Alain Grossbard

Alain focuses on preparing public relations and marketing students for ‘Life and Work’ by creating a nexus between teaching, integrated learning and industry related practices.

Alain Grossbard teaches a range of courses in public relations and marketing communications covering topics of the role of public relations within industry, strategic communications and management, media relations, market research, marketing and public relations reports and presentations, sponsorship and fundraising, publication processes and complex campaign development.

Within the public relations and marketing communication programs, Alain has prepared students for ‘Life and Work’ by fostering a relevance to student-learning using constructive engagement in real-life problem situations through the creation of a nexus between teaching, integrated learning and industry-related practices by means of Work Integration Learning projects, recent real-life case studies and work placement. A total of 46 industry projects and 214 national and international private and public sector organisations have been involved directly with his courses over the past nine years.

Alain is focused on ensuring my students identify, develop and assess a broader range of skills and attributes in vocational business education through completing work placement over a semester; enhance ways of thinking (including creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision making) through developing solutions to industry problems as part of these real life case studies and actual four-month projects.

He has developed tools for teaching including information and telecommunication technology and information literacy through online and flexible learning and articulating students skills for living in the world including life and career, personal development and social responsibility.

His students have received a sense of achievement as their studies are acknowledged and accepted by industry leaders.

He was a member of RMIT Academic Board for eight years and College of Business Board for four years.

Alain has won RMIT Teaching Awards in 2009, 2013 and 2016 and as a member of the Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority has just completed the process of accreditation for the Diploma and Advanced Diploma of Business (Public Relations) courses for 2015 to 2019 and 2020 to 2025 for Victorian tertiary institutions.

His career has spanned from company directorships, boards of management, executive management and advisory roles for both national and international companies. He brings a wealth of experience in academic, strategic management and business.

He has worked in numerous senior roles in the field of energy, science, local government and education areas most of his working life in Australia and globally.

His career has spanned from company directorships, boards of management, executive management and advisory roles for both national and international companies. He brings a wealth of experience in academic, strategic management and business to RMIT University.

Alain is currently Board Member for the International Public Relations Association representing Asia/Pacific region. He is a Council Board member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia Victoria division, and was past president and national board member of this institute.

He was the Public Relations Industry Representative on the Steering Committee for 22284VIC Diploma of Business (Public Relations) and 22283VIC Advanced Diploma of Business (public Relations) PR Accreditation for the Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority which covers employment opportunities during 2018 -2019.

Alain has won a number of national and international awards and has been a recipient of a prestigious Golden World Award. He is a Fellow of the International Specialized Skills Institute and Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

National and International Judge for industry awards with International Public Relations Association, Public Relations Institute of Australia and Mumbrella, Marketing Communication Association.

A collaborative learning relationship between enterprises and RMIT University has made final year business communication students ready for the workplace.

Employability, Industry Relevance, Ready for Life and Work, Vocational Education, Work Integrated Learning Projects

The importance of focus on the development of relevant and current learning engagements have been clearly demonstrated. Because the connections between theory and practice are critical for students, courses have been developed and implemented to ensure the students are supported with real-life examples and work placement opportunities prior to entering the workforce. This has meant developing innovative curricula, grounded with the specific aim of enabling students to value and critically utilize theory with informed practices in the local enterprise context.

Work Integrated Learning projects with industry and national and global work placements/internships. Over the past nine years, Alain's courses and students have been directly involved with a total of forty six (46) industry projects, including working connections with 214 national and international organisations in both public and private sectors.

From 2018 onward, Alain has arranged with overseas companies to intern final year public relations students in their workplace as part of the final semester of their course.

For example, students have worked for companies in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, South Africa, Zambia, Canada, USA.

Additionally, students have successfully developed strategic public relations and marketing plans for national and overseas companies.

Over 2019 - 2021, industry projects that involved students with companies include:

• HangTime, Santa Fe, USA (2021)
• Allanah and Madeline Foundation , Australia (2021)
• Gobi Desert Cup, China (2021)
• Peqish Culinary Medicine Health Foods, Vancouver, Canada (2021)
• Supervision of numerous global and national companies that participated in 2021 work placement/internship with students such as Treasury Wines, Wrights PR, Nunn Media.