Waikato University features PM Ardern as a "success story" on its website as follows:
KEY INFO
Qualification(s):
Bachelor of Communication Studies
Subject(s):
Public Relations
The University also states, "Waikato's Bachelor of Communication offers a choice of five subject majors in Applied Digital Communication, Creative Media, Public Relations, Marketing, and Media Production". My understanding is that you may be able to pick up the odd paper in another subject, like Political Science, but that in no way remotely forms the focus of your studies. Sometimes people call such a subject a "minor". So it looks like Ardern majored in Public Relations, since Political Science is not offered as a major when you do a Bachelor of Communication. Which brings me to how Ardern's qualifications were described when she spoke at Bologna University this week:
Jacinda Arden was born in Hamilton, New Zealand. She graduated in Political Sciences and Public Relations at the Waikato Management School in 2001 ..
The Beehive Website also puts "Politics" first in Ardern's Bio, saying her Bachelor of Communication Studies was in "Politics & Public Relations". However Waikato University states she completed a Bachelor in Communication in "Public Relations & Political Science". In University circles like mine this wording is no small thing. It matters a lot. By putting "Politics" first, it infers you majored in politics. If you did a Bachelor of Commerce in marketing, for example, and then applied for jobs, saying you had studied "Economics & Marketing" when you had just done one first year paper in economics, then folks like me would get revved up. Why? Since you'd be giving the wrong impression about what you did to employers. Could Ardern be emphasizing political science and de-emphasizing PR, even though the latter is what her studies were primarily about? Could it be good PR to downplay PR? Ardern should clarify exactly what papers she studied & whether Political Science was indeed her major, since that's the impression given by the Beehive and her Bio as described on Bologna University's website (speaker bios are usually supplied by the speaker).
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