Course details

Summary

Waikato's new three-year Bachelor of Business will prepare you to lead and manage a successful company or organisation in a wide range of industries. Or take the entrepreneurial route and create your own start-up business.

It will ensure you graduate with the relevant business knowledge and practical skills that today's employers are looking for.

All students will gain practical business experience in third year through a workplace internship or applied research project, where you'll have the opportunity to apply your new skills to a real-world organisation.

As a BBus student, you’ll gain valuable insights into why companies need to be agile and innovative to succeed in today's unpredictable global marketplace.

Public Relations

The world of public relations is fast-growing and exciting. Get the public relations skills you need to help an organisation build trusted relationships with its key stakeholders and enhance its public reputation.

If you enjoy writing and talking to different people, and love framing ideas in imaginative and engaging ways, then a career in Public Relations may be right for you.

Public relations practitioners plan and implement communication campaigns to influence people’s attitudes and behaviour. They are effective networkers who work closely with journalists to manage media publicity, and act as a crucial link between an organisation and its publics, such as the community, customers and corporate shareholders.

Public Relations professionals are also involved with crisis and issues management, government relations, lobbying, events, sponsorship and fundraising, and employee relations.

Practical, hands-on learning

The assignments for this subject are highly practical. You’ll plan and deliver an innovative public relations campaign for a real client, take part in a mock media conference, build a website, use social media, create a range of advertisements, and write media releases for print, broadcast and online media. You'll also learn how to organise events, prepare corporate documents and deliver professional speeches.

Our students enjoy visits from a wide range of professional guest speakers in class, who will share their insights about what it's like working in the public relations industry.

If you choose to major in Public Relations for your degree, you'll take the exciting core papers Health Communication Campaigns, where you'll compete against other teams to develop a real-life campaign on behalf of a not-for-profit organisation. You'll then present your campaign results to a panel of experts to demonstrate your knowledge of effective public relations strategies.

Career opportunities

• Public relations manager
• Public relations account executive
• Communications advisor
• Internal communications manager
• Media relations adviser
• Event manager
• Community relations manager
• Sponsorship/fundraising manager
• Press secretary

2nd Major subjects

This degree also offers the flexibility to take a 2nd major in any of the other 8 major subjects listed below, or almost any other undergraduate subject offered at the University of Waikato.

If you choose to do a double major for your degree, you will need to complete eight papers (120 points) in each of those subjects.

If you prefer to focus on a single major, you will need to complete nine papers (135 points) in that subject.

• Accounting
• Digital Business
• Economics
• Finance
• Human Resource Management
• Marketing
• Strategic Management
• Tourism and Hospitality Management

Entry criteria

You're eligible to apply for the Bachelor of Business if you have University Entrance, or its equivalent. All other applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

University Entrance means: From 2015 - (i) NCEA Level 3, (ii) a minimum of 14 credits at Level 3 or higher on the National Qualifications Framework, in each of three approved subjects, and (iii) the numeracy requirements of a minimum of 10 credits at Level 1 or higher on the National Qualifications Framework, made up of achievement standards and/or unit standards specified by NZQA, and (iv) the literacy requirement of a minimum of 10 credits at Level 2 or higher on the National Qualifications Framework, made up of: (a) 5 credits in reading , and (b) 5 credits in writing from a list specified by NZQA.

English language requirements:

IELTS (Academic) - 6.0 overall (no band less than 6.0); iBT (internet based) TOEFL - 79-80 with a score of 20 in writing; Pearson PTE Academic - 57 with no less than 57 for each communicative skill; Waikato Pathways - Successful completion of Level 7 with a B grade average in the Certificate of Attainment in Academic English (CAAE) program.