Graduate Certificate in Public Relations

at Humber College - Lakeshore Campus Canada

Developed originally with the Institute of Canadian Bankers (ICB) and industry professionals, Humber’s Business Management – Financial Services diploma program is the only one of its kind in Ontario. Through our current and relevant curriculum, you’ll become well-versed in all aspects of banking, investments, insurance and financial planning. You’ll also build essential business skills through courses in interpersonal communications, business writing and professional selling.

As a graduate, you’ll be able to help individuals with everything from banking, consumer credit and life insurance to financial planning.

Work Placement

• A 150-hour (minimum) work placement will give you valuable practical industry experience and preparation for employment. You’ll find your own placement under the guidance of the program co-ordinator and will learn effective job search skills.

Humber’s Public Administration graduate certificate program is the first of its kind in Canada providing all of the knowledge, skills and experience graduates need to become successful public service employees. Designed and taught by public administration professionals, this program is your key to succeeding quickly in a public sector job. You will receive advanced training in communications, policy analysis, project management, information technology, public finance, governance, leadership and human resources management. Experienced faculty, most of whom currently work in the public sector, will guide you through the core of the curriculum, with guest speakers addressing specific topical issues. The practical, skills-based curriculum provides the foundation for long-term career success by exposing you to the primary activities of public administration and by providing networking opportunities with civil servants from across the sector.

Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:

• Describe the machinery of government in Canada, including the roles and responsibilities of executives, legislatures and the judiciary, as well as the relationships between all levels of government.
• Define ethics and values which are key to public administration and explain how they apply at all levels of public administration.
• Explore and compare public administration practices found in industrialized countries, especially member states of the European Union and the United States.
• Discuss current issues affecting Canadian public administration and examine how those issues are managed from a public management perspective.
• Discuss key elements of strategic planning processes and examine how these apply to public administration.
• Understand and relate to governments from two perspectives: as business entities with strategic plans, budgets, and core businesses; and as organizations composed of complex human behaviour.
• Explain key economic and finance concepts such as externalities, public and private goods, deficit financing, debt repayment, and fiscal federalism.
• Demonstrate how governments plan, manage and report on the collection and expenditure of public funds.
• Discuss information technology and software applications used in public administration as well as current information technology issues faced by public sector IT managers.
• Prepare and manage human resources in public administration, including the preparation of HR plans, recruitment and selection processes, supervisory skills, negotiating skills and conflict resolution skills.
• Describe the role that communications plays in the public sector and work with stakeholders and partners to meet the information needs of the public, the media, political staff and the bureaucracy.
• Examine how governments develop, implement and evaluate programs in general and learn how to use specific research and analysis tools to contribute to that process in particular.
• Identify the methodological and conceptual issues associated with evaluating and maintaining quality services in the public sector.
• Identify the skills and knowledge required by project managers and project management teams in the public sector.
• Understand and fulfill leadership responsibilities in the public sector by assessing individual leadership traits and behaviours and apply this understanding to the broader theories and concepts of leadership.
• Understand, contribute to, and manage partnerships in the public sector, broadly defined.

Work Placement

• You will gain on-the-job work experience with an eight-week (minimum) work placement within the public sector. With faculty support, you will find placements with an appropriate organization.

Humber’s Bachelor of Music degree program is unlike any other four-year music degree in North America. Combining studies in recording technology and entrepreneurial business strategy with performance, production, songwriting and composition in jazz, pop, R&B, Latin and world music, the Bachelor of Music program equips you with the knowledge and skills needed for success in today’s music world. 

You’ll study with teachers who represent the who’s who of Canadian music, develop your musicianship on your own instrument through private lessons and ensembles, as well as in group classes exploring ear training, music theory, improvization, production, history and related subjects. As Toronto is the centre of Canada’s entertainment industry, Humber attracts the top professionals in jazz, musical theatre, television, film, commercials and pop. 

After two years of core music courses, you will continue to develop your instrument and performance skills, as well as take classes in music production and music business while also choosing from electives in arranging, composition, advanced improvisation, film scoring, music production techniques, songwriting, ethnomusicology, pedagogy and more.  

You’ll develop musicianship and artistry by presenting your own recital in your third year, arranging and composing original material, and recording and marketing your own music 

All students complete a major recording project/portfolio in their fourth year. The assembled portfolio, which includes a complete press kit and professional-quality recording, as well as other promotional materials, functions as your calling card for entrance into the music industry upon graduation. 

Work Placement
You will participate in a work placement designed to mirror the professional music world, which is largely characterized by contract, freelance and part-time employment. You are responsible for accumulating the equivalent of 420 hours of experience which will allow you to establish contacts and relationships with key companies and industry professionals.

Humber’s Bachelor of Commerce – Healthcare Management degree program gives you the optimal mix of core business and health-care specific skills to launch your career in one of Canada’s most exciting and fastest growing sectors.

In our program, you will begin by acquiring fundamental business skills in accounting and financial management, economics, law, operations management, organizational behaviour, statistics and quantitative methods. Then, you will focus on developing health-care specific skills that are highly valued and sought by employers. Our health-care specialization courses include health informatics, heath data and analysis, health services organization and management, health-care financial management, population health, and policy and evaluation.

Our program was designed in consultation with practising industry leaders to ensure that you will learn and practise the skills you need to succeed in today’s complex health-care environment. While in the program, you will also gain valuable experience through project work that is directly connected to industry, professional work experience, and a curriculum that focuses on real world and contemporary issues in health-care management.

When you finish the program, you will be well prepared and qualified for entry-level positions in health-care management in several sectors, including government, hospitals, agencies, private sector providers and consulting.

Work Placement
The program requires that you complete 14 weeks/420 hours of paid work in the summer between your sixth and seventh semesters. This gives you the hands-on, real-world experience that employers value. Your placement will give you the opportunity to explore the field you’d like to work in when you graduate. We will work with employers and our industry partners to help you identify opportunities to pursue.

In the current knowledge economy and information age, and as organizations recognize the growing need for research on which key policy and strategic decisions are based, the demand for social, market, and marketing research has increased substantially. The Research Analyst graduate certificate program focuses on the theoretical, practical, and ethical underpinnings of research, while equipping you with the statistical, technical and professional skills necessary to do applied research in a variety of different settings throughout the public and private sectors.

In this program, you will focus on all of the major aspects of the research process including research design, information retrieval and evaluation, data collection, analysis and interpretation, and the preparation and presentation of research findings.

Special features of the program include an emphasis on professional, ethical and legal implications when designing research studies; new research technologies for data collection; analysis; presentation; proposal writing; research entrepreneurship; project management; and program evaluation.

Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:

• Interpret primary and secondary data applying principles of currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose.
• Design and execute a marketing or social research project to provide recommendations and actionable insights.
• Manage research projects with due consideration to budget, schedule, quality, scope, ethics, and data governance.
• Prepare a variety of effective social and marketing research documents and deliverables using knowledge translation and mobilization practices.
• Communicate results of research using effective and engaging written, oral, visual and multi-media modes, that are appropriate for diverse audience needs.
• Respond to the evolving sensibilities/concepts of equity, diversity and cultural sensitivity in conducting research.
• Mitigate risk by the detection of bias in research design and processes.
• Collect data using varied robust, effective and appropriate quantitative and qualitative research methods.
• Organize and analyze primary and secondary data using industry standard software tools.
• Conduct research projects in accordance with legal, ethical and professional standards.
• Develop a career ready profile through goal-setting, on-going professional learning and industry exposure.
• Evaluate research evidence and findings for the identification of assumptions, soundness of logic and the veracity of claims.
• Select and synthesize academic, trade, business, institutional, governmental, or non-governmental resources for appropriate research purposes.

Work Placement

• Students complete a twelve-week placement allowing them to gain valuable practical and professional experience.

Humber’s Theatre Arts - Performance program is known for its rigorous training in physical and devised theatre that enables you to find success wherever your career path takes you. We are nationally known for our innovative curriculum based in the creation of original work.

We believe in:

• Developing creative artists with a strong foundation in essential skills
• Ensuring our graduates have the business skills to make their livings as artists/performers
• Providing a well-rounded education as well as comprehensive training
• Developing collaborative work that is original, thoughtful and challenging
• Exploring intercultural and multidisciplinary theatre that speaks in the present to a vision of the future

Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:

• Perform dramatic roles in a variety of styles, such as in children's plays, plays geared for school audiences, experimental plays presented by alternate theatres, in standard repertoire of current and classical plays presented by regional theatres and festivals, as well as in musicals, revues and cabaret productions.
• Perform non-classical, vocal material – solo and choral - and execute basic dance steps and choreography as required by musical productions and classical plays.
• Apply different techniques required to perform on proscenium, thrust or arena stages, as well as open air theatres.
• Adapt performing style to the electronic media; working for the camera (film, television and video production) as well as the microphone as in various aspects in radio broadcasting.
• Provide services as drama resource person for community theatre, recreational programs, children's programs and private teaching.
• Accept employment as a professional actor and provide services to professional standards.

The Humber Advantage
Humber Productions

• Each year, Humber Theatre presents a number of original productions which demand the full creative engagement of performance and production students under the guidance of internationally recognized artists.

Hands-On Experience

• Students in Humber's Theatre Arts - Performance program are on stage throughout their time at school, building hours and hours of in-class experience.

Humber’s Introduction to Commercial Jazz Music certificate is a performance-based program designed to help you assess and strengthen your skills. It solidifies your knowledge of the fundamentals of western music and develops your current performance skills through the jazz-specific areas of improvisation, repertoire development and small group ensemble performance. You will emerge from the program with a clearer understanding of the field and your own career potential within it, and as a stronger candidate for entry into postsecondary music degree and diploma programs. All courses have a particular focus on the commercial jazz field.

Learning Outcomes

• Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:
  • Recognize & identify common styles of music.
  • Describe the commercial/jazz field in terms of tradition, artists, & styles.
  • Explain the contribution of various artists to the development of particular styles & idioms.
  • Analyze the components & performance differences of recorded selections.
  • Play a repertoire of memorized materials that are considered standards in the commercial/jazz field & reflect the various styles inherent in this music.
  • Write diatonic melodies in various styles demonstrating knowledge of relevant harmonic & melodic concepts & structures of form.
  • Perform in an ensemble demonstrating basic ensemble skills such as intonation, tuning, time, feel, balance & dynamics.
  • Identify their own musical strengths & weaknesses in terms of a performance career in the commercial/jazz field.
  • Implement strategies & plans for on-going personal & professional growth & development.
  • Establish a practice of critical self-assessment & professional goal setting.

Humber’s Arts Administration and Cultural Management graduate certificate program is for those who wish to combine their passion for arts, culture and heritage with business acumen and management skills. This distinctive program promotes diverse, multidisciplinary performing and visual artistic expressions supported by organizational competence in revenue development (earned and contributed), management of human resources (artists, volunteers, companies), planning (financial, strategic, special events, career), and communications (multiplatform, digital, marketing).

The program is situated within the creative milieu of Humber’s renowned programs in theatre, writing, visual and digital arts, music, photography, animation, television, and film. Real-world experience is gained through varied field placements in commercial, government and not-for-profit arts and culture organizations, and collaborative capstone projects which demonstrate to employers the breadth of graduates’ abilities.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:

• Articulate the value of the arts through applied research into national and international arts, culture and heritage policies, current and historical.
• Plan, implement and manage revenue development activities to secure resources from charitable foundations, corporations, government and non-government sources, and donors, through special events, and via online platforms.
• Demonstrate understanding of the negotiation and administration of arts contracts and applicable human resources legislation, regulations and practices, including the recruitment and effective management of volunteers and boards of directors.
• Design and implement effective marketing, promotion, public relations, education and engagement strategies.
• Demonstrate, individually and in groups, a range of administrative skills pertaining to organizational structure, internal and external relations, facility management, and financial management.
• Demonstrate numeracy and planning skills related to fiscal management and control. 
• Communicate effectively in both written and spoken business communications.
• Demonstrate familiarity with computer applications used in arts, culture and heritage operations, including constituent relationship management, book-keeping, graphic design, spreadsheets, project management, and website creation and maintenance.
• Incorporate concepts of equity, pluralism, diversity and access into all facets of arts management practice.

Work Placement
Two field placements offer students relevant experience and the development of mentoring relationships. Students have participated in placements with more than 100 regional, national and international arts and culture organizations including The National Ballet of Canada; The Royal Conservatory of Music; The Stratford Festival; the Hockey Hall of Fame; The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts; and numerous galleries, theatres, concert halls, museums and festivals. Students are responsible, with assistance, for arranging their own field placement locations and terms, and for the completion of the required 420 hours.

Humber’s Art Foundation certificate program offers you the opportunity to investigate different areas of artistic media and develop portfolios for entry into further study. Expand your horizons with comprehensive training in the basics of current visual arts exploration within a diverse studio environment. Discover your strengths and creative options, and your future in the world of art.

This program integrates visual art skills across several media and is designed to encourage you to explore a wide range of techniques and concepts. You will work closely with experienced faculty from a variety of creative industries developing innovative approaches and building your strengths through a variety of painting, drawing, photography, digital design, video, animation and fine art classes, as you gain valuable insights about the art world. In just two semesters, you will gain a thorough understanding of many artistic disciplines and build well-developed visual literacy and creative skills. You will apply your acquired skills to create a portfolio that will support your personal work and/or prepare you to pursue related programs at Humber and beyond.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:

• Analyze, simplify and deconstruct complex forms to solve artistic problems.
• Employ basic measurement systems to produce accurate proportional and perspective renderings.
• Create traditional and digital artwork which reflects adherence to accepted design principles.
• Apply basic principles of visual perception, simplification, organization and the nine-point value scale to create realistic images.
• Identify types and applications of drawing, painting and photographic tools and equipment used to produce original artworks.
• Apply basic principles of colour observation, colour and pigment mixing, and digital colorization to accurately depict value, hue and saturation.
• Create the illusion of three dimensions on a plane surface by applying techniques of texture, shading and linear perspective.
• Discuss and present a range of critical issues of visual culture, examining how images gain meaning in cultural arenas.
• Develop, refine and present drawings, digital images, animated images, video and photographs in professional portfolio format suitable for presentation to higher education admission panels or employers.
• Research and pursue opportunities for on-going artistic development.
• Define and use correct terminology to discuss and critique the impact of historical and contemporary visual, digital, animated, video and photographic images.
• Create photographic and video art for specific purposes using basic technical capabilities of cameras and computer imaging software.
• Plan and design animated sequences using basic classical animation.

The only program of its kind in Ontario, the Forensic Identification graduate certificate provides you with leading-edge forensic knowledge and skills for public and private policing. As the only graduates of this program in the province, it is designed for students who are interested in becoming frontline investigators. The program’s unique hands-on approach provides expert instruction utilizing the most modern criminal forensic technology within a specialized curriculum. You will study advanced fingerprint development and analysis, physical matching of footwear and tool marks, digital photography, DNA and blood profiling, forensic interviewing, fraudulent document examination, rules of evidence, and trial procedure.

Training takes place in a state-of-the-art crime scene studio and forensic lab located at the Humber Centre for Justice Leadership. This innovative facility features a simulation lab for processing forensic evidence from staged crime scenes including photography, fingerprint development, advanced evidence collection techniques, and digital crime scene mapping. The centre also features four interviewing labs for practising interviewing techniques and assessing credibility. Finally, your forensic investigation skills and knowledge are put to the test in our mock courtroom.

Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:

• Mitigate personal, public and legal risk during crime scene investigations by adhering to industry established ethical and technical standards
• Document crime scenes using various methods including scale diagrams, models and charts to present forensic evidence in judicial proceedings
• Preserve evidence using established forensic techniques and standards to aid investigations
• Employ a range of fingerprint collection and analysis techniques to contribute to investigations
• Evaluate the legality, reliability and limitations of forensic interviewing techniques to inform professional practices
• Analyze bloodstain pattern evidence to establish its value, meaning and limitations
• Articulate justification for arrest, search and seizure to aid in judicial proceedings
• Assess the authenticity of documents to support and validate evidence in civil and criminal investigations
• Communicate with colleagues and the public in high-stress environments to contribute to investigative goals and to maintain the human rights of everyone involved

What Makes This Program Different?

• While there are several universities that offer forensic programs with a theoretical science-based curriculum, Humber is the only public college in Canada that provides a comprehensive hands-on approach to forensic identification.
• From day one, we'll have you in our state-of-the-art labs, such as our crime scene lab, forensic studio, interview rooms, and our realistic mock courtroom, working on a variety of engaging forensic-based projects. In two semesters, you’ll develop career-ready skills in forensics, making you a highly desirable candidate to employers in the Criminal Justice field.