Read up on faculty members and department structure, Professor Dutta advises prospective communications students

In a series of tweets on April 22, former National University of Singapore (NUS) communications department head Professor Mohan Dutta shared his advice to students choosing a university communications programme with a view to joining the advertising and public relations industries.

Prof Dutta, who is now Dean's Chair Professor of Communication at Massey University in New Zealand, urged prospective communications students to "research the school as you would when making the major decisions of life", observing that picking a university programme is "one of the greatest commitments" in people's lives.

"Don't be seduced by the glossy marketing materials," he added.

#adviceforstudents Finally, this is the key, research the school as you would when making the major decisions of life. This is one of the greatest commitments of your life. Research. Find the information. Don't be seduced by the glossy marketing materials.

— Mohan J Dutta (@mjdutt) April 21, 2019

On what to look out for, Prof Dutta suggested that students should research the profiles of the staff members teaching strategic communications.

Strategic communications is an umbrella term for the public relations, advertising and corporate communication sectors.

#adviceforstudents You want to go to school to study Communication to do Advertising, PR, or what are called Strategic Communication jobs. Look at Communication departments that have faculty in the strategic communication area. #strategiccommunication

— Mohan J Dutta (@mjdutt) April 21, 2019

"Often, Schools tend to use Strategic Communication as a cash cow to generate student numbers but don't invest into the area in terms of active researchers and teachers," Prof Dutta wrote.

#adviceforstudents Ask how the School spends its resources on allocations to different areas in Communication. Often, Schools tend to use Strategic Communication as a cash cow to generate student numbers but don't invest into the area in terms of active researchers and teachers.

— Mohan J Dutta (@mjdutt) April 21, 2019

He was referring to a common practice among university departments. Because strategic communication courses tend to be popular, universities offer them with the motive of attracting more students. But they fail to hire adequately trained instructors for those courses, and students do not benefit.

"Ask whether the people that are teaching you have the competence to teach you? You can figure this out by looking at their publications. Are they publishing in Advertising, PR, Communication Campaigns? These are the skillsets you will need from Communication," Prof Dutta wrote. "Do they have applied or practice-based experience?"

#adviceforstudents Ask whether the people that are teaching you have the competence to teach you? You can figure this out by looking at their publications. Are they publishing in Advertising, PR, Communication Campaigns? These are the skillsets you will need from Communication.

— Mohan J Dutta (@mjdutt) April 21, 2019

Prof Dutta has both research and practical experience in communication campaigns. He created the culture-centred approach, which emphasises consulting the disadvantaged when crafting policies to help them. He also ran the No Singaporeans Left Behind campaign to raise awareness of the poor in Singapore.

ALSO READ: The "No Singaporeans Left Behind" Facebook page and White Paper.

#adviceforstudents Research who will be teaching you. Do the people placed in the classroom teaching you have the expertise in the areas to teach you? Do they have applied or practice-based experience?

— Mohan J Dutta (@mjdutt) April 21, 2019

"One of my favorite Schools for Strategic Communication is the Missouri School of Journalism. It comes pretty close to being the model School for studying Strategic Communication," said Prof Dutta as he called on students to use its faculty composition as a guide to what an ideal communications programme should look like.

ALSO READ: The Missouri School of Journalism online staff directory.

Another plus point of the Missouri School of Journalism is that it is a standalone school, not a department within a larger humanities, arts and social sciences faculty.

Mocking traditional humanities disciplines, he wrote: "If you think you need four years of college to learn how to read Shakespeare or how to read a map, you need much more, a very basic training in communication science to learn how to communicate. When you hire a geography major or a literature major to do your communication, you demonstrate your naïveté."

Urging employers to take communications seriously by reserving communications jobs for candidates with formal training in communications, he said: "You shit on your brand when you take communication as comms, treat it as some silly sideshow that any incompetent loser from whatever disciplinary training can do."

He advised students that they should "study Communication, not English, Cultural Studies, Geography, History, or Sociology (because there) is a whole discipline that trains you in the science of communication."

For students, if you want to find a job in the Communication industries, study Communication, not English, Cultural Studies, Geography, History, or Sociology. There is a whole discipline that trains you in the science of communication.

— Mohan J Dutta (@mjdutt) April 21, 2019

On why students would "want to ideally pick a School of Comm", he said: "This is key because the large student numbers and industry relevance of Communication often makes other less relevant disciplines such as English, Geography etc. insecure ... You will also hear nonsense from the less relevant disciplines about how Communication is not rigorous. This is BS. Not backed by evidence. Driven by envy from disciplines in Liberal Arts that are increasingly irrelevant and struggling."

#adviceforstudents Is Communication located in its own School? This is key because the large student numbers and industry relevance of Communication often makes other less relevant disciplines such as English, Geography etc. insecure. You want to ideally pick a School of Comm.

— Mohan J Dutta (@mjdutt) April 21, 2019

In Singapore, three of the six autonomous universities offer undergraduate communications programmes: the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore Management University (SMU), and NUS.

Only the communications programme at NTU is run as a separate school known as the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI). SMU offers its communications programme as a major in communication management under the Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB); the communications programme at NUS, known as the major in Communications & New Media (CNM), is part of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS).

ALSO READ: Analysis of the differences between NTU WKWSCI and NUS CNM including a comparison of curriculum and administrative structure.

Prof Dutta resigned as CNM department head in March 2018 shortly after making the news for inviting Professor Cherian George, former associate professor at WKWSCI and outspoken critic of the Singapore establishment, to give a presentation in NUS about censorship in authoritarian regimes.

The presentation was pushed back by more than two weeks as an administrative oversight within NUS caused a delay in approvals being granted for the event, according to an NUS statement in response to the incident.

ALSO READ: Coverage of the Professor Cherian George incident.

Prof Dutta then commented on the importance of academic freedom to local mainstream news outlet TODAYonline.

ALSO READ: Professor Dutta's comments on academic freedom.

In May that same year, he signed an open letter from academics to Charles Chong, chairman of the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods, which protested the harsh treatment that historian Dr Thum Ping Tjin was subjected to during a six-hour hearing as part of public consultations on the problem of fake news.

ALSO READ: Coverage of the open letter to Charles Chong which Professor Dutta signed.

Cross-posting my LinkedIn article: Still a place for traditional media

Besides writing on this blog, which I reserve for less serious topics, I also publish articles on LinkedIn about my learning experiences in communications and public relations.

Click here to see an article I wrote on 19 December 2018, There's still a place for traditional media.

Surviving university: How to stay sane while maintaining good grades in NUS FASS

There are lots of other articles out there on this topic but let me take a stab at it too.

I have completed three semesters and am more than halfway to a three-year B.A. degree. My CAP is 4.81. I'll let you decide if you want to read on.

My purpose in writing this post is not to give you study advice, because you should already know your own learning style by this stage of your life. Just keep doing what works for you.

What I hope to achieve is to impart you with wisdom that will hopefully make your life in university easier and more fun without trashing your grades and your future.

Yes, it's possible!

Tip #1: Keep it simple

When you first get into university, you might feel like you just stepped into a supermarket. The range of majors, minors, and special programmes is so exciting, and you might find yourself wanting to take two majors, four minors, and three overseas exchanges.

But wait! Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Always remember that you're in university to prepare to go to work. So you must ask yourself: Will that extra programme add value to me as an employee? If it doesn't, think twice. Double degree and double major programmes are very heavy. It's not a good idea to do a second major just because it's interesting if it doesn't complement your primary major (an example of a complementary major pairing is Psychology and Social Work; an example of a major pairing that makes no sense is Economics and English Language). Far better to pick individual modules that catch your fancy and do them as unrestricted electives instead. That way, you don't commit yourself and can do as many or few modules from that subject area as you like.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing a "plain-Jane" single major. You won't have to overload so you will have more time and energy to focus on individual modules and do the best you can in each one.

Tip #2: Pick your battles

Even with the recommended workload of five modules per semester, it can be difficult at times to manage the numerous demands: lecture notes to compile, tutorials to prepare, readings to be done, and those essays aren't going to write themselves either!

It's always useful to plan for one module in every semester to act as the sacrificial lamb. This means that you must make sure you choose a module that you are allowed to S/U. Once you have decided which module will fulfill this role, you can safely allocate only the bare minimum of effort to this module to ensure that you get at least a C grade, which is the minimum required to S/U a module and still count it towards graduation. The extra time and energy you save on this module can then be redistributed to other modules, hopefully helping you to get better grades in them.

Tip #3: Set realistic targets

Who doesn't want to get a CAP of 5? But is it worth the stress of burning the midnight oil and chewing your nails off week in and week out?

Only you can decide that for yourself, but let me warn you that too much stress can be counterproductive! You might burn out and find yourself hating your studies. Obviously that's not helpful at all in getting good grades, and instead of the perfect 5 that you'd imagined, you might end up staring at a transcript much uglier than it would have been if you had been reasonable from the start.

So what's a realistic target CAP to aim for? I think 4, which is a B+ average, is good. You will qualify for Honours with Distinction, and this will be impressive enough to get you through the academic performance screening for all employers including the public service, while also allowing you to pursue postgraduate degrees if you wish.

What does this imply for your S/U strategy? If your aim is a CAP of 4, you should S/U anything that is B or worse, and leave all B+ and better alone. People like to go online and post about how they are struggling to decide whether or not to S/U an A-. Don't listen to that kind of nonsense.

Tip #4: Know your enemy

Within a module, the lecturer is king. They set the papers, have the final say on marking, and basically hold your grades in the palm of their hand.

So it's important to get to know them. What kind of answers do they like to read? Some professors don't like answers that are too long, so they will give more marks if your response goes straight to the point and leaves out additional details. Others prefer longwinded answers with plenty of supporting explanations and evidence. You can often tell what kind of person your professor is by the way they speak. If they ramble, they probably favour the latter type of response. That's why it's important to attend lectures, as this allows you to get a gauge of your lecturer. And once you have figured out what kind of answer your professor likes, give them what they want!

If you can't tell what type of professor yours is, don't worry! Professors only want one thing from you: for you to demonstrate that you learned something from them. So the "spamming" answering strategy works well in most situations. Remember this, too, when you're faced with a tough essay question. If your mind is at a loss and doesn't know how to structure a cohesive argument, forget about the cohesive argument. You studied the contents and theories, didn't you? Just blurt all the concepts, supporting points, and examples that you think are vaguely related down onto the paper.

University professors are highly specialised experts. Very often, when they get deployed to teach a lower-level module which tends to be broader in scope, they are not equally competent in all aspects of the module. They will pick and choose to focus on those topics that they themselves enjoy talking about or are well-versed in, and put these into their lectures. And these are the very same parts of the module that will come out in the exams with the greatest weightage of marks. So don't study your whole textbook like a headless chicken. Identify the sections that are related to what your lecturer covered in class, and make sure you have a thorough understanding and lasting memory of them.

What of the rest of the book? Your professor may still test content from there, but it won't be worth many marks and your time would be better spent cementing your knowledge of the important parts or preparing for other modules instead. Remember, you are not aiming for perfection, just "good enough" (see Tip #3).

Tip #5: Working with others

You will definitely encounter group assignments. If you don't like group work because of bad experiences in the past, leave your emotional baggage at the door. Feeling sorry for yourself gets you nowhere.

When you're faced with a lazy bunch of teammates, you should first try to take the lead by unilaterally allocating roles, responsibilities, and deadlines to each member. Very often, this small kick up the rear will spur the group into action and everyone will do their part willingly after that. Don't be afraid of seeming bossy. Your grades are at stake.

But in the minority of cases, your groupmates may remain uncooperative. In that case, you should consider tanking the entire project by yourself. Of course there's the option to complain to the lecturer about your groupmates, but this will take time and add to your administrative burden. Just wait till the peer feedback exercise at the end of the project to get back at them. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Tip #6: Apply, apply, apply

Draw links between what you are studying and what you see in the real world. When you can find meaning in your learning, you are more likely to love it, and when you love it, you are more likely to remember it.

Even the most theoretical subjects can be relevant in real life if you look hard enough. For example, if you know the International Phonetic Alphabet, you can use it as a secret code that only others who know it can read!

Also keep in mind your end goal. What do you want to do in future? If you can see how the module you're taking can bring you closer to that goal, all the better!