Four Specialisations, Dozens of Careers in Corporate Communication or Marketing

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International Relations and Study abroad Service

20 April 2020

If you are considering an exchange programme to become a Corporate Communication or a Marketing specialist, you have something to share with USI. Four specialisations, fairly unique in the international panorama, reflecting the specificities of our two sister Masters of Science in Corporate Communication and in Marketing and Transformative Economy.

First, the aspiration to meaningful business, which derives from communication and marketing decisions that resonate with their contexts, and the belief that management occurs in conversations and interactions. Second, the will to explore and promote ethics in communication and marketing practice, implying the ability of reading how communication and marketing affect our socio-cultural environments. Third, passion for interdisciplinary and critical thinking, which stimulate out-of-the-box ideas and brighten conversational and relational skills.

Exchange students can pick courses freely from a basket of 36 distinct electives from four Faculties, which are organised in the four thematic areas listed below. They may earn a specialisation by selecting 18 ECTS within the same thematic area. All courses take place during the Autumn semester (i.e., from mid-September to mid-December) and allow students to profit from tight exchanges with our Faculty.

Let’s take a closer look at the four thematic areas.

Thematic Area #1 – Crossmedia, Transmedia, and Multimodal Communication

Interpreting organisations as networks of conversations with multiple stakeholders, this area addresses the emerging challenges of today’s communication and its fragmentation around the multiple touchpoints constellating the stakeholder-company relationships and across multiple off- and on-line media. Courses confront a crossmedia perspective, which leads to considering how the same communicative content has to be adapted to different media/touchpoints, to a transmedia perspective, which instead explores how a communicative content can be split and dispatched across various media. Last, the thematic area covers the multimodal (e.g. verbal and visual) nature of today’s contents and its effects.

Specialisations within this area prepare to hold positions including, but not limited, to: market analyst; communication specialist; public relations specialist; special events planner; marketing copywriter; media planner; media buyer; media relations manager; government affairs manager; social media manager; content media manager; digital marketing assistant; web marketing manager; e-commerce assistant.

List of courses and respective syllabi available here.

Thematic Area #2 – Corporate Social Responsibility and the Common Good

Organisations do not operate in a vacuum. They affect many internal and external stakeholders, which interact with them guided by their own expectations. In order to earn their licence to operate, organisations thus need to operate also in the best interest of society and contribute to the common good. This area delivers philosophical, conceptual, and instrumental tools necessary to manage organisations responsibly. It offers both organisational and market perspectives on corporate social responsibility.

Specialisations within this area prepare to hold positions including, but not limited, to: compliance manager; corporate identity manager; CSR & sustainability specialist; well-being specialist; junior consultant; charity sector marketing specialist; corporate recruiter.

List of courses and respective syllabi available here.

Thematic Area #3 - Customer Experience and Value

Following a customer-centric logic, this area provides conceptual and practical understanding of customer value in relation to customer experience. The multiplication of on-line and physical touchpoints constellating the customer journey have made experience and value even more compelling. The area integrates various types of value providers (brand, communication, marketing, retail, and sales managers as well as customers themselves). It also covers a wide range of marketing levers (e.g., brands, cultural engineering, customer experience, service design, transmedia narratives) to maximize customer value in both consumer and industrial markets.

Specialisations within this area prepare to hold positions including, but not limited, to: market analyst; data analyst; brand & sales insight manager; loyalty marketing manager; product manager; assistant buyer; category manager; trade marketing manager; customer experience designer.

List of courses and respective syllabi available here.

Thematic Area #4 – Visual and Material Culture

Customers buy and consume much more than goods, services, and experiences. In an ‘economy of symbols’, they buy and consume meanings, which marketers actively participate in (de)constructing. Advertising representations, brand contents and narratives, participation in the digital society are examples of how marketers help shape cultural meanings. This area offers critical understanding of the links connecting markets, culture, and society. In doing so, it sheds light on the commercial benefits and the socio-cultural implications of said ‘economy of symbols’.

Specialisations within this area prepare to hold positions including, but not limited, to: junior consultant; hybrid designer researcher; design entrepreneur; entrepreneur market analyst; brand manager; communication manager; data analyst; brand & sales insight manager; loyalty marketing manager.

List of courses and respective syllabi available here.