Communication Studies ***

*** Only available as a major if a student exits after three years.

This specialisation, which can be taken only as a major, is designed for developing independent-thinking, creative, effective and responsible professionals in the field of communication. It combines learning of management and business skills along with creative and technical skills, which is required to work in the real world, and understanding of basic concepts in sub-disciplines of communications management to develop a broad perspective.

The major is inter-disciplinary and borrows from four broad areas, namely, Film and Television, Advertising and Branding, Digital Marketing and Communications, and Journalism. It will be of interest to that student who seeks a broad but also deeper knowledge across multiple functional areas in the field. This can be achieved by taking advanced and technical courses across the disciplines that constitutes the communication field. Basic courses in People management, accounting, communication theory, operations, and economics prepare the student with the necessary management skills. This has to be supplemented with advanced courses, primarily in the areas of Advertising and Branding and Digital Marketing, along with courses in Film and Television Management and Journalism for in depth knowledge. The goal of the specialisation is to create professionals who are conversant with the creative, technical and theoretical aspects of the wide domain of communication studies.

SPECIALIZATION AIMS

The Communication Studies Major intends to:

• Provide students with an understanding of concepts and processes in the field of Communication
• Impart skills required for effective communication using different media
• Provide overall management and business skills required to work in the real world
• Expose students to multiple functional areas in communications for an inter-disciplinary perspective
• Offer an exposure to theoretical, technical and creative aspects that inform the various sub-disciplines of the communications area
• Create a learning environment that supports over all personal growth
• Enable the students to pursue advanced studies across multiple areas

SPECIALIZATION OUTCOMES

After successful completion of the Major, the student will be able to:

• Demonstrate basic knowledge of Advertising, Branding, films, finance, management, and marketing in application of concepts and theories. 
• Integrate the concepts of the core areas of business of communication and apply it in various contexts.
• Understand the importance of the ethics in business activities.
• Demonstrate an ability to conduct research related to general business and communication area.
• Deeper understanding of issues that fall under some or all areas of Advertising and Branding, Digital Marketing, and Film and Television.
• Holistic interdisciplinary understanding of various disciplines to address issues and solve problems

COURSES (CORE AND ELECTIVE)

MAJOR COURSES

Communication theory

The 20th century has been the century of mass communication systems. Cinema, radio, television and now the internet have fundamentally transformed the way in which human societies communicate. However, media is routinely treated as something non-serious or simply ‘entertainment’ or at worst, devious. These positions need to be examined more critically. To understand the way the world works today, it is very crucial to undertake a deeper study of the structures, paradigms and institutions of communication. The course aims to explain the development of media theories and how they link with historically important social and political events/issues. It seeks to acquaint students with the nature of communication processes; to develop a critical understanding of the strengths and limitations of basic theories of mass communication and the ability to apply those theories in research and everyday lives.

Principles of management

This course provides an overview of the key domains of the field of management. It enables them to develop a holistic understanding of the functions involved in developing and managing organizations and prepares them for deeper exploration of the management domain in future.

Introduction to digital marketing

An introductory course for students to the domain of Digital Marketing. Modern day marketing depends in a big way on digital technologies to achieve strategic marketing objectives. While digital space provides for entering into entire transaction of purchase for most products and services, the digital medium offer a huge opportunity for easy, all time and cost effective means to remaining in touch with the customer. Evolution of technology has made it possible to design and deliver customized communication to the customers and this becomes a handy economical tool to bridge the communication gap. Students shall be exposed to major platforms and options for designing and delivering marketing communications to customers.

Introduction to advertising

The objective of this course is to provide students with a fundamental understanding of advertising and its role in business, branding, and society. An introductory course, it will prepare students for further study in both basic and specialized areas of advertising and commercial communication. This course is designed as an introductory course to the domain of Advertising and Brand Management highlighting the importance of advertising in influencing consumer behavior in favour of the brand being advertised. Advertising as a discipline has come a long way and the addition of many new media options has offered a scope for innovation unimagined before a decade. This course will inform students on the scope and opportunities in the field of Advertising and Branding and help them understand nuances of intelligent marketing communications.

Introduction to journalism

Print Journalism is considered to be the mother of Electronic and online journalism. Knowledge of newspaper journalism will, therefore, help the students understand various aspects of media practices and allied disciplines of communication and management.

Film appreciation

This course introduces students to basic terminologies of film form and approaches to film analysis. Film references are drawn from a variety of historical time periods, film movements and genres, spanning the birth of cinema through to its contemporary avatars. Emphasis is placed on film form and style, but we will also study notions of spectatorship and cinema’s role in reinforcing and dislodging conventional wisdom around, for example, race and gender. Students will gain appreciation of the unique sensorium that is cinema, and its transformation of the art of storytelling.

Marketing and advertising

The course focuses on various marketing strategies, including marketing mix, strategies, segmentation, targeting, positioning and explores how those strategies contribute to the company’s competitive advantage in the marketplace. The curriculum provides students with managerial guides on the management of the marketing function and role of various stakeholders in the business environment and their effect on the marketing function. The course also introduces different marketing functions and teaches the critical analysis of functions of marketing opportunity assessment, marketing planning, marketing implementation, evaluation and control of the marketing effort. The course provides the student with a necessary mix of analysis, application of concepts and techniques, and the role of communication in the larger strategy of the brand.

Communication research

The Course will serve as an introduction to basic research in the Communication discipline. It will introduce students to the broad disciplinary contours of Communication. The course will equip students with basic research skills like doing a literature review, creating a research design, preparing research questions, designing surveys and acquaint them with software tools used for data analysis. They will also be sensitized with the ethical dilemmas of research.

Financial management for communications

Finance as a discipline cuts across disciplines and functional areas and this subject introduces the ‘Communication’ student to Finance. The subject covers the basic Finance topics and these include financial statement analysis, time value of money, cost of capital, capital budgeting and working capital management.

Digital marketing and communications

This course aims to outline the growth in digital marketing and how it is disrupting the overall marketing landscape across various brands and companies. Students shall be exposed to major platforms and options for designing and delivering marketing communications to customers. Evolution of digital technology has made it possible to design and deliver customized communication to the customers and this makes digital marketing an extremely efficient method to communicate.

Introduction to screen studies

In a rapidly evolving media scenario where technological changes and their corresponding narrative demands are in a state of flux, students are encouraged to think in terms of ‘screen studies’ that insists on the commonality of the physical screen. This allows one to develop a broader vision through which to conceptualise changes while also learning about the abiding principles of storytelling in the audiovisual medium in our attempt to understand why certain stories captivate us and others do not. We establish connections between cinema/ TV/internet content and social-political developments around us. In the course, we thus look beyond the screen and try to understand the deeper concerns that they articulate, often unselfconsciously, about Indian modernity, about our relationship with an extensive inherited tradition of ‘classical’ texts and popular culture, about gender, class and contemporary social issues such as nationalism, history and our search for cultural identity.

Managing people and performance

This course is an introduction to organizational behaviour and human resource management. It discusses behaviour in organizations at individual, group & organizational levels. It also enables students to understand the application of different tools and practices in directing individual actions towards organizational objectives. The course also familiarizes students with the fundamental concepts and standards of performance management and compensation.

Media operations management

The course provides students with detailed insight into the structures, management, processes, economics of media industries in India and its standing in the world. The course will be valuable as a part of career preparation for students interested in working in broadcasting and related industries such as advertising, media sales, and public relations. For students with other career interests, this course will provide a firm foundation for understanding how the electronic media industries operate. The course also offers an understanding of the entire value chain of the media ecosystem and understand how media buying and selling happens. Students understand the business models of different mediums and the various factors influencing each one. This course describes how media distribution, research, and consumption, and media measurement.