How does the Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice differ from the Higher Diploma in Strategic Communication?

Strategic Communication weights more heavily on planning and campaign architecture. The Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice adds substantial media-handling and media-engagement practice — broadcast training, pitching, on-record protocol. Pick based on whether your role is more strategy-led or more media-facing.

Can the Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice be taken alongside a job?

Yes. Online and distance routes are designed for working senior practitioners, with evening tutorials and a live-brief project that can often be aligned with a real workplace brief where appropriate.

What does the media training on the Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice involve?

Structured broadcast media training — radio and television interview practice, podcast handling, bridging and blocking technique, message discipline under hostile questioning. Sessions are recorded and reviewed with industry observers.

Is the Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice aligned with CIPR standards?

The ethics, law and professional-practice modules are designed around CIPR and PRCA standards and the GCS framework. Students often pair the Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice with a CIPR or PRCA short award — the two complement each other.

Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice | LSJHML | Harold International College of London

Course Overview

The Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice at the London School of Journalism, Humanities & Modern Languages (LSJHML) is a fifteen-to-eighteen-month UK qualification for senior practitioners ready to operate at strategic level across communications and media. You will design and run a live brief for a UK organisation across the academic year, run media-practice exercises with industry observers, and finish with a capstone that demonstrates integrated comms and media judgement.

This is the Higher Diploma for communicators whose work brushes up against media as a structural part of the role — public bodies, regulators, corporates with active press exposure. By the end you can sit comfortably across the press-office, comms-strategy and media-engagement functions with credibility on all three.

Key Features

UK Level 5/6 qualification in communication and media practice — fifteen to eighteen months full-time.
Live brief project — design and run a campaign for a real or simulated UK client.
Media-practice exercises — pitch sessions, broadcast media training, on-record handling.
Crisis simulation week — rolling scenario with industry observers feeding back in real time.
Strategic frameworks module — OASIS, GCS standards, IPA effectiveness, AMEC measurement.
Direct top-up into the final year of a UK Bachelor's degree at LSJHML or a partner university.

What You Will Learn

The Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice is structured around the strategic communications and media-handling cycle — insight, plan, narrative, channel, media engagement, measurement, iteration. You finish able to lead the communications and media work behind a major change or reputational moment.

Strategic planning — OASIS, GCS, IPA frameworks; mapping objectives to outcomes.
Audience research — segmentation, persona work, behavioural insight.
Narrative and message — message-house construction, framing, prebunking.
Media engagement — pitching, on-record handling, broadcast media training.
Crisis communications — pre-mortems, escalation, holding lines, recovery.
Internal communications — change comms, employee voice, leadership visibility.
Measurement — AMEC framework, share-of-voice, sentiment, behaviour change.
Ethics, law and regulation — CAP Code, UK GDPR, CIPR and PRCA standards, broadcaster impartiality.

Who This Higher Diploma Is For

Advanced Diploma graduates in communications, journalism or media ready for strategic-level work.
In-house press and comms managers looking for a recognised credential to support a senior promotion.
Civil servants and policy communicators working to GCS standards who want a structured external qualification.
Career changers from journalism or campaigning moving into corporate or in-house communications leadership.

Career Pathways

Graduates of the Higher Diploma in Communication and Media Practice typically move into management-track comms and media-engagement roles across UK public, private and third sectors. Typical first or next roles include:

Communications Manager (NHS trust, central or local government, regulator)
Account Manager (PR consultancy, public-affairs agency)
Internal Communications Manager (corporate, third sector)
Strategic Communications Adviser (charity, NGO)
Media Relations Manager (membership body, regulator)
Press Office Lead (public body, corporate)

The Higher Diploma articulates directly into the final year of a UK BA in Strategic Communication, Communications or a related discipline at LSJHML or a partner university.

Entry Requirements

An Advanced Diploma (Level 5) or equivalent in a related subject, OR a Diploma plus two years of relevant work experience.
IELTS 6.0 overall (no band below 5.5) for non-native English speakers.
Personal statement and CV.
Mature applicants (25+) without standard qualifications may apply with significant senior-track 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.