Conestoga College has received approval from Ontario's Ministry of Colleges and Universities to offer a bachelor's degree in Communications Management (BCM). The degree is unique to Ontario and the first of its kind across Canada.
Conestoga's new bachelor's degree in Communications Management will welcome its first cohort of students in September 2023 at the Kitchener - Doon campus.
Delivered through the School of Business, the new program will welcome its first cohort of students in September 2023 at the college’s Kitchener - Doon campus.
The new degree program was developed collaboratively by the School of Business and industry professionals on the college’s Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) for Public Relations programs. Connie MacDonald, PAC chair and chief strategy and communications officer for the Region of Waterloo, sees the BCM degree as a strong response to industry demand and a changing world.
“The past couple of years we’ve seen communications management in the forefront as industries grappled with increased demand for transparent stakeholder communications, such as media relations and employee communication,” said MacDonald. “Communications management professionals have been critical in leading organizations through these difficult times and continue to be in high demand.”
MacDonald emphasized that BCM will help graduates bring a foundational understanding of strong academic theory combined with hands-on experiential learning, essential for employment in the field as well as further graduate studies.
"As a former vice president of communications for a large global financial services company, I think what sets our program apart is our faculty's commitment to sharing real-world experience in the classroom," added faculty member and program coordinator Martha Terdik. "Additionally, our strong faculty team includes professors with academic degrees who deliver a theoretical and research-based approach to communications. Students benefit from both."
The four-year co-op program blends critical business school courses such as project management, finance and corporate social responsibility with communications courses such as social media management, media relations, event management and professional writing.
Faculty member Paula Barrett, who helped build BCM as well as its predecessor program, the Bachelor of Public Relations, describes the new degree as the perfect blend between a Communications degree and a Business degree.
"BCM is the best of both worlds for students looking to study applied communications topics like professional writing and digital media while also gaining marketable skills in business disciplines like project management, finance and international business," said Barrett.
Students will benefit from small class sizes and will complete two paid four-month co-op terms to apply academic learning to the workplace. They will also engage in numerous experiential courses and assignments throughout the degree that involve working with real clients.
Graduates of Conestoga's Bachelor of Communications Management (Honours) degree will be prepared to develop business communications strategies and manage internal and external communications with a focus on planning, content creation, professional writing, digital marketing and crisis management.
As a management function, students also gain solid grounding in complementary business disciplines such as consulting, measurement and analytics, human resources, diversity and inclusion, project management and financial management.
Visit the Bachelor of Communications Management program page for more information.