This course will assist students in realizing the importance of public relations (PR), especially in corporate and nonprofit organizations. It will equip students with knowledge and skills in strategic thinking, planning, and communicating information based on recent strategic PR practices. Students will develop skills through hands-on practices of different PR methods and tools relevant to current business landscapes – enhancing their bandwidth of strategic approaches towards solving PR issues and act on achieving organizational goals. Students will also develop expertise in formulating PR campaigns and executing diverse strategic roles for companies in their professional lives.
Course Catalogue
Course Code: 03140122242 / MSJ2242
Course Name:
Strategic Public Relations
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
Course Code: 03140122252 / MSJ2252
Course Name:
Digital Audience
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
The advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has created new realities for the media as well as other organizations around the globe. The traditional ways of production, distribution, and consumption of contents, especially news, are constantly being reshaped- redefined. Media, as well as other organizations around the globe, now have a critical need for connecting with audiences on digital platforms to increase impact in literally everything- be it sales or community cohesion. As such, knowing the answers to the following questions has become mandatory to all media organizations: (1) Who are the people who make up digital audiences? (2) How do digital audiences behave? (3) Why is it important to research, identify, and monitor digital audiences and their engagement with your organization?
The course covers the very essence of the digital audience, exploring how community, consumer, social psychology, and theory converge on digital platforms and social networks. Through interactive discussions and case-study analyses, the course teaches how audiences differ across industries and platforms, the elements that engage or dissuade users, and how media organizations use audience data to manipulate growth strategies. The students are required to submit a case study related to digital audience in Bangladesh.
Course Code: 03140122261 / MSJ2261
Course Name:
Communication Theories and Applications to C4D
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
Through reading and participation in this course, students will develop a basic understanding of how theories fit into Communication for Development (C4D) initiatives. They will be equipped with the knowledge of theories at different levels, i. e., individual level (Health Belief Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, Stages of Change), interpersonal level (Dialogical Approaches, Diffusion of Innovation), community/social level (Social Network Theory and Social Cognitive Theory,) and national level (media theories). The students will also examine the applications of communication in development interventions. By the end of the course, the students will be able to apply theoretical constructs to the design of C4D interventions/strategies.
Course Code: 03140122262 / MSJ2262
Course Name:
C4D Planning and Process
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
Much of C4D practices is about developing programs for behavior and social change. Therefore, practitioners must be able to understand the importance of planning, implementing, and evaluating C4D programs. This course highlights the interweaving of these three program elements. It provides an overview of planning models, the role of formative research, monitoring, and impact evaluation.
Course Code: 03140123141 / MSJ3141
Course Name:
Public Relations Research
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
This course introduces students with the significance of research in Public Relations and take them through the research process – formulating the research problem, devising methodologies, collecting, and analyzing data, and presenting the findings, with a particular focus on quantitative research. This will provide students with opportunities to understand the applications of research and evaluation in real-life scenarios.
Course Code: 03140123142 / MSJ3142
Course Name:
Media Relations
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
This course helps students better understand the role and practices of media relations and messaging in organizations – public, corporate, NGOs/non-profits, etc. – in the era of new media. Students will develop/intensify skills to research on media and its people, formulate strategic media plans including new media strategies, writing contents, generate media coverage, serve as spokesperson, and handle communication during “crisis”. Alongside individual reading and writing assignments, and group projects, to provide a solid theoretical base, the course employ interactive discussions on Public Relations theories on handling media and crisis, debates and role playing on relevant issues, and invites professionals as guest lecturers to bring insights on industry practices.
Course Code: 03140123241 / MSJ3241
Course Name:
Organizational Communication
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
This course deals with the internal publics of the institution. It is designed to help students learn about the dynamics of communication within an organizational setting. It will specifically cover how an organization utilizes communication to achieve certain goals and how communication in an organization influences engagements in achieving an organization’s goals. The course will examine strategies for effective upward, downward and sideward communication to influence better performance. The course will also deal with conflicts and conflict management through internal communication.
Course Code: 03140123262 / MSJ3262
Course Name:
Health Communication
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
The meanings of health and disease are shaped not only by scientific and medical discourses, but by media, communication, and the cultures of health. This course examines how medical environments are understood and experienced, popular tactics for communicating and contesting biomedical information, the utilization of the media and communication strategies to combat diseases and promote health, and the impact of media representation and popular culture on understandings of disease and health. Readings will be drawn from a variety of genres, including epidemiology, public health, anthropology, social studies and communication studies.
By the end of the course, students will be able to gain an understanding of health communication, its different formats, application and importance, describe the manner in which different disease categories imply different social causes and consequences, examine the personal experience of disease in relation to medical care, risk, and scientific change, compare different media strategies for popularization, advocacy, and intervention in relation to public health and explain the application of communication strategies for development and empowerment among marginalized population groups.
Course Code: 03140123263 / MSJ3263
Course Name:
Emergency Communication
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
From the scope of crisis and risk communication, the course will provide knowledge on the basic concepts and nature of emergency situations (such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks, refugee crisis, terrorism, industrial accidents, displacement and similar ones) and how to respond to mass media, related stakeholders and affected people before and after an emergency situation. It explores why communication during an emergency is different and the importance of adapting emergency messages to the needs of affected populations. The course builds the capacities of practitioners to design, develop, manage and undertake an effective emergency and crisis communication campaign.
Understand the nature of emergency situations in a broader perspective. Appreciate the different methods of crisis and risk communication. Explore the use of different communicative ways to respond to mass media, related stakeholders and affected people in the wake of different disasters or emergency situations. Apply the skills learned from the case studies and real-life situations locally and internationally.
Course Code: 03140124142 / MSJ4142
Course Name:
Public Relations Campaign
Credit Hours:
3.00
Detailed Syllabus:
The course is designed to help students learn public relations campaigns, theoretically and hands-on, from beginning to end. These include identifying the problem, formulating campaign objectives, specifying the audience, formulating PR strategies, planning for implementation and designing monitoring and evaluation strategies. The course requires the students to design, execute, monitor and evaluate a public relations campaign as the professionals do, to present the experience and learning at the end of the semester. This enriches their portfolio and helps them prepare better for the industry.