Regulations for The Postgraduate Diploma in Communication - PGDipC

Official rules and regulations for the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication. These regulations are for the 2025 intake to this qualification.

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Qualification Regulations

Part I

These regulations are to be read in conjunction with all other Statutes and Regulations of the University including General Regulations for Postgraduate Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas, and Postgraduate Certificates.

Part II

Admission

1. Admission to the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication requires that the candidate will:

(a) meet the University admission requirements as specified; and

(b) shall have been awarded or qualified for a university Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent qualification in a field related to the study of communication and have achieved a B grade average over the 300-level courses; and

(c) have achieved an IELTS of 7 with no band less than 6.5 within the preceding five years, if English is not the applicant’s first language and the qualifying degree was not completed at a University where English was the medium of instruction.

Qualification requirements

2. Candidates for the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication shall follow a flexible programme of study, which shall consist of courses totalling at least 120 credits at 700 level, including:

(a) the core courses listed in Schedule A to the Qualification;

(b) a minima of 30 credits from Schedule B to the Qualification;

(c) a maxima of 30 credits from Schedule C to the Qualification;

(d) attending field trips, Contact Workshops, studios, workshops, tutorials and laboratories as required.

Specialisations

3. The Postgraduate Diploma in Communication is awarded without specialisation.

Completion requirements

4. The timeframes for completion as outlined in the General Regulations Postgraduate Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas, and Postgraduate Certificates will apply.

5. Candidates may be graduated when they meet the Admission, Qualification and Academic requirements within the prescribed timeframes; candidates who do not meet the requirements for graduation may, subject to the approval of Academic Board, be awarded the Postgraduate Certificate in Arts or the Postgraduate Certificate in Business should they meet the relevant qualification requirements.

Unsatisfactory academic progress

6. The general Unsatisfactory Academic Progress regulations will apply.

Schedule for the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication

Course planning key

Prerequisites
Courses that need to be completed before moving onto a course at the next level. For example, a lot of 200-level courses have 100-level prerequisite courses.
Corequisites
Courses that must be completed at the same time as another course are known as corequisite courses.
Restrictions
Some courses are restricted against each other because their content is similar. This means you can only choose one of the offered courses to study and credit to your qualification.
Key terms for course planning
Courses
Each qualification has its own specific set of courses. Some universities call these papers. You enrol in courses after you get accepted into Massey.
Course code
Each course is numbered using 6 digits. The fourth number shows the level of the course. For example, in course 219206, the fourth number is a 2, so it is a 200-level course (usually studied in the second year of full-time study).
Credits
Each course is worth a number of credits. You combine courses (credits) to meet the total number of credits needed for your qualification.
Specialisations
Some qualifications let you choose what subject you'd like to specialise in. Your major or endorsement is what you will take the majority of your courses in.

Schedule A: Core courses (Choose 60 credits from)

Choose 60 credits from
Course code: 154721 The Communication Field 30 credits

This course provides an advanced-level overview of the communication discipline, its history, key concepts, competing traditions, and noted scholars. Critical, creative and organisational theories and concepts from a broad communication studies body of knowledge are historicised, compared, and critically evaluated. Throughout the course, communication knowledge is applied to illuminate communication questions from media, industry and society.

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Course code: 219721 Transdisciplinary Communication Research Methods 30 credits

An advanced introduction to selected communication research traditions and methods. Transdisciplinary competency in applied communication research is developed through the evaluation and application of different methodologies to communication research challenges.

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Schedule B: Communication courses (Choose no more than 60 credits from)

Choose no more than 60 credits from
Course code: 139749 Writing Science 30 credits

An in-depth exploration of the practical skills needed to write for disciplinary academic and/or public audiences. Particular emphasis will be placed on the rhetorical context of science, audience analysis, literacy expertise, reading science, and narrative use of data and analogies when writing in a public or professional context. Students may focus their assignments on writing for disciplinary and/or public audiences.

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Course code: 139763 Community Theatre 30 credits

What role does theatre have in the community? Is there a valid place for community theatre in a secular society? If so, what stories need to be told through theatre? How might we tell them? The exploration of these questions will involve, initially, the examination of a range of historical and contemporary models of community theatre. Students will then engage in exploratory workshops, in community research, writing, rehearsals and theatrical performance.

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Course code: 139764 Theatre for Innovation and Communication 30 credits

An advanced, practical exploration of theatrical improvisation techniques in relation to enhancing creativity, innovation, leadership, teamwork, and communication performance, with an emphasis on the application of theatrical techniques to communication and innovation challenges.

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Course code: 139765 Creative Writing Workshop 30 credits

An advanced study and practice of creative writing in its myriad contemporary forms.

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Course code: 154702 Advanced Film Studies 30 credits

This course engages students with a variety of critical and theoretical approaches to cinema, mapping their development across history and examining their usefulness in understanding the social, cultural, economic, political and aesthetic significance of film.

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Course code: 154708 Modern Fiction, Popular Culture and the Media 30 credits

An examination of major developments in approaches to fiction in the twentieth century, focusing on modern and postmodern trends, and on how these have impacted on the rise and alleged decline of distinctions between elite art and popular culture. Texts for analysis are selected from both literature and film and include examples of canonical as well as popular fiction.

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Course code: 154709 Technology and Cultural Change 30 credits

This course examines the role of technology in producing and transforming contemporary culture. Through the investigation of key theorists, particular attention is given to the pivotal role technology plays in shaping space, time, and experience.

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Course code: 154747 Media Practice and Global Culture 30 credits

This course examines the critical context of contemporary media practice, exploring how media texts, technologies, and institutions respond to and produce processes of globalisation. Students will focus on the use of digital and mobile media technologies, and consciously negotiate decisions regarding the cultural, social, political, economic, ethical and environmental implications of their own media production, distribution and consumption.

Prerequisites: 154204 or 154224 or 154304

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Course code: 156758 Marketing for Social Change 30 credits

A detailed study of the social marketing approach used to develop activities aimed at changing or maintaining people's behaviour for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole. The course examines questions about marketing and society; these issues include a consideration of how ‘socially desirable’ behaviours are marketed; how regulations affect marketing decision making; and how ethical issues can influence marketing decisions.

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Course code: 172712 Multimodal Discourse Analysis 30 credits

This course examines communication as a multimodal phenomenon, assessing space and time as key variables in the production of written and spoken utterances.

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Course code: 172713 Language and Communication in Late Modernity 30 credits

This course examines the linguistic construction of some key themes that have emerged in late modernity such as globalising panic, emotions and the imperative to feel, the discursive construction of the body, discourse and the late modernity.

Prerequisites: A Bachelor of Communication or close equivalent, with at least 15 credits in Linguistics at 300 level

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Course code: 219702 Management Communication 30 credits

This course examines the management of internal communication processes within organisations.

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Course code: 219703 Perspectives in Business Communication 30 credits

An exploration of the theory and practice of workplace communication in diverse organisational settings. Theory is linked to practice through the analysis of contemporary case studies.

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Course code: 219704 International and Intercultural Communication 30 credits

This course uses communication theory and research to explore ways of developing cross-cultural effectiveness, with an emphasis on communication in organisational settings.

Restrictions: 219304

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Schedule C: Elective courses (Choose no more than 30 credits from)

Choose no more than 30 credits from
Course code: 114702 Human Resource Management and Workplace Relations 30 credits

This course introduces the area of Human Resource Management and Workplace Relations. Specifically, the focus of the course is on the principles and practices associated with organisational behaviour, employment relations, human resources management and development.

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Course code: 130705 Emergency Management 30 credits

An examination of the social, psychological, community and organisational aspects of disaster management in New Zealand. Emphasis is on the development and implementation of an all-hazards, comprehensive and integrated approach to emergency management. Selected readings and case studies will be used to facilitate the development of an effective response to social, psychological, community and organisational issues.

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Course code: 150701 Tino Rangatiratanga: Strategic Māori Development 30 credits

Strategies for Māori advancement are examined within a Māori development framework. Barriers to development and the facilitation of positive development are explored using criteria relevant to indigenous self-determination. There is a focus on land, fisheries, social policy, health, Treaty settlements and opportunities for positive development.

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Course code: 200761 International Relations: Theory and Practice 30 credits

An exploration of the theory and practice of international relations.

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Course code: 230701 Evaluation: Theory and Principles 30 credits

An advanced examination of the context, theories, and principles of evaluation research, and what it means to undertake evaluative activity in a range of social sector settings.

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