Strategic Communication Programme in Nigerian Universities

The  the National Universities Commission (NUC) has approved the addition of a new department to the School of Media and Communication Studies, bringing the total of new programmes to eight. This is part of the unbundling of Mass Communication programme in Nigeria.

The new programme is Strategic Communication. There will now be department of Strategic Communication in addition to other seven departments – Advertising, Public Relations, Broadcasting, Film and Multi-Media Studies, Journalism and Media Studies, Information and Media Studies, and Development Communication. So what is this new programme all about?

About Strategic Communication

The strategic communication incorporates courses which train students on persuasive and information techniques. This programme prepares students for an evolving world. It deals with diverse professional fields such as advertising, public relations, media planning, brand strategy, digital marketing, social media management and creative production. This includes packaging political, health, and public communication strategies aimed at achieving strategic purposes.

Strategic Communication basically exposes students to ways in which organizations communicate in order to accomplish a goal. Students learn how corporations, non-profit agencies and government agencies communicate effectively with employees, publics and other audiences.

Students also learn about communication practices within and between organizations including: knowledge management, negotiation, team problem-solving, leadership, inter-organizational relationships, and persuasive communication in sales and marketing. This is a specialized programme that emphasizes specific aspects of public communication, including advertising, persuasion, corporate identity, image repair, and public relations advocacy.

Strategic communication programme takes students across the professional practice areas of mass communication and in widely applicable skills such as data analysis and visualization. Students will be exposed to foundational courses in media production, principles and practice of strategic communication. They will acquire skills required in creating long-term communication campaign for a client, dynamics of strategic research, creative message development, media planning, and public relations, promotions, social media marketing skills, digital media strategies, and account and media planning. Students will also learn multimedia design, sports communication, and magazine publishing which will expand their opportunity base to fit into careers in any number of areas. Strategic communication is unique especially for providing students with opportunity to understand why communication decisions are made, how to produce media in multiple forms, and potential impact of contents. At the end of the programme students would have learnt how to create a plan for managing earned and paid social media influence for a real business from start to finish.

Where you can work

Strategic communication prepares you for exciting careers in diverse fields among which are as follows; advertising, public relations and digital agencies; in-house communication departments at corporations and nonprofit organizations; higher education; government agencies and bureaus; hospitals and other health care organizations; financial organizations; legislative offices; political campaigns; trade shows and associations; special event organizations; professional associations; the media industry (web properties, social media sites, TV networks, magazines, radio networks); or any other organizations with creative, marketing or media departments. You are exposed to content creation skills that can give you a thriving career in any online platform, creating content or messages using video or audio. You can also create content for a corporate websites either as a private individual or engaged by top firms across the globe.