The students follow a one year master programme Business Administration (Commercial Management). Some students are international students who follow the course as a part of their Erasmus programme.

A goal of the course Marketing Communication is to familiarize students with the practice of marketing communication plans. Students have to develop an integrated marketing communication plan for a product / service / company in groups of five students. The aim of the group assignment is to enable students to apply the various aspects of the communication mix, to set up appropriate marketing communication objectives, and to apply marketing strategies and tactics based on the various communication tools. This group assignment aims to encourage students to think strategically about all elements that are important to compose a marketing communication plan.

1. Short description of the product / service / idea via mail to present to the students during the first class of the academic year (week of September 26). This way the students can choose a topic that interests them.
2. Presence during one on campus meeting with the students in the third week of the academic year (week of October 10). This meeting will normally take a maximum of one hour per organization. The exact time of this meeting will be announced about one or two weeks beforehand after consultation with the members of the organization. If the organization is not available for the entire day, they can indicate in advance the hours during which they can be present. This will be taken into account when making the planning. If the organization is not available at all that day, we will look for another solution to provide the students with sufficient information (for example a meeting on another day or a document can be created by the organization with information about the company and expectations, and students can bundle their questions via email).
3. Answering students’ questions throughout the semester. If the students still have some remaining questions for the organization after the meeting, they can mail their questions directly to the organization (if the organization agrees) or to the teaching assistant (Joyce De Temmerman). In the latter case, the teaching assistant will contact the organization via mail if these questions seem to be relevant. We then try to bundle the questions and keep this mailing to a minimum. The organization can choose which option they prefer.
4. Presence during the presentations of the students in the last week of the first semester (week of December 12). These presentation sessions will normally take a maximum of one hour per organization. The time and location will be announced about one month in advance, after consultation with the organization. If the organization is not available for the entire day, they can indicate in advance the hours during which they can be present. This will be taken into account when making the planning.
   At the end of the group assignment, each group will have to present their results to a jury of students, teachers, and the organization. During this presentation, each group is given ten minutes to present.

Our students wrote marketing communication plans for the following organizations:

• Vandenbulcke
• Waterlogic
• Stadsacademie Gent
• Volley West-Vlaanderen
• Grandeco Wallfashion
• …