The aim of the Bachelors Degree study program in Communications and Mass Media is to assist students to become highly skilled, versatile, independent thinkers with the research experience, information literacy, communication and interpersonal skills necessary for an advanced professional career, or further academic study at the Master's or PhD level. The program facilitates creative interdisciplinary links between the disciplines studied to develop broadly educated individuals who are able to apply their knowledge, skills and attitudes creatively and flexibly in a broad cultural and social context. This degree is awarded by Empire State College, State University of New York. Students have the option of sitting for State Examinations upon the completion of their degree program, and by successfully passing the exams are awarded both the American degree from Empire State College (B.A.), and also a bachelor's degree from UNYP (Bc.). This is due to the fact that the program is also fully accredited by the Czech Ministry of Education, making it a double degree program.
The major focuses on the examining and understanding of the dynamics of communication in language, media and culture both within theoretical and practical frameworks. The interdisciplinary program was developed in response to the recognized societal need for graduates who understand the processes, effects, and cultural implications of communication in the Information Age.
Graduates from the program will be able to use their theoretical, research, and applied skills, and in most cases internship experience and/or project work to continue developing as creative, lateral-thinking problem solvers in the global market place. Former students can be found in graduate programs in Australia, the United States as well as in Great Britain and other states in the European Union. Those who chose the route of a professional career can be found working in major newspapers, television and radio stations in the Czech Republic, as well as in the fields of advertising, public relations, marketing, and human resources.
The program involves the analysis of a range of communicative and cultural practices and the ways in which individuals and groups use and react to them. The ways in which identity is constructed and articulated and the means by which differences are signaled is examined, as well as the complexity of relationships existing between communication, information and power. The structures, forms and effects of the communicative activities of, for example, language, film and photography are also studied.
The course emphasizes the development of communication skills through standard modules in organizational and interpersonal communication, as well as professional modules in media writing for different fields such as print and broadcast journalism or public relations and advertising. Through field and project work, as well as in lectures, seminars and studio work, students gain skills that are transferable and applicable to a variety of professional work settings.
The emphasis on professional application is further reflected in areas of concentration within the major. In the third year of study, students have the opportunity to choose and study a number of courses in three main areas that emphasize the development of practical skills: 1) Media Writing and 2) Public Relations and 3) Advertising. These areas serve to combine the theoretical with the applied, and provide students with solid professional grounding in professional theory and practice, thereby preparing them for the workplace.
A few examples of courses required in the major:
