Higher Diploma in Professional Communication

Course Overview

The Higher Diploma in Professional Communication at the London School of International Business and Management (LSIBM) is a near-degree Level 5 qualification for senior communicators preparing to top up into a UK Bachelor's degree in professional communication while continuing to counsel executives. Sitting inside the Entrepreneurship & Executive Studies faculty, it covers corporate reputation at strategic level, integrated communications, executive advisory, communications leadership and applied research.

The Higher Diploma runs over 15 to 18 months and is available on-campus in central London, fully online, or by distance learning. Tutors are practising senior communicators drawn from CIPR Chartered Practitioner ranks and PRCA fellow heads, and the capstone is a two-year integrated corporate-communications strategy defended in front of a working chief communications officer. The sections below cover modules, audience and progression.

Key Features

• Curriculum reviewed against CIPR Chartered Practitioner and Bachelor's-final-year communications standards.
• Three study modes — central London campus, fully online, or distance learning — with the same tutor cohort.
• Capstone: a two-year integrated corporate-communications strategy defended in front of a working chief communications officer.
• Confirmed credit transfer into the LSIBM BSc in Professional Communication top-up route.
• Working reference to FCA disclosure obligations, London Stock Exchange listing rules and IPSO conduct.

What You Will Learn

The Higher Diploma builds a strategic communications leader. You will finish able to design and defend a two-year integrated strategy, counsel a chief executive through a live corporate situation, and lead a distributed communications function.

• Corporate reputation at strategic level — narrative architecture, thought-leadership programmes.
• Integrated communications — earned, owned, shared, paid at plc scale.
• Executive advisory — counselling the CEO, chair, general counsel in real time.
• Communications leadership — building and leading distributed teams.
• Financial and regulatory disclosure — FCA DTR, LSE listing rules, RNS discipline.
• Applied research — commissioning and using audience research, sentiment work.
• Measurement leadership — AMEC framework, Barcelona Principles, ROI evidence.
• Ethics under CIPR, PRCA, Ofcom and IPSO at strategic-adviser level.

Who This Course Is For

• Advanced Diploma communicators preparing for a UK BSc top-up.
• Heads of internal comms and corporate affairs in UK listed firms.
• Chiefs of staff owning executive comms formalising senior-track credentials.
• Senior investor-relations professionals building integrated corporate-affairs practice.
• Consultants building a senior UK reputation-advisory practice.

Career Pathways

Higher Diploma graduates move into strategic communications-leadership roles, typically stepping through:

• Head of Corporate Communications
• Director of Communications (junior)
• Chief of Staff (comms-heavy)
• Head of Corporate Affairs
• Head of Investor Communications
• Head of Employee Communications

The Higher Diploma is a direct feeder into the LSIBM BSc in Professional Communication top-up and CIPR Chartered Practitioner application.

Entry Requirements

• A relevant Advanced Diploma (Level 5), HND, HNC, or three years of substantive corporate communications experience — a portfolio including a senior-audience writing sample is encouraged.
• GCSE English Language at grade 5/C and Mathematics at grade 4/C (or equivalent).
• IELTS 6.0 overall (no band below 5.5) for non-native English speakers.
• A short statement of intent and two references (one academic or professional-body, one workplace) — applicants presenting CIPR, PRCA or IABC membership are particularly welcome.

Why Study at LSIBM

The London School of International Business and Management (LSIBM) is a specialist business-education provider based in central London and part of Harold International College. Higher Diploma cohorts sit at the near-degree tier — small groups, tutor visibility every week, curriculum reviewed against ACCA, CIMA, CIM, CIPD, CMI and IOE&IT competencies so graduates walk into a UK Bachelor's top-up with confirmed credit transfer.

London puts the City, Canary Wharf, Whitehall, Companies House, the FCA, the Bank of England and the West End within a short tube ride of every classroom. Higher Diploma students attend at least one working practitioner clinic per fortnight and complete a substantial capstone project defended in front of a working professional.

Apply for the Higher Diploma in Professional Communication

Move onto the top-up track with the Higher Diploma in Professional Communication. Click Enrol Now and our admissions team will respond within one working day with intake dates, credit-transfer guidance for UK Bachelor's top-up routes, and the current fee schedule. Higher Diploma graduates articulate into LSIBM's Bachelor's final year with confirmed credit transfer at enrolment.