We are very pleased to present to you all, the Corporate Communications International Study, a combined activity between ABERJE and Syracuse University - an American university with characteristics very much related to those of our own society. The Newhouse School’s Communications Management Faculty, rated by the American professionals as one of the most distinguished Public Relations and Corporate Communications’ program in the United States, has created an annual education program divided into five parts. The program will offer the Brazilian professionals a unique opportunity to share new experience with the American teachers. One of the biggest challenges of ABERJE, in the last 40 years, has been to provide means for better understandings as well as to promote new initiatives of the Corporate Communications and Public Relations area. This huge task of ABERJE includes graduation and qualification of Corporate Communications Managers. Therefore we looked abroad for Syracuse University as a good credential in order to update the Brazilian market with this international approach. This is one of ABERJE’s initiatives to bring to our country the
state of art of the International Corporate Communications and to share
with foreign professionals our well-succeeded experiences.
Greetings from Syracuse University! On behalf of the Newhouse School’s Communications Management Faculty, I want to tell you that we are very excited about the opportunity to partner with, ABERJE, Brazil’s leading professional society for the advancement of corporate communications. The 2006 program we have created for the members of ABERJE is based on considerable research among its members and an analysis and understanding of the major challenges facing corporate communications professionals in a global environment. These challenges are universal and form the foundation for our executive education programs at Syracuse: how to assist public relations practitioners move from being “extraneous” to “essential” in the eyes of top management. We believe that the key is the ability to move beyond the traditional communications activities to strategically managing the communications process. The communications manager of today--and tomorrow—must be a part of the management team: knowledgeable in strategic planning, capable of providing counsel, a contributor to the decision-making process; and skilled in research, issues analysis, planning, and measurement and evaluation. We base our beliefs on our distinguished history in public relations education in the United States, and increasingly, abroad. The public relations program at Newhouse has been ranked consistently among the top three in the United States and it is rated Number One by professionals. We are one of the few schools in this country to offer public relations education at all three levels: baccalaureate degree, master’s degree and doctoral degrees. Our distinguished graduates work in all aspects of public relations practice, in research and in teaching throughout the world. Since 1995, we have offered a unique program for busy mid-career professionals who cannot attend classes in the traditional manner: a limited residency/distance learning master’s program that students have called “the MBA for public relations professionals.” Our outreach programs extend to Canada, Asia, Africa –and now South America. I hope you will consider joining us and ABERJE in what promises to be an exciting and energizing career advancement series tailored specifically for the corporate communications professionals of Brazil. Sincerely,
Why is it that most management education programs fail to satisfy our expectations? This is a question I have dedicated the past 5 years trying to answer. As an experienced education consultant who has successfully designed and coordinated international education programs for Brazilian organizations, my role as program coordinator will be to apply my experience to ensure that the expectations of the participants are met. This will be a demanding program and all of us involved understand that the participants enter this program with high expectations. My activities will focus on the following areas: We want this program to go beyond the "off-the-shelf" courses that are currently offered and have limited success. To achieve this, we need to have a higher degree of integration between those teaching and those being taught. I will work to ensure that Syracuse University and their professors understand the backgrounds, needs and ‘local reality’ of each of the participants and that they use this information to customize the program. We want this program to improve the participant’s capabilities at managing the corporate communications function of their organization. Participants are expected to finish the program prepared to apply what they have learned. To achieve this, we need to strike the correct balance between theory and practice. Programs that are all theory or all practice fail to provide participants with sustainable skills. I will work to ensure that professors are not just sharing their experiences, but providing participants with the latest concepts, models and tools in corporate communications. Since this is a program for communications professionals, we will also design the program so that each participant will have the opportunity to apply course concepts to an actual project and receive individualized feedback from the professors and other classmates. One thing I have learned as an education consultant is that most participants underestimate their impact on the learning process. A great program requires strong contributions from all the participants. While professors provide concepts, participants are needed to provide the insights which transform these concepts into specific and personally relevant learning. I will work with the professors to ensure that ‘interactive teaching methodologies’ are applied so that the experiences of the group are allowed to contribute to the learning process. I will also assist in coaching the participants so they are prepared to maximize their-and the group’s-learning experience. Sincerely, |