The Corporate and Marketing Communications (CMC) Academic Group aims to advance knowledge and enhance professional practice in business communication and marketing. It delivers this through research, consultancy, training, curriculum development and teaching. CMC's undergraduate programmes are setting new trends and standards in professional marketing communication education. All programmes within
the CMC academic group have been awarded 22 out of 24 by the Quality Assurance Agency, an 'excellent' grading. A prominent theme across much of our work is the wider social impact and significance of marketing and corporate communications as major contributors to the public culture of consumer society. At the same time our research remains closely linked with the professional education and training programmes offered by the Group, and underpins the expertise we offer in a range of commercial services including communications research and PR and marketing consultancy. The CMC Group currently has 32 permanent academic staff including two Professors. Two thirds of our staff now hold a PhD and we have expertise in advertising, public relations, marketing, consumer behaviour, branding, political communication, new media, sponsorship and intercultural communication as well as sociology, history, psychology, economics and media. Over the past eight years, CMC student numbers have risen by a third and we now have more than 875 undergraduate and postgraduate students registered on our programmes, including over 150 students on work placement. The Group prepares students for careers in the communications industries, particularly advertising and marketing, management, public relations and corporate communication. It has a strong reputation for the quality of its graduates – they work in many blue chip companies and in major advertising, research, media buying and PR agencies and other companies. CMC’s base within the Media School is a key factor both in recruitment and the subsequent student experience; students value the strong reputation and image of both the Group and the Media School, and our enviable rate of graduate employment. Data collected at last November’s graduation ceremony showed that over 85% of last year’s final year students had already secured graduate-level employment. CMC’s reputation is built on strong theoretical foundations in business, communication and marketing, supported by professional and commercial expertise. CMC includes a number of very active and highly-rated research areas. Our academic staff have national and international reputations for their research into consumer behaviour, political communications, advertising, intercultural communication and public relations. Current research projects include computer mediated marketing, interactive media, brand management, political marketing, corporate communication and lobbying. Through expertise within the Group, we are developing academic research into global sustainability, and teaching/learning links at an international level and through partnerships such as Erasmus. Consultancy assignments have taken place for a range of blue chip clients. The Group benefits from a distinguished and varied range of contributors and our programmes are currently endorsed by the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
