Doctorate in professional communication unique in Australia
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High level expertise in communication frequently provides the competitive edge in professions and organisations today. From 2007, Macquarie University will provide the opportunity to undertake professional communication studies at doctorate level.
The Doctor of Professional Communication offers advanced level study of a wide range of professional and organisational communication issues. The program consists of coursework, research training and on-line research seminars. Candidates will also be offered the opportunity to design and implement a set of inter-connected workplace related applied research projects as their doctorate dissertation.
Who is the doctorate designed for?
The advantage of this program is that it is designed specifically for a broad range of working professionals in a range of occupations.
"Over the last 10 years there has been an upsurge of interest in professional communication," says Christopher Candlin, Senior Research Professor in Linguistics at Macquarie. "Many professions have become dissatisfied with a skill approach to professional development. They have decided they need to go beyond surface skills and look at communication issues in the workplace in a deeper and more analytical way."
The Doctor of Professional Communication will be directly relevant to communication and human resources managers, business leaders, marketing directors, lawyers, healthcare practitioners, social workers, NGO specialists, mediators, diversity trainers and management level staff more generally.
"We are the only professional communication doctorate of its type in Australia and one of very few available internationally," says Candlin. "People tend to think about communication only in terms of technology or as media and journalism. We are not doing either, our focus is on human interpersonal communication in specific professional contexts."
The program
The core units in the professional doctorate will enable students to develop analytical skills in understanding the communication processes of an organisation or profession:
- Discourse in professional and organisational contexts: This unit focuses on how people can analyse communication in their own profession or workplace.
- Evaluating communication systems, processes and products: This unit addresses how communication plays a key role in the whole structure of a professional or organisational workplace.
- Acquiring professional communicative expertise: This unit explores how professionals become experts in their field and the role of communication in achieving that expertise.
Following successful completion of the core units, students will work on a major research methods unit which upgrades their knowledge of existing research in a specific area and provides targeted training.
"Apart from its focus on methods of research, this unit involves participants designing three inter-related research studies in their workplace," Candlin explains. "Each study will be publishable, either as an internal workplace document or in a professional journal. In this way, students and their managers will be able to see results throughout the duration of the doctorate."
The research studies will be brought together to form the final dissertation which will be evaluated according to the same criteria as a single focus PhD.
Studying online
The Doctor of Professional Communication has been designed as an online program and students will not be required to attend regular classes on campus. Teaching staff will work closely with students online both individually and by means of an online research student seminar.
For further information contact the Linguistics Department Postgraduate Office:
lingpgo@ling.mq.edu.au