Khairudin: The basics never change, get them right and the rest will fall into place.
THE Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) is offering scholarships to Malaysian lecturers specialising in advertising and marketing communications for a foundation certificate.
Developed by the Chartered Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) in the United Kingdom, the foundation certificate is the world’s premier professional advertising qualification.
In a statement 4As chief executive officer Khairudin Rahim said the advertising industry was evolving rapidly.
“However, the majority of lecturers who teach advertising and marketing communications have little to no practical experience of the industry.”
He added that the IPA Foundation Certificate offered a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the practical day-to-day work of marketing communications, from understanding the advertiser’s business, writing strategy and briefs, media, ideation, creative development to campaign effectiveness.
“These basics never change. Get them right and the rest will fall in place.”
When lecturers become IPA-certified, they are encouraged to adapt the IPA course, which is regularly updated by UK-based advertising practitioners to include the latest industry practices and thinking in their lectures.
This allows them to better match academic theory with practical on-the-job requirements to subsequently prepare students for their entry into the industry.
Previous scholarship recipient Heidi Tan of Multimedia University felt that her students were able to benefit from her participation in the IPA course.
“The IPA course was up to date and provided a lot of practical examples to better understand the concepts discussed.
“There’s a lot of wisdom that can be gained from listening to the experiences shared by industry practitioners and then looking at how that knowledge can be adapted to fit our local context,” Tan said.
The IPA Foundation Certificate has been attainable through 4As’ partnership with IPA UK since 2015.
Comprising 35 hours of online content, the syllabus includes modules on The Business of Creativity, Delivering Effective Communication Solutions, Essential Communications Tools, Media Planning Fundamentals, Creative Content Development and Evaluating Effectiveness.
The 4As scholarships for the IPA Foundation Certificate are open to full-time Malaysian lecturers in advertising and marketing communications.
The closing date for applications is Aug 25.
For more information, email kandesh@macomm.com.my
