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PR Department Hosts Successful Advisory Board Meeting

PR Department Hosts Successful Advisory Board Meeting

In the spirit of exchanging ideas and sharing best practices with the industry and other relevant stakeholders, the Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Public Relations Management Department hosted its Advisory Board meeting last Friday, 24 May 2019 at the Steve Biko Campus in Durban.

According to DUT’s constitution for Advisory Boards – this forum aims to provide a platform for sharing ideas, information and advice on issues of curriculum development, Work-Integrated Learning (WIL), professional body activities, sector needs analysis as well as sector policies and practices.

Acting Head of the Public Relations Management Department, Nisha Ramlutchman gave an update on wide ranging changes for the Department’s curriculum renewal project, which will see an introduction of new qualifications and some changes in terms of assessment approach for various modules.

“Next year we will be offering the Advanced Diploma for the first time, like our current Diploma qualification, this will be a clustered qualification, meaning students would graduate with an Advanced Diploma in Management Sciences. So they do sub-common modules and then they choose an elective and the elective for us is PR and Communication Management. So it is a one-year qualification, it is over two semesters, there are six modules and 20 credits. Once students complete the Advanced Diploma the next progression qualification is the Postgraduate Diploma, which will only be offered in 2021. Again the Postgraduate Diploma is a one-year qualification, and we are still working out the modules there,” she said.

“Next year we are also offering the Higher Certificates, so that is an NQF 5, we taking on 55 new students for this qualification. The Higher certificate is not a clustered qualification, we felt that at a Higher Certificate level it is not worthy to put Management because it is an entry level. It is for matriculants who graduate with a Certificate pass, so it gives them an opportunity to articulate from the Higher Certificate into other National Diplomas. The Higher Certificate is a one-year qualification,” explained Ramlutchman.

Public Relations Management Department’s Paulene Naidoo also gave a report on Work-Integrated Learning and Entrepreneurship. She expressed her appreciation to industry partners who have taken their students for WIL. She pleaded with respective supervisors to allow students to attend their lectures because this was a mandatory requirement for students.

Some industry representatives, particularly those coming from the Small, Medium and Micro-Sized Enterprises (SMME) sector said they are hopeful that more funding will be made available, in order for them to take more students on WIL.

The Public Relations Management Department Advisory Board Chairperson, Sipho Mkhize from KwaDukuza Municipality thanked the industry partners for their insightful contribution to the meeting, and urged the Public Relations Management Department to consider their feedback and input.

Pictured: Some of the participants in Public Relations Management Department’s Advisory Board meeting.

Nduduzo Ndlovu

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