Strategic Communication MSc at University of Liverpool

Business firms, public institutions and non-profit organisations operate today in an increasingly complex environment marked by hyper-digitalisation, media fragmentation, ambiguous market and political conditions at global levels, and growing public scepticism. In such context, there is growing market demand for communication experts who can help organisations to (re)build trust, enhance reputation and, more in general, realise their strategic goals.

The MSc Strategic Communication offers a cross-disciplinary education with a distinctive focus on:

1. How corporate leaders, governments, public institutions, NGOs and even celebrities make use of narrative and argument to build consensus and dialogue with stakeholders and to (re)construct their identity, reputation and trustworthiness, especially in crisis situations.
2. The role of digital media, particularly social media, in enhancing strategic communication and informing strategic planning.
3. The contexts and practices of strategic communication (e.g. financial communication and investor relations; political campaigns; crisis management; branding, policy change, takeover and mergers): how they are shaped through discourse and how discourse affects them.

The programme combines a range of conceptual knowledge and practical skills which are crucial for successfully managing a variety of strategic communication activities, such as defining and effectively sharing the mission, vision and values of an organisation, responding to a crisis, launching new products and services or supporting strategic initiatives like mergers, event promotions, and campaigns for political elections, health prevention or policy change.

Students will learn how to translate organisational goals into communication objectives, to analyse situations by identifying and segmenting the relevant stakeholder groups, as well as regulatory constraints and ethical issues; to design spoken and written messages that are at the same time sound, persuasive and compliant; to exploit the potential offered by established communication technologies and new digital media to effectively engage stakeholders.

Practical projects include a variety of activities like designing and delivering effective public speeches, building a digital media campaign and the writing of digital communications for live briefs.

In addition to the classroom modules, a dedicated module involving communication experts and leaders will give you the chance to familiarise yourself with relevant professional contexts. You will closely interact with specialists in the sector and learn more about current challenges in strategic communication practices. Through the final capstone project you will have the opportunity to develop an empirical or theoretical dissertation or to develop a research project in collaboration with an organisation.

Career prospects

Student career development is a major interest for the department and we actively encourage students to integrate career planning into their academic studies. This is promoted through individual modules which have strong policy and career relevant aspects, and a close relationship with the University’s excellent Careers Service who provide bespoke sessions for students.