The Specialisation in Policy Communications prepares you for roles in public and government affairs teams. In this specialisation you will learn how to create and run campaigns where the primary stakeholders are governments, policy makers, and citizens.
Policy Communications or Public Affairs refers to the communicating efforts between organisations, governments and citizens. This practice of communications relies on your understanding of policy apparatus of a market, the key policy and opinion makers therein, and citizen motivations. Policy Communications specialists often help private and public sectors understand each others’ points of views, sometimes with the aim to create policies in a way that is beneficial for all. It regularly involves liaising with government officials, think tanks, media and civil society groups.
Policy communications is a relatively narrow, but high stakes subset of communications. Success of policy communications campaigns can be crucial for not just the organisations that they are meant to serve, but the sector in general. PR professionals working within this field get opportunities to work with and influence bureaucrats, politicians and civil society, and build networks there in. Largely, the work of policy communicators is not discussed in public because of the sensitive nature of information and objectives therein. So you may not often hear about policy communications campaigns, but the influence they are able to create is incredible.
Students complete the following for to earn this specialisation:
1. Internship: Two-month internship in a policy communications team
2. Live Project: Live project with a policy communications team
3. Immersion: Two week shadowing with a government affairs team
4. Dissertation: 10,000 word dissertation on a topic related to public affairs
5. Electives: Take three electives in the final term (Civic Apparatus, Media & policy, Case study Series)
