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Master of Communications (MComms)

The Master of Communications (MComms) is a 180-point, fully taught programme typically completed over 12 months. The programme is offered through two structured streams with a defined set of core and elective papers, allowing students to tailor their study toward applied professional practice or broader social and cultural analysis.

Students are strongly encouraged to begin in Graduate Summer School, where two core papers provide a foundation for postgraduate study and introduce key concepts that support the rest of the programme. Study then continues through Semester One and Two, combining core communication papers with one of two streams: Communication and Persuasion or Communication and Society.

Stream One: Communication and Persuasion

This steam focuses on persuasive communications for public relations, creative marketing for social change and crafting narrative for media. It includes an additional required paper plus a defined selection of approved electives.

Compulsory Papers

  • HUMS 588 Special Topic: Foundations of Identity and Belonging (30 points) (1st Non-standard period)
  • HUMS 501 Writing and Revision for Graduate Research (30 points) (1st Non-standard period)
  • MFCO 416 Communication Policy: Issues and Approaches (30 points) (Semester 1)
  • SCOM 432 The Craft of Storytelling (20 points) (Semester 1)
  • MFCO 518 Global Audiences and Publics (30 points) (Semester 2)

Elective Papers

One of:

  • MART 566 Digital Marketing (20 points) (Semester 1)
  • MART 565 Marketing for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (20 points) (Semester 1)
  • MANT 437 Organisations and Sustainability (20 points) (Semester 1)
  • MANT 472 Managing International Organisations (20 points) (Semester 1)

One of:

  • MART 449 Creative Marketing for Behavioural Change (20 points) (Semester 2)
    NB: This is a distance paper. International students cannot take this as they are already taking SCOM 432, which is a distance paper.
  • MANT 477 Contemporary Issues in Sustainable Business (20 points) (Semester 2)
  • MANT 450 Governance and Social Responsibility (20 points) (Semester 2)

Note: HUMS 501 Writing and Revision for Graduate Research must be taken in the 1st Non-standard period (16 November 2026 to 16 February 2027)

Stream Two: Communication and Society

This stream is taught within the Humanities and focuses on critical and political approaches to communication, including how communication operates within social, cultural, and institutional contexts.

Compulsory Papers

  • HUMS 588 Special Topic: Foundations of Identity and Belonging (30 points) (1st Non-standard period)
  • HUMS 501 Writing and Revision for Graduate Research (30 points) (1st Non-standard period)
  • MFCO 416 Communication Policy: Issues and Approaches (30 points) (Semester 1)
  • MFCO 518 Global Audiences and Publics (30 points) (Semester 2)

Elective Papers

One of:

One of:

  • ANTH 423 Bodies, Technologies and Medicines (30 points)
  • ENGL 475 Reading and Writing (30 points)
  • ENGL 470 Storyworlds and Cognition (30 points)
  • GEND 401 Debates in Gender and Sexuality (30 points)
  • GEOG 563 Geographies of Justice (30 points)
  • GEOG 536 Toitū te Taiao: Planning in a Māori Context (30 points)
  • INGS 501 Indigenous Theory and Method (30 points)
  • INTS 502 International Politics
  • POLS 520 NZ Government and Politics (30 points)
  • POLS 521 Politics and Society (30 points)
  • POLS 523 Public Policy (30 points)
  • POLS 550 Comparative Regional Conflicts (30 points)
  • SOCI 410 Alternative Futures (30 points)

Note: HUMS 501 Writing and Revision for Graduate Research must be taken in the 1st Non-standard period (16 November 2026 to 16 February 2027)

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