To get the lowdown on this innovative undergraduate degree, we spoke to the program’s Academic Director, Iona de Macedo. Here’s what it’s all about!
What is the Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media?
This program was launched about five years ago, tailored to the market needs for professionals in the field of communications. The idea was to create a bridge between the world of creativity and the world of business.
The areas students are trained in are the areas that the marketplace is demanding more and more in the digital era: branding, marketing, and advertising, storytelling, content production, and digital media management.
Who’s right for this program?
The profile of a great Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media student is that of someone who wants to put their creativity at the service of the business. He or she should be curious, want to be ahead of the changing world in technology and new media. He or she should be creative and like to work with images and words. They should care about what audiences need, what users need, and they should be able to craft and convey messages, be it visual or written.
What sets this program apart?
What makes the Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media unique is that, from its inception, we have been listening to the marketplace. Before we created the program, we conducted a lot of research with key stakeholders in areas like advertising, social media platforms, production and distribution of audiovisual content. So we crafted a program that caters to those markets.
It’s very rewarding to listen to parents and students three or four years later saying to us, “Oh, IE University’s program is really unique. I was looking for something very hands-on, and this was perfect.”
The Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media is a kaleidoscopic program that gives students very broad, hands-on experience in all the fields of communication as it is applied in the industry today.
How is the program set up? How will students spend their four years?
The way I like to explain the structure of the Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media is: think of building a house. You start at the foundations. In the first year, our students get to be exposed to foundational courses, both in the creative and critical-thinking areas. They have Sociology, Anthropology, Persuasion, Globalization… And at the same time, they’re exposed to the rudimentary tools they’ll need to create and forge their messages: Photography, Production, Graphic Design, etc. Those courses are in the first year and part of the second year. Then, we move on to the next step, which is understanding how those foundational courses can be applied to business. That is the essence of the second and third years.
The fourth-year students have options in their first semester: they can either put everything they’ve learned into practice through curricular internships; they can go on exchange and expose themselves to different collegiate experiences in other universities, or they can take electives at IE University. The second semester of the fourth year is a culmination of what students have learned throughout their three years. On one hand, they engage in a couple of courses where they put everything they’ve learned into practice by working with real clients in the real world, mostly through social impact projects. On the other hand, they engage in producing their own independent work through their final thesis project.
Where do students study?
IE University offers two options for students who want to enroll in the Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media. One of them is to have four exciting years at our new, high-tech vertical tower. Then, for those who’d like to enjoy a little more of a collegiate experience like in traditional universities as well as the high-tech tower, we have an option to study for two years at our gorgeous campus in Segovia, followed by two years in Madrid in the tower.
What can I do with this degree?
One of the most exciting things about the program is how the marketplace is responding to the students that are either graduating or starting internships. We’ve had students do internships in companies like Twitter, Google, Nike, Publicis… and some of them have turned into real jobs. Recently, we’ve had students who’ve been hired after an internship at the Royal Opera, and also at Telefónica’s Foundation. So this is the crown jewel of our program—that the marketplace is responding to the young executives we are training.
For more information about the Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media, check out the program´s website.