We are all immersed in a world of communication. We read the news on our tablets, wish our friends happy birthday on Facebook, share videos we've been sent and view ads that have gone viral. We can also use the Internet to find showtimes for the latest hit film and even the day when the ticket price is reduced, or search for the opening hours of a bookshop where we can buy that novel everyone's talking about. We can express our opinion of a shop that's just opened or use an online forum to ask where we can buy second-hand textbooks. While we're waiting for an answer, we can search for the quickest metro route to a specific restaurant and view photos of it and the surrounding area. And before it's time to go out, we can watch an episode of a TV series, flick through our favourite magazine and catch the latest news updates. All at the same time.

This is all communication. We all communicate on a daily basis; we're all immersed in this world. But only certain people really live in this world, writing news updates, developing advertising campaigns, producing TV programmes and designing websites. Those people are communication professionals and their professional challenges comprise the activities that form part of our everyday lives and have a daily impact on our behaviour and lifestyles. To become communication professionals, they studied for four years, developed their creativity and acquired the skills and abilities that enable them to provide new solutions every single day.

This is the challenge of communication, the challenge that we at the UIC Barcelona Faculty of Communication Sciences strive to meet head on: by producing professionals with talent, taste and good judgement who work for the benefit of society in a wide range of different industries. Our graduates become screenwriters, TV producers, advertising creatives, account executives, latest news correspondents, interviewers and reporters of human-interest stories. In recent years, the field of communication has also expanded into the digital world: companies, brands, NGOs and public institutions now need communication managers, corporate reputation managers, website designers, specialists in SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing), community managers and social-network experts.

Throughout the industry there is still a lack of quality professionals. That's why we've designed this programme that we'd like to share with you. Do you want to help us meet this challenge

Alfonso Méndiz

Dean of the UIC Barcelona Faculty of Communication Sciences

Twitter: @alfonso_mendiz
Facebook: Alfonso Méndiz
Blog: Publicidad y cine con valores