Is the Diploma in Professional Communication a PR qualification?

It overlaps with PR but is broader — covering internal communications, workplace writing, presentation and stakeholder communication alongside external messaging. Pure PR specialisation sits in our Diploma in Professional Communication's CIPR-aligned modules and onward courses.

Can I take the Diploma in Professional Communication part-time alongside a job?

Yes — most students do. The online and distance routes are designed around working professionals, with evening tutorials and weekend workshops. Your portfolio work can be built around live communications from your own organisation, with tutor support.

Does the Diploma in Professional Communication include presentation training?

Yes. A dedicated module covers presentation design, slide discipline and live delivery — with peer feedback and tutor review. Online and distance students complete recorded delivery exercises that go through the same feedback cycle.

Will the Diploma in Professional Communication help me get promoted?

It gives you a recognised UK Diploma credential and a portfolio of workplace communications work that supports promotion cases into communications, manager and executive-support roles. The applied focus is the point — assessment is built around the work you already do.

How is the Diploma in Professional Communication different from a generic business-writing course?

It is broader and more substantial — covering stakeholder communication, internal comms, presentation and applied ethics alongside writing. It is also a recognised UK Diploma credential at Level 5, not a short workshop programme.

Diploma in Professional Communication | LSJHML London | Harold International College of London

Course Overview

The Diploma in Professional Communication at the London School of Journalism, Humanities & Modern Languages (LSJHML) is a nine-to-twelve-month UK qualification for working professionals who want a serious upgrade in workplace writing, presentation, stakeholder communication and internal-comms practice. You will produce briefings, board papers, internal announcements and external presentations to publishable standard, and rehearse the kinds of conversations where communication failure is most expensive.

Most workplace communication is taught informally, badly, or not at all. The Diploma in Professional Communication treats it as a discipline. By the end you can write a board paper a chief executive will read, deliver a presentation that respects the audience's time, and run an internal communication that lands.

Key Features

Workplace writing portfolio — briefings, board papers, executive summaries, internal announcements, external statements.
Presentation craft module — structure, slide discipline, delivery, Q&A handling.
Stakeholder communication clinic — mapping, message tailoring, executive visibility planning.
Internal communications module — change comms, employee voice, leadership cascade.
Three study modes — on-campus in central London, fully online with cohort discussion, or distance learning with deadlines.
Final assessed brief — a complete communications plan for a real or simulated organisational moment.

What You Will Learn

The Diploma in Professional Communication is structured around the writing, presenting and judgement skills a working professional uses every week. You graduate able to write to brief, present to audience and design internal and external communications that drive the outcomes they're meant to.

Workplace writing craft — briefing, board paper, executive summary, decision memo.
Email and message discipline — subject line, structure, ask, response handling.
Presentation design — structure, slide craft, visual hierarchy, accessibility.
Delivery — voice, pace, presence, handling difficult questions.
Internal communications — change comms, employee voice, leadership cascade, listening.
External statements — press, regulator, customer-facing, holding lines.
Stakeholder mapping — political, regulatory, employee, customer audiences.
Communication ethics — accuracy, transparency, contributor consent, plain-language obligations.

Who This Diploma Is For

Working professionals who write and present for a living and want a recognised credential.
Managers and team leads stepping up to roles requiring board-level communication.
Press officers and in-house comms staff wanting structured craft and stakeholder training.
Career-changers entering corporate, public-sector or charity communications roles.

Career Pathways

The Diploma in Professional Communication is a credential that strengthens existing roles as much as it opens new ones. Typical roles where it adds direct value include:

Communications Officer (public sector, charity, professional body)
Internal Communications Specialist (corporate, third sector)
Executive Assistant (board-level writing support)
Project Manager (with communication portfolio responsibility)
Engagement Lead (membership organisation, regulator)
Press Officer (NHS trust, local authority, charity)

The Diploma is the natural prerequisite for our Higher Diploma in Strategic Communication and BA-level work in communications or media studies.

Entry Requirements

Completion of secondary school (A-Levels, BTEC, or international equivalent).
IELTS 5.5 overall (no band below 5.0) for non-native English speakers.
Personal statement.
Mature applicants (21+) may apply with two years of relevant work experience.

Why Study at LSJHML

The London School of Journalism, Humanities & Modern Languages is a specialist higher-education provider based in central London. Our programmes are designed in dialogue with working professionals — journalists, translators, civil servants, academics, broadcasters, editors, publishers and policy researchers — so what you learn in seminar on Monday is what your future employer is using on Tuesday. We deliberately keep cohorts small, give every student named tutor support, and treat employability as a structural part of every programme rather than an optional add-on.

London is the work — politics, courts, capital markets, theatre, broadcasting, publishing, public service, the global press. Your studies are taught in the same square mile where the stories you read about happen. Whether you join us on-campus, online or by distance learning, the city is your classroom and our industry network is your launchpad.