Undergraduate - Area of study Public relations

Students who commenced study in 2013 should refer to this area of study entry for direction on the requirments; to check which units are currently available for enrolment, refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your area of study.

print version

This area of study entry applies to students commencing this course in 2013 and should be read in conjunction with the relevant course entry in the Handbook. Any units listed for this area of study relate only to the 'Requirements' outlined in the Faculty of Arts component of any bachelors double degrees.

Managing faculty	Faculty of Arts
Offered by	School of Applied Media and Social Sciences
Campus(es)	Berwick, Gippsland

Notes

Unit codes that are not linked to their entry in the Handbook are not available for study in the current year.
The major is only available in the Bachelor of Professional Communication, Bachelor of Arts (Professional Communication)and the Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences. Graduates from these courses who complete the major in public relations have an accelerated path to professional membership of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA). Also available via off-campus learning.

Description

The public relations (PR) industry is diverse and constantly changing. Public relations professionals are actively engaged in corporate, government and not-for-profit organisations are always in search of public relations professionals taking a lead role in strategic communication management and in engaging with communities that organisations serve. PR graduates can expect to find employment in local, state and federal government, in corporations, in industries that focus on sustainability and climate change, in consulting for clients, in community programs and in a range of not-for-profit organisations.

The public relations practitioner performs many different roles, as advocate, counsel, client facilitator, leader and community connector, or as a crisis and issues communication manager. To succeed practitioners need to be aware of the industry trends and developments, and be attuned to needs of their target audiences. The skills important for public relations are: effective and meaningful writing, critical thinking, active listening, and social perceptiveness, networking skills, relationship management skills that build trust and values-based communication with stakeholders, shareholders and the public.

At Monash, public relations is designed to prepare students with the relevant and necessary skills for the profession. Students understand the theory and practice of the profession and what is important to public relations professionalism, they will critically analyse case studies, and learn practical skills such as pitching for clients and utilising social media to engage with organisations. Monash graduates have been successful as in-house and internal communication managers, public relations consultants, media relations specialists, public affairs managers, political communication specialists, crisis and issue specialists. They have gained employment in the non-business sectors in healthcare, finance, information technology, community and government. Organisations value public relations as the profession is important to their reputations and to their sustainability and development.

Public relations is primarily about building and maintaining relationships for the mutual benefit of those involved. Students will be introduced to the challenging and rewarding work of building organisation-public relationships as organisations adapt to the constantly changing needs of their communities, and as they focus on the global and intercultural context of their communication management activities.

Units

First-year level

Students studying a sequence in public relations must complete the following two units (12 points):

ATS1356 Public relations writing
ATS1897 Public relations theory, principles and practice

Note: For students who completed first year public relations at Gippsland prior to 2011, the units PRL1001 and PRL1002 can replace ATS1356 and ATS1897 as the first year sequence.

Second/Third-year level

Students studying a minor or major in public relations must have completed the first-year sequence. In addition:

a minor requires completion of a further two units (12 points) from the units listed below
a major requires completion of all six units (36 points) listed below

Units include:

ATS2814 Engagement, publicity and promotion
ATS2815 Crisis and risk communication
ATS2918 Social media and online public relations
ATS3837 Internal-external communication and reputation management
ATS3838 Public relations campaigns
ATS3059 Applied media and social sciences internship

Relevant courses

Diplomas

2552 Diploma of Tertiary Studies

Bachelors

Single degrees

0002 Bachelor of Arts
3914 Bachelor of Arts (Criminal Justice)
3907 Bachelor of Arts (English Language)
3910 Bachelor of Arts (Global)
4077 Bachelor of Arts (International)
1366 Bachelor of Arts (Languages)
1708 Bachelor of Arts (Professional Communication)
1712 Bachelor of Arts (Psychology)
3920 Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences)
1638 Bachelor of Arts Scholars Program
4073 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences
1719 Bachelor of Behavioural Science
2476 Bachelor of Communication
1731 Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling
4042 Bachelor of Journalism
0202 Bachelor of Letters
1144 Bachelor of Performing Arts
1275 Bachelor of Professional Communication
4086 Bachelor of Social Science

Double degrees

3277 Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering and Bachelor of Arts
4098 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business
0550 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business (Accounting)
0553 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance)
0555 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business (Management)
0556 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business (Marketing)
0542 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce
0170 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Economics
1541 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education (Primary)
1641 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education (Secondary)
0080 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws
3054 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music
0530 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science
3426 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Social Work
0002 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology
3779 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Visual Arts
4097 Bachelor of Arts Scholars Program and Bachelor of Commerce Scholars Program
1807 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences and Bachelor of Business and Commerce
1806 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences and Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling
4208 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences and Bachelor of Education
4089 Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences and Bachelor of Visual and Media Arts
4403 Bachelor of Arts (Global) and Bachelor of Commerce
3537 Bachelor of Arts (Global) and Bachelor of Science
1798 Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) and Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling
1941 Bachelor of Business and Commerce and Bachelor of Communication
4075 Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling and Diploma of Community Services (Alcohol, Other Drugs and Mental Health)
4076 Bachelor of Community Welfare and Counselling and Diploma of Disability
0116 Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Arts
4616 Bachelor of Environmental Engineering and Bachelor of Arts
4426 Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Business
4425 Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Commerce
4069 Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Science
3281 Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering and Bachelor of Arts