
- University Blog I (Students are in charge of writing posts for the university blog. They learn how to optimize a text for search engines – tagging, key word analysis etc.- and viral distribution in social networks and how to analyze and assess the quality of blog post)
- Corporate Design (This seminar gives an introduction in the concept of corporate design. Students will apply basic insights of logo design and style guide and learn how to build up a CD manual)
- Speakers’ Corner I (In this tutorial students learn to ad-lib and to deliver a speech to different kinds of audiences)
2nd Semester
Project Management
- Terminology and Guidelines for Project Management (The introductory course gives an overview of international standards in project management like PMBOK/PMI, PRINCE2 and CCPM and trains some basic methods like work breakdown structure, gantt charts and PERT)
- Project Communications (Project failures most likely base on deficient communications. The project communications seminar introduces some tools for effective and successful communication in project teams including stakeholder analysis, logical framework approach, and design structure matrix)
Enterprise Lifecycle Pt. 2
- The second part of the case study shows how to manage a business and adapt strategy to market needs. Students learn how to execute change management programs.
- A tutorial deepens the special aspect of preparing financial reports for valuation and rating.
International Competencies I
- Business English (Exercises relating to accounting, sales and marketing, and project management)
- Academic Newsroom II (In this tutorial students read, analyze, and discuss contributions from the international discourse of media management and public communication. They publish their results as abstracts for the university blog.)
- Cross Cultural Communication (The Cross Cultural tutorial looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavour to communicate across cultures.)
Media Exercise II
- Corporate Video I ( Students realize a corporate video. In the first part of the seminar students develop the basic idea, write the script and visualize a storyboard. The results of the pre-production have to present to the customer for approval. The budget has to be agreed and the project team assign the production tasks.)
- University Blog II (Students are in charge of writing posts for the university blog. They learn how to optimize a text for search engines (tagging, key word analysis etc.) and viral distribution in social networks and how to analyze and assess the quality of blog post)
- Photography Seminar (Students learn basic photography composition rules, how to produce a commercial photo shoot, how to snap shot images for the web, and how to apply photo editing software.)
- Business Networking (The tutorial shows how to build new business relationships and generate business opportunities by using face-to-face networks as well as software-based network and career services.)
3rd Semester
Enterprise Lifecycle Pt. 3
- The third part of the enterprise lifecycle case study deals with mergers & acquisitions, friendly or hostile take over, crisis communication, and liquidation.
Media Exercise III
- Corporate Video II (Video production, including location filming with a camera crew and director. This may also include other elements, such as actors and presenters. Post-production and video editing – the filmed (live action) footage is edited together. This may also include recording an audio voice-over, adding graphics, composing a music score or soundtrack, and including animation sequences with the finished video.)
- University Blog III (Students are in charge of writing posts for the university blog. They learn how to optimize a text for search engines – tagging, key word analysis etc. – and viral distribution in social networks and how to analyze and assess the quality of blog post)
- Negotiation (“Negotiating is a pervasive process in which people ultimately attempt to reach joint decision on matters of common concern in situations in which there is initial disagreement” said Herb Cohen. Students learn negotiation strategies (like Getting to Yes), negotiation tactics (e.g. brinkmanship, highball, snow job, good guy/bay guy), and negotiation styles (competing, compromising, collaborating etc.)
International Competencies II
- Business English II (Exercises relating to human relations, international marketing, and cross cultural communication)
- Speakers’ Corner II (In this tutorial students learn to ad-lib and to deliver a speech to different kinds of audiences.)
- Academic Newsroom III (In this tutorial students read, analyze, and discuss contributions from the international discourse of media management and public communication. They publish their results as abstracts for the university blog.)
Marketing Management
- Marketing Strategy (Students get insight of the core elements of marketing strategy: market research, competitive forces, consumer behaviour, market segmentation, targeting, and positioning)
- Marketing Planning (On base of the 4 P’s of marketing students work out a marketing plan for a tangible challenge. They define processes to achieve objectives and make a budget and calculate the ROI of marketing plan.)
4th Semester
Custom Media Project
- Conception of a cross media custom magazine (Based on a market analysis, students develop a concept paper for producing custom media for different channels).
- Editing of a cross media custom magazine (After client’s approval the project team start to produce content. They students research facts and figures, write copy, and create headlines. They take care for illustrations, infographics, and photos and they shoot video clips and record sound files).
- Layouting of a cross media custom magazine (In the last step the produced material is published for the different channels like print magazine, blog, social media and so on).
International Competencies III
- Business English III (Exercises relating to negotiation, symposium, and controlling)
- Second Language (Spain, French, or Italian; exercises relating to management in marketing, finance, and sales)
- Intercultural Management (In the intercultural seminar students learn how to deal with globalization and diversity management in multinational enterprises. They investigate cultural patterns of countries from around the world and get insights in business etiquette of different nations).
Media Exercise IV
- Content Management and Information Retrieval (Information retrieval is the activity of obtaining information resources relevant to an information need from a collection of information resources. Students have a look on both sides of information available on the internet: They learn how publishers can increase visibility of content and how researchers can find and evaluate relevant information).
- Web 2.0 and Social Media (Web 2.0 is a term that describes the technology push that allows users to collaborate and to self-publish. Due to this new opportunities given to the users within a couple of years the internet develops from a huge information stock to an interactive communication tool with user generated content, social networks services, and blogging becoming the leading sites).
- University Blog IV (Students are in charge of writing posts for the university blog. They learn how to optimize a text for search engines (tagging, key word analysis etc.) and viral distribution in social networks and how to analyze and assess the quality of blog post).
5th Semester
Communication campaign
- Creative Parts of a Campaign (What mission do the campaign aim for? Students analyze the product or theme of the campaign and discuss aspects like lifecycle, USP, customers, competitors etc. regarding to the client’s briefing. After that students define a SMART campaign objective. In a second step they develop the message within the framework that is given by corporate design and brand. Students form a claim, write the copy, and produce the creatives.
- Business Parts of a Campaign (The amount of money determines which channels can be used for the campaign. Media planning includes frequency and reach which are input for ex post measurement.
General Management Skills
- Leadership (In this course students learn essentials according transactional and transformational leadership. They get to know different leadership styles and are able to differ tools for formal and informal leadership).
- Innovation management (Students learn central concepts of innovation (diffusion of innovation, blue ocean strategy etc.) and how to manage processes in innovation. They apply common tools like brainstorming, prototyping, portfolio managements, and design thinking).
- Human Resource Management (HR is first charged with attracting the right employees through employer branding. It then must select the right employees through the recruitment process. HR then onboards new hires and oversees their training and development during their tenure with the organization. HR assesses talent through use of performance appraisals and then rewards them accordingly).
- Media Law (Media law covers an area of law which involves media, and stretches over various legal fields e.g. copyright and intellectual properties, privacy, censorship, freedom of information, and regulation. Students analyze and discuss current court decisions).
Media Exercise V
- Infographic and Visualization (Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. Students learn how to design infographics and other form of visualization of information, not only for applying this knowledge in the thesis).
- University Blog V (Students are in charge of writing posts for the university blog. They learn how to optimize a text for search engines (tagging, key word analysis etc.) and viral distribution in social networks and how to analyze and assess the quality of blog post).
- Video CV (In preparation of application for employment senior students produce a video resume. They learn aspects of ego marketing, storytelling, low budget video production, and how to act in front of a camera).
- Communication Skills (In the last practice students improve their communication skills for oral and written communication. They learn to tell about their thesis in an elevator pitch, get training for successful telephone calls, and learn active listening).
6th Semester
Thesis and Viva voce
Bildnachweis: Von Dylan Gillis [Lizenz] via unsplash.com
Von Thomas Becker
