Abstract
Teaching and learning strategies are changing amongst those educators who consider the aim of effective education is to prepare students for assimilation into professional practice. With the advent of new technologies and greater access to information by consumers, the marketing communication environment is experiencing an unprecedented "velocity of change" and this is being reflected in educational practice. Commentators agree that we are witnessing significant changes to the structure of the marketing communication industry. New consumer attitudes, new technologies, and new communication strategies to keep up with these changes, are driving a trend that is forcing a re-think in the composition of the communications landscape. It is also precipitating the re-defining of the skills and proficiencies required by the next generation of marketing communication professionals. Since the latter half of 2008 the economic environment has been in a state of upheaval as the world experiences what is now being referred to as a "global recession"; arguably the toughest economic period since the great depression of the 1920's. Societies are anticipating radical changes as tougher economic conditions dictate changing patterns to life and behavior. As is becoming evident, the flow-on effects to consumerism are having an effect on the marketing communication industry, and specifically, on graduate employment. This study is an investigation of the evolving requirements of the marketing communication industry, both nationally and internationally. It seeks to identify strategies for the development and implementation of contemporary pedagogical practices that connect learning to the identified graduate attributes that align with industry requirements and economic influences. The study aims firstly to establish the current state of the marketing communication industry in Australia and internationally and then, by way of dialogue and investigation, to identify insights into the development of graduate attributes and competencies required to meet the demands of this industry. Importantly, it acknowledges current world socio-economic conditions and influences and recognises the significant changes that the marketing communication industry is currently undergoing. University course content has historically focused on addressing the needs of the direct employer of graduates - in this case, the advertising agencies. This study clearly indentifies that there now exists a significant divide between agency and client, with many clients believing that their agencies are lagging behind in the evolution and application of new marketing communication skills. As a result, expectations of what constitutes graduate proficiencies vary significantly between agencies and clients. For educators this would suggest that curricula should now take into account not simply the requirements of the direct employers of graduates - the agencies - but the requirements of all industry stakeholders. An important aspect of this study then, and one that separates it from other studies undertaken in the field, is that, in the process of identifying changing graduate attributes and proficiencies, it interrogates not simply the views of the direct employers of marketing communication graduates - the advertising and media agencies - but also those of the client companies that employ these agencies, and it does so from an international perspective.