The Master's degree in Information and Communication is both a training program by and for research in information and communication sciences and a training program for careers in communication, journalism and cultural mediation.

The courses are taught by research professors who are members of the Research Laboratory on Creole and Francophone Spaces (LCF), to which the master's program is attached, as well as by professionals in the relevant fields, either affiliated with the department (part-time associate professors) or working full-time in companies. The vast majority of teaching (over 80%) is provided by tenured faculty members of the department, with an equal number of research professors and associate professors.

A significant portion of the program is dedicated to professional internships and the writing of a research thesis in information and communication sciences. Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University, this specialization comprises 910 student hours, including 420 hours of professional internships.

Educational goals :

In line with the Department's overhaul of the Information and Communication Bachelor's degree program, the new curriculum strikes a balance and complements research-based training in information and communication sciences with professional skills specific to journalism, communication, and cultural mediation. The overall educational objective is to train competent professionals capable of entering the job market, while also developing analytical skills that allow them to critically and objectively examine social processes of information, communication, and mediation.

Training in the professional skills specific to journalism, communication, and cultural mediation is provided by the three part-time associate professors of the Department, as well as by professionals working in the relevant fields within the region. It builds upon the technical skills developed in the students' previous studies (particularly in the Bachelor's degree in Information and Communication) to cultivate more strategic skills in these areas. The professional courses are designed to be interdisciplinary and progressive across semesters (reporting, communication strategies, mediation tools, then press relations and institutional communication, strategy and development, then research and investigation, agency pitches, and project development). Internships in professional settings play a central role in the program, in both the first and second years of the Master's program, and are subject to individualized support and evaluation closely aligned with the professional skills developed.

Regarding courses in Information and Communication Sciences, the teaching staff have chosen to no longer offer courses focused exclusively on their respective areas of specialization, as is the case in the current Bachelor's degree program. Instead, several teaching staff members collaborate within the same course units so that students can acquire the fundamentals of conducting research in Information and Communication Sciences by drawing on the knowledge and methods specific to this scientific field. During the first three semesters, and in a progressive manner, courses are offered on research methodology (constructing a research topic, methods for collecting and analyzing data, analyzing survey data, and writing up findings) and courses based on the work of the team's teaching staff to explain the specificities of research (theories and concepts in Information and Communication Sciences, research settings and empirical descriptors, and scientific argumentation). The aim is to optimize the benefits of research-based and research-oriented training, highlighted by the latest evaluation of the training, as well as the success of students in writing a research paper in information and communication sciences for which they benefit from personalized guidance.

While the first year of the Master's program combines research-based training with professional skills development, the program's structure has been redesigned in the second year to allow students to meet the dual requirements of the Master's degree. These requirements involve completing a research thesis in information and communication sciences (occupying most of semester 3) and undertaking a long-term internship in a professional setting (occupying most of semester 4).

Training opportunities:

The desire to offer students from Réunion a generalist education in Information, Communication, and Cultural Mediation responds to a pragmatic constraint of our educational context (insularity, distance from mainland France), which explains the low mobility of our students. The territory nevertheless offers a real job market in these three fields, even though skilled jobs may elude Réunion students due to a lack of qualifications. This is a crucial territorial issue that must be addressed, placing the training within an objective of developing professional pathways linked to the economic, ecological, digital, and societal transitions of the territory (action 4 of the strategic axes defined by the University of Réunion for its 2026-2030 educational offerings).

Based on our experience, we've observed that the local job market might suggest that this generalist approach allows students to adapt to a highly diverse and evolving professional environment. Hyper-specialization in these fields can quickly become obsolete.

Nearly all press and communication companies in Réunion, as well as cultural mediation institutions, have direct links with the teaching department, either through educational interventions or internships formalized with the University of Réunion. Strengthening foreign language training, as suggested by the program evaluation, and maintaining and expanding the network of partners in the southwest Indian Ocean region (Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros), East Africa (Mozambique in particular), and more broadly, the shores of the Indian Ocean, will be priorities of the new program, aiming to broaden the potential employment pool for our students.

The program benefits from academic supervision provided primarily by highly qualified, tenured faculty members from the department, each with diverse areas of expertise. This supervision allows students to personalize their learning paths according to their career aspirations, with individualized guidance.

The connections maintained with the local professional network by the PAST (Professional Support and Training Service) and professionals involved in the training allow students to complete long-term internships in professional settings under optimal conditions, both in their first year of the Master's program (M1) (4 to 6 weeks) and in their second year (M2) (8 to 12 weeks). Students benefit from personalized support during their internships, which, in addition to the coursework, allows them to address their specific needs for professional skills development. Internships take place within regional media outlets (Réunion 1).^st benefiting from agreements with the department, Antenne Réunion, Le Quotidien, IPR, etc.), communication and advertising agencies, communication departments of local authorities (Region, ONF, National Park, Nature Reserves, Department, town halls, etc.), museums and cultural institutions (Stella Matutina Museum, Villèle Museum, Volcano House, Natural History Museum, etc.). Agreements are also established with the Directorate of Cultural Affairs of the Indian Ocean and the Regional Health Agency.

The research professors on the team attached to the Communication, Culture, and Media division of the Laboratory for Research on Creole and Francophone Spaces (LCF) offer a truly diverse range of specializations ("Public Spaces, Media, Flows, and Networks"; "Culture and Heritage Processes"; "Science, Knowledge, and Society"; "Mobilizations, Politics, and Religions"). This allows students to assimilate the contributions of information and communication sciences in relation to their specific research projects. Individualized guidance during the completion of a research thesis in information and communication sciences provides students with the opportunity to mobilize scientific knowledge, understanding its construction methods, to reflectively address the processes and issues that shape the professional fields in which they will work.

Total training hours: 910 student hours (including 420 hours of internships).

The program aims to train students for careers in journalism, communication, and cultural mediation by providing them with the opportunity to develop professional skills and the reflective conditions necessary for their implementation. Through research-based and applied training, its objective is to cultivate students' critical thinking skills regarding their understanding of social phenomena related to information, communication, and cultural mediation, their historical contexts, and their historical development, particularly concerning the uses of digital technology and artificial intelligence within their professional fields.

In connection with their research themes, the teaching researchers of the department offer two minor teaching units in the training program: "Mediation of culture and heritage" and "Open sources and digital commons".

The skills acquired during this training are in line with those of the RNCP record

The specific skill blocks targeted by the training are as follows:

Implementing advanced and specialized uses of digital tools:

– Identify digital uses and the impacts of their evolution on the area(s) concerned

– To use advanced digital tools independently

To mobilize and produce highly specialized knowledge:

– To mobilize highly specialized knowledge, some of which is at the forefront of knowledge in a field of work or study, as the basis for original thinking

– Develop a critical awareness of knowledge in a field and/or at the interface of several fields

– Solving problems to develop new knowledge and procedures, and integrating knowledge from different fields

– To make innovative contributions within the framework of high-level exchanges and in international contexts

– To conduct a reflective and detached analysis taking into account the issues, problems and complexity of a request or situation in order to propose suitable and/or innovative solutions in compliance with regulatory developments.

 Implement specialized communication for knowledge transfer:

– Identify, select, and critically analyze various specialized resources to document a topic and synthesize this data for use.
– To communicate for training or knowledge transfer purposes, orally and in writing, in French and in at least one foreign language.

 Contributing to transformation in a professional context:

– Managing complex and unpredictable professional or academic contexts that require new strategic approaches

– To take responsibility for contributing to professional knowledge and practices and/or for reviewing the strategic performance of a team

– To lead a project (design, management, team coordination, implementation and administration, evaluation, dissemination) that may require multidisciplinary skills within a collaborative framework

– Analyze one's actions in professional situations, self-evaluate to improve one's practice within a quality improvement framework

– To respect the principles of ethics, professional conduct, and social and environmental responsibility

– To take into account the issue of disability and accessibility in each of its professional actions.

Selecting devices, tools and techniques in the field of information and communication:

– To guide the choice of communication and editorial techniques across the diversity of their media (written, graphic, audiovisual, digital)

– To produce and oversee the production of various communication materials and tools

For students specializing in communication and journalism:

Designing information and communication policies and strategies:

– To understand the socio-professional, cultural, national and international contexts of actors and organizations in information and communication

– To mobilize the theoretical foundations in information and communication

– Identify alliance, partnership and recommendation strategies

– Develop a strategic approach to overall communication

– To design or lead a strategic and/or operational recommendation for a client in the field of information and communication.

Conducting information and communication diagnostics for study or research purposes:

– To manage and implement a communication action plan using appropriate tools and resources

– Define and implement a quality approach in the field of information and communication

– Conduct a communication audit

– To monitor the state of research and regulatory developments by updating one's knowledge through ongoing monitoring in one's field

 Managing an information and communication project:

– Coordinate the resources and skills necessary for the implementation of a communication project

– To identify the strengths, weaknesses, resources and environment of an organization in order to enable it to achieve its objectives

– Design dashboards and identify indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of information and communication systems

– Apply the principles of budget preparation and monitoring in the field of information and communication

– Contribute to human resources management (recruitment, training, taking on responsibilities) and get them working in teams in the management of information and communication projects

– Select and interact with service providers

– Communicating and interacting with the media

– To respect the legal frameworks and ethical principles related to information and communication professions, particularly in a digital environment

For students specializing in the field of cultural mediation:

Administration and management of structures:

– Analyze the feasibility and design a cultural project, develop the rationale, create a mediation strategy, develop public interventions, and define its phases, timeline, and implementation methods.

– To promote, raise awareness and communicate about tangible and intangible heritage to diverse audiences (young audiences, adult audiences, audiences with disabilities, etc.)

– Analyze cultural audiences and cultural practices (conditions of production and reception of cultural goods, remote audiences and audiences with disabilities, focusing on mediation mechanisms).

Design, development and planning of cultural mediation projects:

– Identify the different types of media, specializing in culture, the arts, and science

– To analyze the relationship between arts and sciences from the perspective of research, discovery, and creation processes

– To study cultural mediation in its most general aspects (history of mediation; mediation and awareness-raising and societal territories; mediation, mediators and intermediate spaces).

Enhancement of cultural heritage and mediation:

– Mediating knowledge (formal and informal approaches) and raising awareness of specific knowledge

– To develop a scientific mediation adapted and often specific to scientific mediation with a view to science culture  (Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond) (historical approach and theoretical problems, contemporary science mediation devices and their implications)

– Design and organize a series of conferences and debates, an activity, a workshop, a mediation program, and implement an evaluation system

Work placement in a professional setting during the second year of the Master's program (4 to 6 weeks)

Work placement in a professional setting during the second year of the Master's program (8 to 12 weeks)

Registration fees are set annually by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space and are available on our institution's website: Register at the University of Reunion

• To have a good academic level, or even to demonstrate progress during higher education.
  Mastery of theoretical and conceptual frameworks in the fields of Information and Communication Theories, media sociology, cultural mediation, and communication.
• Demonstrate analytical and writing skills.
  To be able to use the different registers of written and oral expression in the French language with ease;
  Knowing how to mobilize methodological tools (discourse analysis, semiotic analysis, ethnographic approach, etc.) to analyze and understand media productions and communication phenomena within the public space.
• To be autonomous, involved and rigorous.
• Demonstrate consistency between the candidate's academic project and the training.
• Promote the diversity of your experiences and career path. Experiences or internships in information and communication professions will be appreciated.

• Particular attention will be paid to the grades from the different years of the candidate's post-baccalaureate studies, especially in the Bachelor's degree in Information and Communication, but more broadly in the humanities and social sciences.
• The training project proposed by the candidate will be an opportunity for him to demonstrate his academic qualities.
• A cover letter outlining the training project in line with the training program is required.
• Any annual evaluations of the candidate by their trainers will be an asset.

Bachelor's degree in information and communication sciences.

Depending on the student's situation, applications for admission to the first year of the Master's program (M1) follow three specific procedures (the national platform MonMaster, Études en France, Validation of Acquired Experience). For more information, please consult the university's student services page. Enroll in the first year of a Master's program

Baccalaureate + 3 or equivalent

Graduates with a Bachelor's degree in information and communication sciences or more generally in humanities and social sciences who demonstrate an interest in careers in communication, journalism or cultural mediation.

25 seats

The admission dates for the first year of the Master's degree (M1) are set nationally each year and are available on the platform. My Master 

For admission to the second year of the Master's degree (M2), the schedule is determined by the institution. It is available on the student services page of the university website: Students re-registering

IN 2023-2024:

M1: 83%

M2: 82%

Events

Pursuing a PhD in information and communication sciences is a possibility.

The students concerned are invited to carry out their M2 professional internship within the Research Laboratory on Creole and Francophone Spaces (LCF), which allows them to prepare their doctoral project.

The sectors of activity and types of employment targeted by this training correspond to those listed in the RNCP record

• Communication advisor or consultant
• External and/or internal communications officer
• Head of external and/or internal communications
• Head of external relations, internal relations, public relations or press services
• Editorial webmaster. (businesses, local authorities)
• Community manager
• Multimedia and/or audiovisual project manager
• Web marketing manager or project manager
• Webdesigner
• Journalist
• Cultural mediator in private or public organizations
• Head of Public Relations, Press and Mediation
• Within Science, Technology and Industry Culture Centers: head of school activities and training, science communicator, director or deputy director
• Head of private or public institutional communication department
• Project Manager for Arts and Cultural Education
• Assistant to the Director of Reception and Public Relations
• Cultural Development Officer
• Artistic, scientific and mediation project manager
• Festival or cultural facility administrator
• Cultural "Registrar"
• Cultural Engineering Consultant
• Heritage Enhancement Officer