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85% of graduates are employed within six months of graduation. These graduates are employed across 20 different industry categories with more than 280 different job titles.
Find out more about entry requirements, fees and courses in the planning section.
Combine your love of words and creativity with the study of business to become a highly-employable communication specialist.
Massey’s Bachelor of Communication (BC) builds the skills you need to make an outstanding contribution in whatever field of communication interests you. This workplace-relevant three-year degree is unique in New Zealand. You’ll join our graduates with exciting careers around the world.
The world needs communicators. It needs people who have the creativity and imagination to develop content that will inspire and connect people, and the logic, analysis and language skills to deliver that content in a strategic and meaningful way. Massey University’s BC will give you these skills.
In 2016 the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing / Te Pou Aro Korero won coveted accreditation from the US-based Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, for the four majors of Journalism, Marketing Communication, Public Relations, and Communication Management. This makes the Bachelor of Communication the only degree outside the Americas and the Middle East to hold this accreditation. It is also the world’s only accredited three-year bachelor degree.
Massey University’s business and management studies ranks in the top 250, and its communication and media studies ranks in the top 150 world-wide (by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) rankings). We are ranked No.1 in New Zealand and in the top 150 in the world for our business administration and communication programmes by ShanghaiRanking.
These accreditations mean that your degree is internationally-recognised, making it easier to arrange a student exchange and find employment overseas.
Your choices are not restricted – every field uses communication specialists, from healthcare to education to aviation to high-end fashion or the arts, and your expertise is transferable – Massey’s BC makes sure you come out well rounded and flexible. Massey Bachelor of Communication graduates have had outstanding employment success.
Massey University will teach you skills in using up-to-date technology, and you will have the opportunity to obtain deep insights into the communication industries. Massey opens the door for you to become a communication entrepreneur who understands how to develop new business models and can offer thought leadership in this rapidly evolving area of professional work.
The Bachelor of Communication offers you many opportunities to apply your learning to real-world problems.
You’ll produce strategies, media and publications that apply your communication learning.
These can include marketing strategies for community groups, social media content, documentary films, scripts for theatre, media or film, performances and speeches, depending on what courses you choose from a wide range.
Massey offers a range of experiential learning opportunities in communication, including a communication internship course for BC students with good grades. This internship course allows you to work for a company while you study, network with future employers and gain invaluable real-world experience. You could intern in inspiring organisations like NZ Red Cross, UNICEF, or Forest & Bird, in leading PR agencies or for news media like the New Zealand Herald or Radio New Zealand.
If you are majoring in a creative area, you can also gain hands-on experience through the course ‘Creativity in the Community’, which teaches you to respond to a real-world challenge in a team. Previous students have tackled issues including sustainability and youth justice with powerful creative projects that incorporated poetry, film and theatre.
In your first year, you complete a core of set courses as part of your degree. The first year core means you get to meet other BC students as a group and form an overview of all parts of communication before you specialise. At the start of your second year you choose the area you are most interested in (your major). You also choose a second field of interest (your minor) and from a huge range of optional (elective) courses.
Massey’s Bachelor of Communication is the only communication degree in New Zealand that requires you to take courses from both business and arts. Your degree will be made up of a major from one discipline and a minor from another.
This gives you variety in your study, which means you’ll graduate not just with a degree, but as a well-rounded, innovative communication specialist who is sought-after by employers. In our survey of past graduates, 84% believed that their BC studies were relevant to their present work.
You’ll gain from the experience of the University and our internationally renowned staff. Massey has the oldest journalism school in New Zealand. Our teachers in the Bachelor of Communication expressive arts courses (theatre, creative writing and media production) have won five national teaching awards.
You’ll study both business and humanities subjects. You’ll probably discover that neither is what you expected and you love most a subject you didn’t think you would!
Compare qualifications and academic information across different New Zealand institutions.
“Communication is basically how this world turns. This degree allows you to understand how much more there is to communication than you ever imagined. Come into it with an open mind and you’ll find yourself understanding more about yourself and the world around you…”
I chose to do a Bachelor of Communication because of my love for people – I love hearing people’s life stories! Being able to see different perspectives through conversation is amazing. I really want to further my understanding of communication between people. That was a big part of my decision and why this degree has been a perfect fit.
A Bachelor of Communication opens up so many options and I know I’ll go through a lot of career changes in the future. That’s why I’m not really worried about the actual job I’ll have when I finish this degree – I just want something that makes me happy. I want to learn new things, gain real-life experience and take the opportunities as they come, which I’m sure they will.
I thought Massey offered more opportunities than anywhere else. Within the classes, they definitely give you a taste of what the real world is like through practical exercises. I applied for, and received, a Massey Business School Future Leaders Scholarship, and being part of the Business Future Leaders Programme has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had at university.
I’ve learnt so much, but a key thing is critical thinking. Allowing others to criticise your work and vice versa can be scary, but it’s a crucial skill to have in any field of work. I’ve found that healthy, constructive criticism really helps you grow as a person.
Communication is basically how this world turns. This degree allows you to understand how much more there is to communication than you ever imagined. Come into it with an open mind and you’ll find yourself understanding more about yourself and the world around you.
Communication roles have grown hugely in the last few years - to a point where they are recognised by most companies as highly strategic and at the heart of a successful business. This rapidly expanding area of professional work features a wide variety of jobs and exciting opportunities.
The Bachelor of Communication (BC) prepares you for numerous emerging and current occupations, across almost all industries - the world is truly your oyster!
Depending on your major and interests you could move into any one of the following areas:
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