Course details

Summary

One of the fastest-growing areas in business today

Your study of public relations delivers knowledge and skills that are in increasing demand - public relations is one of the fastest-growing specialist areas in business. The Massey Bachelor of Communication (Public Relations) will build the skills you need for a successful career in public relations. You will develop your interpersonal and inter-group communication abilities, strategic thinking and planning capabilities, writing, and research and information processing skills.

You’ll learn how to help organizations to communicate in persuasive and ethical ways with their staff, customers, regulators, communities, investors, and society. Public relations practitioners organize events, write and edit media releases plus online and print newsletters and publications, develop strategic public relations plans, and get great results via new media.

International recognition

Massey Business School is ranked in the top 2% of business schools globally. Massey’s communication programmes are only the seventh outside of the US to be recognised by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC). This prestigious accreditation recognises Massey's "good connections with industry, its commitment to constant improvement, its strong leadership, and large research output".

Accreditation means your degree is internationally recognised, making it easier to arrange a student exchange and find employment overseas

Leading the way

Massey University was New Zealand’s first institution to offer university-level courses in Public Relations, so you’ll be able to take advantage of our vast knowledge and experience in teaching this discipline.

Careers

Your Massey PR education equips you with a sound grasp of the classic PR disciplines, and the BC structure enables you to complement this with areas such as creative communication – a potentially winning combination in the contemporary job market, where employers increasingly value creativity and adaptability. The internship course offers you the opportunity to gain real life PR experience as part of your studies, and our students are highly rated by internship hosts ranging from local councils to creative consultancies.

Enterprises across the spectrum of private sector, government, and not-for-profits now grasp the importance of public relations.

Surveys show BC graduates consistently enjoy high rates of employability, across a wide range of industry categories. Job titles include communication coordinator, consultant, content and social media specialist, project manager and advisor.

Public relations practitioners love how every working day is different, busy and challenging, drawing on and further building their creativity and showing them how to make a real difference in their organisations and communities.

Major requirements: A major consists of 120 credits in Public Relations, including 60 credits at 200-level and 60 credits at 300-level.

Entry criteria

Students must have successful completion of a qualification equivalent to the New Zealand Year 13 - NCEA Level 3 University Entrance.

Those who have completed 3 x B at level 5 or 6 passes in the New Zealand Diploma of Business may apply for entry into a Bachelor's programme. An NZQA transcript as formal evidence of the NZDipBus results is required before credit will be assessed and only papers with a minimum grade of B will be assessed for credit. The English language requirements can be met by: A minimum IELTS 5.5 (or equivalent) used to gain entry to the NZDipBus or, a recent IELTS 6.0 with no band score less than 5.5.

English Language Requirements:

• IELTS score of 6.0 (no band less than 5.5)
• TOEFL iBT score of 80 overall (min 19 in Writing)
• PTE Academic score of 50 Overall (min 42 in communicative skills)
• Cambridge English score of 170