How to become a communication professional

raining journalists, scriptwriters, directors, public relations professionals, and, in short, communicators is one of the objectives of UVic-UCC. The Faculty of Business and Communication (FEC) at the Vic Campus offers three professional degrees in which students not only learn communication: they practice it from day one. Journalism, Audiovisual Communication, and Advertising and Public Relations make up a complete offering in which future communicators are trained for a changing professional environment, putting into practice what they learn from the very first moment.

Through a combination of practice, classroom simulation, contact with the profession, and real experiences, students build their professional profile from the start of their studies. With training highly focused on practice, UVic-UCC has a methodology based on projects, simulations, and real experiences. “We prepare students for the professional world. We have top-level facilities and active professionals in the classroom, and this greatly enriches learning. I would also like to highlight the close relationship with the teaching staff,” explains Ana M. Palomo, vice-dean of the Faculty of Business and Communication at UVic-UCC.

Acting as journalists, producers, directors, or public relations officers, students train through real-life cases. As Anna Duran, who recently graduated in Journalism from UVic, assures, "it combines theoretical training with practice very well." "From the very first moment, you have the opportunity to work on real internships, participate in radio programs, podcasts, or news coverage, which allows you to gain experience before entering the job market," explains Anna, who agrees on the "personal approach" and the unbeatable opportunity to have "professional professors actively working in the sector," in addition to Vic being "a very pleasant university city that facilitates student life and creates a very close atmosphere among students."

Anna had the opportunity to intern on the program Crims for 3Cat, where she was eventually hired thanks to the "support and guidance" she received from the UVic Marketing Department, which "opened doors for me that, at first, I wouldn't have even considered."

Own and unique media

FECmèdia, the UVic's own media laboratory, allows classrooms to be transformed into a newsroom and a real production space. The project integrates journalistic, audiovisual, and digital content with active student participation. The university also offers them the opportunity to collaborate with real media outlets.

“We maintain a very close relationship with the professional sector through constant collaborations with companies and institutions. We bring active professionals into the classroom so they can share real and up-to-date experiences with students. Furthermore, the studies include mandatory internships, with access to a very broad pool of prominent companies in the sector. All this facilitates a more direct and quality job placement,” describes Ana M. Palomo. The result of all this is that “more than 80% of graduates find work within six months of completing their studies, often in areas related to their training,” thanks to applied skills aligned with the real needs of the job market.

Assuming a professional role from the very first moment you step into the classroom is both stimulating and promising. The UVic-UCC curriculum emphasizes practicality also with its own media, encouraging student participation. A digital and multimedia newspaper, a radio station, a television channel, a podcast platform, audiovisual productions... are part of its offering. The magazine INSIGHTS, the web series LISA, UVic Podcast, and 'Pell de gallina', a radio program that airs on El 9 FM are the self-produced communicative and creative projects. 

LISA and 3Cat

One of the projects with the UVic-UCC quality seal is the web series LISA. It is a unique experience in which students from the Audiovisual Communication degree have participated since its creation. Produced jointly with the production company Abacus, it is a mentoring action, in which students can fully engage in the different areas of the series: photography, art production, costume design, script, direction, sound, soundtrack, and graphic design.

Jordina Martínez, a graduate in Audiovisual Communication, participated in the direction and production of LISA3. “It was a demanding but, at the same time, very rewarding experience. Before joining the project, I had a rather limited view of the functions of a production assistant and thought that their work was mainly concentrated on set". For Jordina, “participating in a real production also makes you more aware of the responsibility that each decision carries and the importance of teamwork”. This is why she highlights the UVic-UCC's “learning methodology”, as well as its facilities and, above all, the fact that “it is a small university that offers a very close and personalized approach”. “That the professors know your name and surname and are always willing to help you is one of the aspects I value most about the university”, says Jordina.

LISA, which narrates the experiences of a student from the Mechatronic Engineering degree at UVic-UCC, reaches its third season and can now be seen on the 3Cat platform. The participation of industry professionals in the training process, as well as the university's alliances with different media, guarantees students' contact with the reality of the profession before finishing their degree. Experiences like LISA reinforce the value of UVic-UCC as a university for training in applied and real environments.

With its own work dynamics for audiovisual production, UVic-UCC provides its students with all the tools to develop their talent, training them in unique experiences like LISA and professional resources that extend to audiovisual equipment loan services, access to specialized equipment and technology, as well as offering the possibility of turning ideas into real projects. With the right tools, it is possible to train future professionals.