MA in Global Communications

Overview

The core curriculum of the MA in Global Communications provides a broad, flexible overview of contemporary media and communication. It is regularly updated to reflect emerging communications trends around the world, ensuring students develop a relevant toolkit of critical and practical skills adapted to the varied and fast-moving landscape of global communications. These core competencies include qualitative and quantitative analysis, written and spoken communication skills, and mediated communications including video, print, social media, and visual modes of production. The in-class learning experience is enriched with immersive study trips, bringing students into contact with experts in the field.

Topics covered include:

• Communications theory: The major concepts and debates in the field, from its development through to the latest challenges of communicating in a globalized world.
• Social change: Exploring the function of communication as a tool in social transformation.
• Digital media technologies: Looking at the ways in which the internet, social media and smartphones, among other technologies, will continue to impact contemporary communications.
• Global media systems: Looking at structure, ownership, control, influence and innovation in knowledge production.
• Visual culture: Exploring the practice of looking and the power of images and screens.
• Creative industries: Analyzing their increasing role in advertising, branding, and promoting and disrupting ideas and values.
• Journalism and public relations: Including the challenges and opportunities of producing and sharing content in an attention-based digital economy.
• Fashion and material culture: Understanding the rapidly transforming fashion industry and the wide-ranging practices of consumption in consumerist societies.
• Cultural difference and diversity: Exploring the complex relationship between these concepts and the practice and politics of communications worldwide.
• Activism and advocacy: Understanding advocacy in a world with new political stakes and transformed by new technology.

Learning Objectives

The program prepares students to be culturally fluent, adaptable communications professionals by focusing on the following key learning outcomes:

• effective use of qualitative and quantitative communications research methodologies;
• understanding of key issues in debates surrounding globalization;
• awareness of one’s own relationship to global media and culture;
• development of critical perspectives on major concepts and theories in media studies, communications and cultural studies; and
• development of practical competencies in a chosen field of contemporary communications.

Students on the MA in Global Communications will:

• challenge assumptions and weigh opposing perspectives to build compelling arguments on complex emerging topics;
• develop independent research skills in close consultation with faculty to deepen their understanding of these topics;
• master practical skills in a wide range of communications techniques and technologies;
• gain professional experience through meeting with industry leaders from a wide range of organizations;
• be immersed in professional environments through experiential learning opportunities in the field, the studio and intensive workshops;
• explore global and cross-cultural perspectives as technology both enhances and fragments human interaction;
• understand the importance of historical communications contexts to contemporary challenges; and
• benefit from intellectual and professional mentorship and personalized attention through an intimate classroom environment and faculty-student collaboration.

Structure

Program Requirements (48 credits)

The MA in Global Communications is a 48-credit program. All courses listed below are 4-credit courses unless otherwise noted. 

Please note that all requirements from previous years can be found in our archive catalogs.

Experiential Learning

To understand how communications operate globally, students need to apply learned theory to a vast array of cultural and practical contexts – that’s what makes graduate study trips such a vital part of the MA in Global Communications program. Learning to translate concepts across cultures is made possible through immersion in cross-cultural environments: whether that’s through studying place branding in Iceland, exploring cultural heritage in Morocco or practicing development communications in India. 

The other key aspect of study trips for the graduate is professional networking opportunities. In each location students visit, industry experts who are working to implement media projects that speak across languages and borders, give voice to those who have been historically silenced, or construct, communicate and preserve cultural heritage. By interacting with key professionals in this way, students develop a sense of the breadth of career pathways available to them.

Faculty

Students in the MA in Global Communications benefit from close interaction with expert faculty whose twin focuses of teaching and research encourage extraordinary intellectual collaboration both in and out of the classroom. Students regularly form close bonds with their professors, who act as mentors and advisors as well as teachers. Research collaborations between graduate students and faculty members are common: some recent examples include a research project on prison education working with formerly incarcerated activists and a virtual exhibition on the future of fashion post-pandemic.

Faculty in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture come from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, from those who have decades of experience in brand consultancy to active journalists reporting across the world. Many have lived and worked in multiple countries and speak two or more languages, bringing rich, diverse perspectives from their international experience with them into their teaching. Their professional networks allow them both to bring experts into the classroom and to take students to study communications theory on site in destinations such as Iceland, Morocco and India. 

Our professors' interdisciplinary academic specialisms overlap with diverse fields including history, politics, art, semiotics, psychology, film and food studies. Their academic output translates into a body of peer-reviewed articles, books, media engagements and conference appearances every year.  Specific recent publications include works exploring queer theory and media studies, post-truth politics, and sustainable fashion education.

Careers

Graduates from the MA in Global Communications go on to meaningful careers in an array of fields. The interdisciplinary, hybrid academic nature of the program produces expert communications professionals and scholars, who are well equipped to engage with and lead in the rapidly evolving landscape of communication. Graduates have gone on to work in some of the world’s most prominent companies and organizations, including Google, TIME Magazine and the OECD. Others go on to PhD programs in communications fields.

Internships

Students in the MA in Global Communications are encouraged to build on their education and kick-start their career by conducting an internship, allowing them to apply learned theory and skills in professional contexts. Though paid internships are rare as part of the program, our internships database does provide access to top-level employers at Paris-based international organizations, businesses and media outlets. 

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Admissions

AUP’s graduate programs welcome applications from motivated, high-caliber individuals who feel they will thrive in AUP’s international and dynamic environment. When assessing applications, we take a holistic approach to identifying the next cohort of Graduate Global Explorers, considering education, experience and general fit with AUP values and curriculum. Students can pursue our innovative program in Paris on the MA in Global Communications in either Fall or Spring. 

Tuition and Scholarships

Depending on the length of your graduate program, the cost will vary. Find out more about tuition and costs for the MA in Global Communications.

AUP offers need- and merit-based scholarships to graduate students. The majority of our financial awards range from 25 percent to 50 percent of tuition and the average award amounts to about 30 percent. 

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Deadlines

We review completed applications in rounds throughout the year. We encourage you to apply early: priority for admission and financial aid is given to those who apply in the earlier rounds.

Fall Admission

Spring Admission

RNCP Certification

What is RNCP Certification?

The Répertoire National des Certifications Professionelles, also known as RNCP, is the French national register of professional qualifications. It is the central reference framework for all diplomas, qualifications and titles recognized by the French state. This professional certification allows the holder to demonstrate competency of the skills and knowledge necessary to exercise an activity corresponding to a particular professional field. It guarantees that the holder is qualified to begin work in that field immediately, and it is recognized EU-wide.

Discover AUP's list of accreditations

What This Means for Finding Work in France

As part of RNCP certification, all MA in Global Communications students who graduated on or after May 21, 2013, are eligible to apply for France’s Carte de séjour - Recherche d’emploi/création d’entreprise. This one-year visa extension grants students the opportunity to live and work in France while looking for a job or setting up a business, within certain guidelines laid out in the visa description.

Access to this visa through RNCP certification is currently only available to graduates of the program and the MSc in Strategic Brand Management, as AUP’s other master’s programs have not yet been certified in this way. Graduates will be able to apply for this visa extension once they have completed their studies and before their student visa expires.

For more information about the process of applying for this visa, please contact AUP Graduate Programs at graduateprograms@aup.edu.

Requirements: MA in Global Communications (48 Credits)

Requirements and credit counts differ for the various Master’s programs at AUP. Please note that all requirements from previous years can be found in our archive catalogs.

Graduate students must maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.00. Students with a GPA of less than 3.00 will be placed on probation. Only two grades of C (or C+) may be counted towards an M.A. degree. Students do not earn credit for grades below C.

Track Requirements

• Read about requirements for the Digital Cultures & Industries Track

• Read about requirements for the Development Communications Track

• Read about requirements for the Fashion Track

All courses carry four (4) credits unless otherwise noted.

Core Courses (16 Credits)

Select three courses from the following list:

Electives (24 Credits)

Internship, Thesis, or Applied Project (6 Credits)

Capstone options are a thesis or an internship or an applied project.

Plus (2 Credits)