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MA in Public Relations_1 Syllabus Mumbai University by munotes
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AC
Item No.
University of Mumbai
Revised Syllabus for the
M.A.(Public Relations)
Semester I to IV
(As Per CBCS
With effect from the academic year 2016-17 for
Semester I to IV)
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REVISED SYLLABUS INCLUD ING SCHEME OF COURSES, SCHEME OF EXAMINATION, MEDIUM OF
INSTRUCTION FOR THE MASTER OF ARTS (PUBLIC RELATIONS).
FEE STRUCTURE:
Tuition Fees (per semester) - Rs 20,000
Examination Fees (per semester) – Rs 1,000
Project Examination Fees (to be paid in the second year only) – Rs 1,000
Computer Lab Fees (per semester) – Rs 2,000
Library Fees (per semester) – Rs 1,000
PREAMBLE
1. Basic concepts
Credits : A course that is taught for 4 hours a week for a period of 15 weeks will carry six credits.
Course credits : To qualify in a given course, a student will have to acquire six credits in the course.
Out of these, four credits are central teaching component and two credits are for the self -study
component. The self -study component will consist of academic tasks o utside the classroom that will
be assigned by the teacher from time to time. The self -study component assigned in this manner will
be related to or an extension of but not in lieu of the prescribed syllabus. The self -study component
will be given a weighta ge of 33% in the evaluation of the student. In case of courses with practical
component/ field-work components, four credits are for theory course and two credits shall be
practical component/filed -work component.
A student who acquires a minimum of 100 cr edits over four semesters will be declared eligible for
the award of the M.A. degree.
Courses : There shall be five types of courses: (i) Core Course; (ii) Elective Course; (iii)
Interdisciplinary/Cross -disciplinary Courses; (iv) Audit Courses; (v) Project -based Courses; (vi) Ability
Enhancement Courses
(i) Core Course: Core courses are courses that impart instruction in the basic non -specialized
aspects of a discipline that constitute the minimum basic competency in that discipline, regardless of any spec ialization that the learner might choose in the future. Core- Courses shall be offered by the
parent department. Core courses shall be for six credits. Minimum 50% courses of the MA programme over four semesters must be core courses. (ii) Elective Courses: Elective courses shall be courses offered by the parent department that impart
instructions in specialized/advanced/supportive aspects of the relevant discipline. Each department shall offer a pool of such courses from which a student can choose. Elective Courses shall be for six
credits. The syllabus for each elective course will have a preamble clearly stating the course and the
learner objectives for the elective, along with the pre -requisites if any and a detailed list of
references.
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(iii) Interdisciplinary/Cross Disciplinary Courses (I/C courses): I/C courses shall be offered by parent
department and departments other that parent department. One ‘course basket’ shall be created
for the same. Each MA program has to offer a minimum of two courses and maximum of four
courses in the basket. Every I/C course shall be for six credits. A student may opt for an I/C course offered by his/her parent department.
(iv) Audit Courses: Students can audit a course from the parent department as well as from other
departments in addition to the core, elective and I/C courses that are mandatory, with the prior
permission of the head/s of the relevant department/s. Such a student will have to apply in writing
at most a week after the relevant course has commenced. For the audit course, a student shall
attend lectures of the audited course. The student cannot appear for the semester -end examination
for the audited course. However, the student shall appear for the internal examination/assessment. The audit course appears on the mark -sheet only when the student passes the internal assessment
with minimum 50% marks, failing to which, the student cannot claim the audit for that course. The
internal marks shall not be displayed on final mark-sheet. The internal marks shall no t be used for
the credit computation. A student is permitted to audit maximum four courses in the MA program.
(v) Ability Enhancement Course : The ability enhancement courses are skills based course. The ability
enhancement courses are to be offered at fou rth semester.
(vi) Project based courses: Project based courses shall consist of a dissertation. Each dissertation course will carry 10 credits. Every learner shall choose one project based course.
2. Rules for programmes not having a practical component
2.1 Four core courses shall be offered in semesters 1 and 2 each.
2.2 Five elective courses shall be offered in the third semester. No other courses will be offered in
the third semester.
2.3 The fourth semester shall consist of one ability enhancement c ourse, one interdisciplinary/cross
disciplinary courses (I/C courses) and one project based course.
2.4 Each department will offer at least one I/C course during semester 4. The learner can choose any one course from this basket, including the course off ered by his/her parent department. The
preamble to this course will clearly specify the prerequisites for this course.
2.5 A learner will have to apply to the relevant department in writing no later than two weeks after
the commencement of the fourth semester for taking the I/C course offered by that department.
2.6 A learner can relinquish an I/C course chosen by him/her no later than two weeks after the
commencement of the fourth semester by applying to the Head of the Department whose I/C course
the s tudent wishes to opt for. The application will have to be endorsed by the head of the
Department whose I/C course the student has relinquished and the Head of the parent department.
2.7 The Head of the Department offering a specific I/C course will convey the marks of the internal
examination obtained by students taking the course to the Head of the parent department before
the commencement of the end semester examination of the parent department.
3. Dissertation courses
3.1 Dissertation based courses will be offered in the fourth semester. Every learner will have to
choose one dissertation course, which will be for twelve credits. The project based course will be in
the form of a dissertation based on a live project or a research assignment related to the specific
discipline of the parent department.
3.2 Every Teacher from every department will announce four to five broad topics at the beginning of the second semester, reflecting degree of relevance and rigor suitable to a post graduate
programme, alon g with an indicative reading list. These will be screened by the Board of Studies in
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the subject and a final list of approved topics along with a reading list will be displayed in the first
week of the third semester.
3.3 The student will submit a list o f his/her three most preferred topics in the order of preference by
the fifth week of the third semester to the Head of the parent department.
3.4 Each Department will constitute a dissertation committee consisting of the Head of the
Department (Chairpers on) and two other teachers from the department. The purpose of this
committee is to oversee the functioning of the dissertation component in the department.
3.5 All Masters Degree holders with NET/SET (in Communication/Journalism/Film Studies/ Public
Relat ions/Electronic Media/Television Studies) from University of Mumbai, all PhD scholars and
recognized post graduate teachers in the Department of Communication and Journalism will be
guides for the dissertation component.
3.6 The dissertation committee wil l allocate students to guides in order of the average of marks
obtained in semesters 1 and 2.
3.7 If it is felt necessary, the dissertation committee can assign a co -guide to a student, depending
upon specific disciplinary needs.
The student will make a p reliminary presentation in the seventh week of the fourth semester. The
presentation will be attended by the guide and a committee consisting of two other teachers from
the department. The committee will make necessary suggestions to improve the dissertation.
3.8 The student will make a final presentation in the 10th to the 12th week of semester four. The
presentation will be evaluated by the same committee that evaluated the preliminary presentation. The criteria for evaluation will be as follows:
i) 10 ma rks for the quality of presentation
ii) 15 marks for answers to questions
3.9 The marks given by the three members of the evaluation committee will be averaged in each
head and the total marks decided by totaling the averages under the three heads.
3.10 The student will submit a bound hard copy of the dissertation to the Department by the end of
the fourth semester, along with a soft copy on a CD/DVD.
3.11 The final disserta tion will have a word limit of 8000 -10000 words and will be typed in one and a
half spacing on one side of the paper.
3.12 The final dissertation will be evaluated out of 50 marks by the guide, 50 marks by any other
teacher in the Department and 100 marks by an external examiner by way of viva voce.
3.13 The dissertation will be given a grade point as per the following scheme:
Marks Grade Points Letter Grade
0-9 0.5 F
10-19 1.5 F
20-29 2.5 F
30-39 3.5 F
40-44 4.2 C
45-54 5.0 B
55-59 5.7 B+
60-69 6.5 A
70-74 7.2 A+
75-100 8.7 O
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3.14 A student who gets a letter grade F in th e course will be deemed to have failed in the course.
3.15 A student who feels aggrieved by the grading received will have the option of applying to the
project committee for re -evaluation of the dissertation within a period of one week after the
declarati on of the result. If the dissertation committee feels that the claim is justified, it shall appoint
a fresh examiner who will submit his/her evaluation in a week’s time. If the marks by the re-
evaluating examiner exceed the marks of the original examiner b y a margin of 10% or more, the
latter set of marks will be considered final.
3.16 The student who has got a letter grade F in the dissertation will have the option of resubmitting
a revised version within 2 months from the date of declaration of the resul t. If a student fails this
time too, he/she will not get any more chances and will be ineligible to be awarded the MA degree.
3.17 If a student is unable to submit his/her dissertation in the stipulated time or fails to make the presentations at the appo inted time, he/she will be deemed to have failed the course and will have
the option of submitting within 2 months from the date of declaration of the result. If a student fails
this time too, he/she will not get any more chances and will be ineligible to be awarded the MA
degree.
3.18 The schedule for preliminary presentation, final presentation and dissertation submission will
be displayed in the first week of the fourth semester.
3.19 Ethical Standards regarding Dealing with Human Participants: Student s should refrain from acts which he or she knows, or under the circumstances has reason to
know, spoil the academic integrity of the academic program. Violations of academic integrity
include, and not limited to: plagiarism; violation of the rights and welfare of human participants in
research and practice; cheating, knowingly furnishing false information; misconduct as a member of department or college, and harm to self and others.
4. Evaluation of non-project courses
4.1 The examinations shall be of tw o kinds:
(i) Internal Assessment
(ii) Semester End Examination.
4.2 The learner who obtains less than 40 % of the aggregate marks of the relevant examination in
that course either in the internal assessment or in the end – semester examination will be awarded
the letter grade F in that course. The Medium of Instruction will be English.
4.3 Internal Assessment: The internal assessment shall be for 40 marks. Two internal assessment
examinations shall be scheduled for a course. The internal examination is to be conducted by the
course teacher. The schedule for the internal assessment is announced within two weeks of the
commencement of the semester. Of the two exams one will be in the form of a written test involving
theory and the other will be in the for m of extension work or assignment or term work. The answer -
sheets for internal examination shall be masked before evaluation. The evaluated answer -sheets and
marks shall be shown to the students on the date announced in advance.
4.4 The existing rules for moderation of answer sheets will be followed in the case of internal
examinations in core courses.
4.5 Semester -End Examination: The semester end examination shall be for 60 marks.
4.6 If a student is absent from the internal or end semester examination in any course including the
dissertation course, he/she will get a grade point of 0 and a letter grade of F.
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4.7 If a student fails in the internal examination of a core or elective course, he/she will have to
appear for the internal examination of the co urse when the course is offered again.
4.8 If a student fails in the end -semester examination of a core or elective course, he/she may
reappear for the same examination when it is held again in the following semester. A student can appear at the most three times, including the original attempt. If a student obtains a letter grade F in
all the three attempts, he/ she will have to seek fresh admission to the MA programme.
4.9 If a student obtains the letter grade F in any course in a given semester, the let ter grade F will
continue to be shown in the grade card for that semester even when the student passes the course
subsequently in another semester.
4.10 If a student obtains minimum 40% marks in the internal assessment and fails to obtain
minimum 40% percent marks in the end -semester examination of any course in any of the semester,
the marks of the internal examination shall be carried forward.
4.11 The letter grade and the grade point for the course will be computed as per 3.13
4.12 In any semester, the students GPA will be calculated as follows:
where
= credits for that course offered in that semester
and
= grade point obtained in that course offered in that semester.
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA m) at the end of semester m is calculated as follows:
, where,
is the credits for the ith course offered in semester j and
is
the grade point obtained in the ith course in semester j. There shall be no rounding of GPA and CGPA.
4.13 The semester wise GPA and CGPA shall be printed on the grade card of the student along with
table in 3.13
4.14 The final semester grade card shall also have the a ggregate percentage marks scored by the
student in all the courses in which the student has obtained the relevant credits.
4.15 The rules for gracing: the existing ordinance for gracing shall continue to be used.
4.16 The rules for ATKT will be as per Un iversity norms.
5. Rules for MA programes with practical component/field work components are as follows:
5.1 Four core courses shall be offered in semesters 1 and 2 each.
5.2. Five elective courses shall be offered in the third semester. No other courses will be offered in the third semester.
5.3. The fourth semester shall consist of one ability enhancement course (6 credits), one
interdisciplinary/cross disciplinary course (6 credits) and one project based course (10 credits).
5.4. The semester having Practical Component / Field Work Component shall be given four teaching
hours per week per theory (core/elective) course. Each core/elective course shall have 4 credits in such semester.
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5.5. There shall be 2 credits Practical Components/ Field Work Compo nent per theory course
(core/elective) in a semester one to three. The credits for practical and theory courses are obtained
separately.
5.6. There shall be 8 credits Practical Component/ Field Work Component in semester one and two.
There shall be 10 cre dits Practical Component/ Field Work Component in semester three. There shall
be no practical/field work component in semester four. The practical/field work component shall be
elective in semester three.
6. Evaluation of non-project courses and practical component /field work component for courses
having practical/field work component.
6.1: The examinations shall be of two kinds:
(i) Internal Assessment = 40 marks comprising of a class test and practical/field/extension
component
(ii) Semester End Exam ination = 60 marks
6.2 The learner who obtains less than 40 % of the aggregate marks of the relevant examination
(16/40 for Internal and 24/60 for Semester End) in that course either in the internal assessment or
in the end – semester examination will be awarded the letter grade F in that course.
6.3 Internal Assessment for theory courses: The internal assessment shall be for 40 marks. Two internal assessment examinations shall be scheduled for a course. The internal examination is to be
conducted by the course teacher. The schedule for the internal assessment is announced within two weeks of the commencement of the semester. Of the two exams one will be in the form of a written
test involving theory and the other will be in the form of extension work or a ssignment or term
work. The answer -sheets for internal examination shall be masked before evaluation. The evaluated
answer -sheets and marks shall be shown to the students on the date announced in advance.
6.4 Internal Assessment for practical component/ fi eld work component. The evaluated
practical/field work submission material and marks shall be shown to the students on the date announced in advance.
6.5 The existing rules for moderation of answer sheets will be followed in the case of internal examinatio ns in core courses excluding practical component/ field work component.
6.6: Semester -End Examination: The semester end examination shall be for 60 marks for theory
courses (core /elective) and for practical component/field work component. The semester –end
examination for practical component/ filed work component shall be conducted separately.
6.7: If a student is absent from the internal or end semester examination in any course including the
project course and practical/filed-work component, he/she will get a grade point of 0 and a letter
grade of F.
6.8: If a student fails in the internal examination of a core or elective course, or practical/filed work
component, he/she will have to appear for the internal examination of the course if and when the
course is offered again.
6.9: If a student fails in the end -semester examination of a core or elective course or practical/filed
work component, he/she may reappear for the same examination when it is held again in the following semester. A student can appea r at the most three times, including the original attempt. If a
student obtains a letter grade F in all the three attempts, he/ she will have to seek fresh admission
to the MA programme.
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6.10. If a student obtains the letter grade F in any course in a giv en semester including practical/filed
work component, the letter grade F will continue to be shown in the grade card for that semester
even when the student passes the course subsequently in another semester.
6.11. If a student obtains minimum 40% marks in the internal assessment and fails to obtain
minimum 40% percent marks in the end -semester examination of any course in any of the semester,
the marks of the internal examination shall be carried forward.
6.12: The letter grade and the grade point for the course will be computed as in 3.13.
6.13: In any semester, the students GPA will be calculated as follows:
where
= credits for that course offered in that semester
and
= grade point obtained in that course offered in that semester.
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA m) at the ned of semester m is calculated as follows:
, where,
is the credits for the ith course offered in semester j and
is
the grade point obtained in the ith course in semester j. There shall be no rounding of GPA and CGPA.
6.14. The semester wise GPA and CGPA shall be printed on the grade card of the student along with
table 3.13
6.15. The final semester grade card shall also have the aggregate percentage marks scored by the
student in all the courses including practical/filed work component in which the student has obtained the relevant credits.
6.16. In case, if it is re quired to scale the internal assessment marks and end -semester examination
marks to 400 marks per semester and 1600 marks for entire MA course, then internal assessment marks, end -semester examination marks and total marks shall be multiplied by factor 0.8 .
6.17: The rules for gracing: the existing ordinance for gracing shall continue to be used.
7. SCHEME OF COURSES
Semester I
Course
Code Name of Course
A. Core Courses Term work
Teaching and
Extension Credits
PAPR101 Public Relations Theory and Pract ice 4560 6
PAPR102 Media Relations and Media Writing 4560 6
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PAPR103 Introduction to Organizational
Behaviour and HR policies 4560 6
PAPR104 Research in Public Relations -I 4560 6
Total 45240 24
Semester II
Course
Code Name of Course
A. Core Courses Term wor k
Teaching and
Extension Credits
PAPR205 Public Relations Campaigns 4560 6
PAPR206 Research in Public Relations - II 4560 6
PAPR207 New Media and Technologies in Public
Relations 4560 6
PACJ2 08 Ethics, Constitution and Media Laws 4560 6
Total 45240 4524
Semester –III
Course
Code Name of Course
A. Core Courses Term work
Teaching and
Extension Credits
PAPR30 8 Public Relations in the Private and
Public Sector 4560 6
PAPR3 09 Role of Finance in Public Relations 4560 6
B. Interdisciplinary/Cross
Disciplinary Co urses (I/C
courses)
PAPR31 0 Media Management 4560 6
PAPR31 1 Media Advocacy 4560 6
Total 45240 4524
SEMESTER –IV
A. Interdisciplinary/Cross
Disciplinary Courses (I/C courses) Teaching and
Extension Credits
PACJ412 Media Research Analytical Skills 4560 6
PACJ413 Media and Culture 4560 6
PAPR412 B. Dissertation 45120 4512
Total 45240 4524
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