Postgraduate

COMS408
Communication Ethics
Description
This course provides students with some ethical tools to reflect on professional communication practice and their own goals and values. The course covers professional ethics frameworks, theories of dialogue and engagement with others, the use of postcolonial ethics to reflect on partnership between te ao Maori and te ao Pakeha and development of personal values. The course has a flipped classroom model, where students reflect on cases, before discussion in class.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Subject to approval of the Head of Department.
Restrictions
COMS422, PHIL469
COMS420
Public Diplomacy
Description
Public diplomacy relates to efforts by state and non-state actors to influence public opinion in other countries. With the growth of soft power and new media and information technologies, public diplomacy is of growing importance in international relations. This course reviews the emerging theoretical literature on public diplomacy and a number of case studies on how different states and multilateral organisations have used public diplomacy in recent years to improve their international image. This is not a distance course. This course includes group work and has a strongly practical focus -- cooperation with diplomats and international relations practitioners -- that requires active in-class engagement. This course teaches a number of the core skills that communicators working in the international context at home and abroad will need. It features diplomats and internationally-recognised leading experts of public diplomacy as our guest speakers.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Subject to approval of the Programme Coordinator.
Restrictions
DIPL430, POLS430
PACE495
Professional and Community Engagement Internship
Description
A professional internship placement.
Occurrences
Approved Start 2025
Semester One 2025
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Special application and interview, and permission of the Internship Director.
Restrictions
ARTS495

Not Offered Courses in 2025

Postgraduate

COMS401
Media Research
Description
In COMS401 you will learn how to carry out research in Media and communication fields. This includes the major research methods used in media research for academic, public and commercial purposes. You will learn the purpose and role of different media research methods, ethical practices, Kaupapa Maori practice, and how research relates to different communities. In class and in assessments we will approach media research as a collaborative process, engaging with a collectively agreed research topic.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2019
For further information see COMS401 course details
Points
30 points
COMS407
Communicating Through Independent Media
Description
The course aims to equip students with an understanding of independent media within democracies. It provides students with the critical skills to analyse the economics of mainstream media and the impact of independent media on government policy, mainstream media, and social change.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2018 , 2019
For further information see COMS407 course details
Points
30 points