Strategic Communication Management
Doctoral study programme Strategic Communication Management is an interdisciplinary study, focused on new strategic managerial values (personal, intercultural, economic, political, cultural, artistic, religious, health-related, scientific, global, regional, national and local) and new specific subjects. The programme offers theoretical and methodological approaches to communication, as well as interdisciplinary communication skills, competences and knowledge from the area of strategic management (management of and handling information and communication channels at all levels of the managerial process).
Courses
1st Semester | |||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS |
1 | Communication management | assist. prof. dr. Daria Mustić and visiting professors | 12 |
2 | Quantitative and qualitative research methods in communication management | assist. prof. dr. Tomaž Kramberger, assist. prof. dr. Mira Hercigonja – Szekeres, prof. dr. Mario Plenković and visiting professors | 12 |
3 | Methodology – writing scientific papers | assoc. prof. dr. Jurij Toplak, assist. prof. dr. Mira Hercigonja – Szekeres and visiting professors | 6 |
Total | 30 | ||
2nd Semester | |||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS |
4 | Communicology (Humanities and social approaches in human communication) | assist. prof. dr. Daria Mustić and visiting professors | 8 |
5 | Information, communication and multi-media technologies | assist. prof. dr. Vitomir Grbavac, prof. dr. Brano Markič and visiting professors | 8 |
6.1 | Individual research and project work in the area of strategic communication management – Case study I | Coordinator, Study dean and visiting professors | 8 |
6.2 - 6.4 | Elective subject (seminar) | Visiting professors | 6 |
Total | 30 |
Elective Subjects – Seminars: 2nd Semester | |||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS |
6.2 | Internet and social networks in communication management | assist. prof. dr. Vitomir Grbavac and visiting professors | 6 |
6.3 | Politics and communication management (political communication) | assist. prof. dr. Božidar Veljković and visiting professors | 6 |
6.4 | Persuasive communicology | assist. prof. dr. Ljubica Bakić – Tomić in gostujoči profesorji | 6 |
3rd Semester | ||||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS | |
7 | Leadership and project management | prof. dr. Mladen Radujković | 10 | |
8 | Media communication and public relations | assoc. prof. dr. Zdravko Šorđan, assist. prof. dr. Daria Mustić and visiting professors | 10 | |
9 | Individual research and project work in the area of communication management – Case study II | All professors from the study programme and visiting professors | 10 | |
Total | 30 | |||
4th Semester | ||||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS | |
10 | Corporative and crisis communication management | prof. dr. Ksenija Čulo and visiting professors | 8 | |
11 | Public and stakeholders | assist. prof. dr. Daria Mustić and visiting professors | 8 | |
12.1-12-6 | Elective seminar I | Visiting professors | 8 | |
12.1-12-6 |
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Visiting professors | 6 | |
Total | 30 |
Elective Subjects – Seminars: 4th Semester | |||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS |
12.1 | International relations | assoc. prof. dr. Cirila Toplak and visiting professors | 6 |
12.2 | Management and HR development | assist. prof. dr. Vidoje Vujić and visiting professors | 6 |
12.3 | Innovative corporate communication | assist. prof. dr. Ljubica Bakić – Tomić and visiting professors | 6 |
12.4 | Information and communication technologies in communication management | prof. dr. Brano Markić and visiting professors | 6 |
12.5 | Communication law, consultancy, lobbying and ethics of communication management | prof. dr. Šime Ivanjko, prof. dr. Ludvik Toplak and visiting professors | 6 |
12.6 | Communication marketing and advertising | prof. dr. Ksenija Čulo and visiting professors | 6 |
5th semester | |||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS |
13 | Methodology of preparing doctoral thesis | Mentors and visiting professors | 16 |
14 |
Communication industry | assist. prof. dr. Suzana Žilič Fišer and visiting professors | 6 |
15.1-15.2 | Elective seminar | Visiting professors | 8 |
Total | 30 |
Elective Subjects – Seminars: 5th Semester | |||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS |
15.1 | Management and Leadership | prof. ddr. Marija Ovsenik and visiting professors | 8 |
15.2 | Graphic design of media campaigns | assist. prof. dr. Daria Mustić and visiting professors | 8 |
6th semester | |||
No. | Subject | Professor | ECTS |
13 | PhD thesis preparation | Mentors and visiting professors | 24 |
14 |
Case study on a field of Communication Management | Mentors, Head of department and visiting professors | 6 |
Total | 30 |
Faculty
Programs:
Graduate: Social Gerontology, Strategic Communication Management
CV:
Bibliography: Read more
Jurij Toplak, Ph.D., is the Chief Executive Officer of the Alma Mater Europaea ISH, the oldest Slovenian private higher education institution, and the Chairman of the European Administrative Academy, the Alma Mater's parent nonprofit organization. He is the Chair of the It's About People conference of Europe's sciences and arts leaders and scholars, held annually by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and Alma Mater Europaea. He is the Alma Mater's Management Board member and former founding dean of the European Business Studies master's program.
Between 2016 and 2022, he served as the Provost/Executive Vice-President of Alma Mater Europaea, and since 2022, he has been chairing the internationalization activities aiming at expanding the university's activities globally. For over fifteen years, he has managed higher education institutions, served as a dean, supervised doctoral programs and dissertations, built global academic partnerships and led the development of in-person and online social studies, humanities, health and business education.
A distinguished legal and human rights scholar, Professor Toplak has advised governments worldwide and international organizations Council of Europe, OSCE, ODIHR, European Union and UNDP. He spent three months working for the EU in Uganda and observed elections on expert missions in Finland, Canada, Latvia, France, Malta, Monaco, the US and elsewhere.
He is among the leading European election law authorities with experience lecturing worldwide, including at Harvard, Fordham, Yale, Columbia, UCLA, and Washington & Lee. He served as a Fulbright scholar at the UCLA School of Law and researched at Georgetown, Oxford, Central European University, and others. The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Guardian and The Boston Globe published Professor Toplak's legal views.
With Daniel Smilov, he co-edited Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe (Ashgate, 2008). With David Schultz, he co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Election Law (2022), the most thorough comparative book on the law of democracy on six continents, launched at Keble College, Oxford University, in August 2022.
Jure Toplak has led impact litigation projects and was involved in a fair trial, election law, free speech, government transparency, equality, disability, discrimination and torture cases before the highest national courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg. In 2017, he wrote a challenge to the referendum results that led to the first-ever public hearing by the Supreme Court of Slovenia and the annulment of referendum results. In Toplak and Mrak v. Slovenia, one of the leading disability voting judgments, the ECtHR found a violation of his uncle's rights.
At the University of Maribor Faculty of Law, he has taught since 2000 and chaired the Public Law Department between 2016 and 2022. Since 2019, he has taught at the Fordham Law School in New York.
He has served as the board member or the CEO of several profit and non-profit academic institutions and served on three corporate boards. He was a member of the Central Election Commission of Slovenia for twelve years.
Professor Toplak is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2000, the Slovenian Lawyers’ Association awarded Jure Toplak with the 'Young Lawyer of the Year' award for his book on electoral redistricting, and in 2022, with the title 'Lawyer of the Year'.
Advantages
Grants & Partnerships
Employability
A list of possible employment opportunities and areas for candidates with a PhD in Strategic Communication Management:
Public relations
Leading media, economic and political campaigns
Managing crisis communication
Corporate communication
Press office – corporations and political groups
Media relations
Communicology research
Political marketing
Communiology specialists for work in institutes and higher education institutions (researchers)
PR agencies - management
Strategic and communication counselling
Communication analysis of the competition (benchmarking and SWOT analysis)
Strategic communication in tourism, etc.