IIE BA Honours in Strategic Brand Communication - Distance

• Brand and Brand Building
• Brand Communication Strategy and Planning
• Channel and Media Planning
• Practice of Brand Building
• Research for the Human Sciences

Brand and Brand Building
This foundation module develops students’ understanding of the key brand concepts that guide the development of innovative and purposeful solutions to brand building opportunities and challenges. Emphasis is placed on creative, critical and systemic thinking and students are given the opportunity to demonstrate higher order thinking to analyse, evaluate and apply concepts to given practical scenarios.

Brand Communication Strategy and Planning
The purpose of the Brand Communication Strategy and Planning module is to enable the student to practically develop brand positioning which will drive communication strategy. Students will engage with various strategic models and multiple brand communication channels and tools to develop brand communication strategies and plans. An insight-based critical evaluation and analysis of all touch points will facilitate human-centric innovative thinking.

Channel and Media Planning
Channel and Media Planning introduces and integrates channel, media and contact planning in context of the various media platforms available, and actively considers the planning mechanics when developing a fully integrated and leveraged channel plan. Students will assess the optimisation of media planning options and budgeting/spend considering increasing media fragmentation and complexity.

Practice of Brand Building
This module applies the theories of strategic brand management and communication to answer real-life client briefs. The focus is on the development and crafting of an innovative brand building strategy and plan that will address complex business and societal challenges. Students will implement brand research to investigate situational, environmental and commercial scenarios. They will derive consumer insights to drive the execution of original and meaningful solutions to multi-faceted brand challenges. Students work in teams to address real-life working challenges; develop their skills in building and recommending brand solutions; and collaborate with peers in a process of innovative problem solving.

Research for the Human Sciences
Students will develop essential research skills for both professional and academic contexts alongside the ability to present and defend research to an expert audience. Emphasis is placed on independent and critical thinking, analysis, research design and methods, as well as academic discourse. Students complete a self-directed academic research project of limited scope under supervision in the discipline of the degree.

The IIE BA Honours in Strategic Brand Communication consists of 5 modules and has been set up to support a 2-year journey with a maximum completion time of 4 years. Students are required to register per academic year; and each academic year consists of two semesters

Year 1
Semester One

• Brand and Brand Building

Semester Two

• Brand Communication Strategy and Planning
• Research for the Human Sciences (18-Month Module)

Year 2
Semester Three

• Channel and Media Planning
• Research for the Human Sciences (18-Month Module)

Semester Four

• Practice of Brand Building
• Research for the Human Sciences (18-Month Module)

Study further with IIE Pathways
The successful completion of the IIE BA Honours in Strategic Brand Communication enables you to progress into the IIE MA in Creative Brand Leadership delivered at IIE Vega, subject to meeting the admission requirements.

Distance delivery includes:

• An online learning system that leads students through the content, prescribed material and activities.
• Online academic navigators (tutors) who are subject experts and maintain the human experience of the learning process.
• Weekly live sessions with your distance navigators.
• A dedicated success navigator who supports students throughout the learning journey.
• Online research supervisors who guide students’ research design, development and learning.
• Our flagship Brand Challenge project – an online transdisciplinary collaboration with real world challenges and clients.
• Access to our online information centre and resources.

Note:

While you can generally structure your study time as you need, there are scheduled online sessions during which you will get mediated support. Scheduled assessments in the form of online activities, assignments and exams are paced to ensure your studies progress.

What you need in terms of time and materials:

• Prescribed textbooks are available for online purchase.
• Distance students need to commit to approximately 12-15 hours a week for distance engagement (most of which is after hours) with material and assessments to succeed.

Please note synchronous sessions generally take place after hours.

To succeed in your distance journey, you need to be:

• Self-motivated and invested in your learning journey.
• Disciplined and able to balance studying with work and family commitments.
• Able to direct your own studies, maintaining a diligent pace.

To assist you in succeeding in your distance journey, our teaching approach is:

• Student-centric: we facilitate your thought processes to foster innovative ideas and creative solutions.
• Authentic: we use real-life examples and case studies.
• Activity-based: We move your learning forward through applied activities and assessments.
• Discussion-based: we ask you questions and stimulate debate to provoke deep thought and insights about course content.

Device and Connectivity Specifications Required for Online Study: 

• Reliable internet connection (we recommend 5-10 GB of data per month and an internet speed of at least 0.15 Mbps)
• Desktop PC or laptop with at least an i3 processor and 4GB RAM memory
• Windows 8 or macOS 10.15 (Microsoft Office 365 is available as a free download for IIE students), and Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge Chromium or Firefox
• A working webcam and microphone
• An uninterrupted power supply is also highly recommended

Exams are written at an exam centre and in some instances online. These details will be specified in your programme assessment schedule.

Where assessments are written in person:

• For students based in South Africa, online students may select any campus of The IIE’s Varsity College, Rosebank College, Vega, or IIE MSA as their Examination Centre.
• An alternative examination centre is only permissible for students studying abroad and those located in a province of South Africa where there is no IIE campus. If there is no IIE campus within reach, an alternative venue will need to be sourced by you. For non-IIE venues, there is an alternative venue levy per module.

• An appropriate Bachelor’s Degree; OR
• An appropriate Advanced Diploma, provided that a 360 credit Diploma or appropriate equivalent has been completed.

Please note:

• Candidates are normally required to have a minimum final year average of 60% in the qualifications final-year (NQF L7) modules. Those with a final year average of 55 - 59% will be admitted if they attained 60% or higher for the designated cognate/core discipline final-year (NQF L7) modules.

Undergraduate qualification in a non-cognate field

• If the discipline of the degree or diploma is not sufficiently cognate, a candidate may still be admitted if they achieve a minimum final year average of 60% in their final year modules and attained at least 65% in the essay and presentation assessment of the compulsory Introduction to Brand Building short course.
• There are two short course intakes per year (dates to be released shortly), only one opportunity is available to students.

Senate Discretionary Admission:

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): 

• Where candidates do not satisfy the formal admission requirements for this qualification, The IIE may consider an admission application in terms of the Credit Accumulation and Transfer, Recognition of Prior Learning and Qualification Completion Policy (IIE010).
• If applicant does not meet minimum admission requirements and there is no alternative (such as completion of NQP modules) but they have relevant experience, the following must be requested to consider admission via RPL:

1. Certificates for all formal (Accredited Higher Education qualifications) and/or informal qualifications/modules (SLP’s, Microcredentials etc). SAQA certificates must be provided for any international qualifications.
2. CV to determine whether the following are related to the qualification that the applicant is applying for:
   a. Formal (Accredited Higher Education qualifications) and/or informal qualifications/modules (SLP’s, Microcredentials etc)
   b. Relevant work experience.              

Additional Notes:

Graduates of The IIE who do not meet the conditional admissions requirements for admission to Honours can enrol for and repeat all or some of their NQF Level 7 modules in order to improve their marks so that they can meet the entry requirements for Honours. These graduate students will then receive an additional transcript after the completion of the repeat module(s), where the repeat module(s) will appear as a second iteration of the module(s) on the transcript. The marks from the second iteration can then be used for admission to Honours in the subsequent academic year. This option is only available to graduates from The IIE and does not apply to graduates from other HE institutions.

International Admission:

• A SAQA NQF L7 Evaluation Certificate in an appropriate field and meeting the additional admission requirements.