Today at the PRSA International Conference in San Francisco, the Commission on Public Relations Education unveils its new report, “Standards for a Master’s Degree in Public Relations: Educating for Complexity.”
Development and dissemination of these research-based standards were funded by the PRSA Foundation and the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. The standards seek to give public relations students and their future employers a competitive edge by ensuring that master’s graduates have developed knowledge and skills in these areas:
• Strategic public relations management
• Basic business principles and processes
• Communication/public relations theory and research methods
• Global influences on the practice of public relations
• Ethics
For several years, I have served as practitioner co-chair of the Commission. The Commission brings together 15 professional organizations – including the Institute for Public Relations. Since 1975, it has produced standards for education in public relations, particularly at the undergraduate level, which have been adopted by colleges and universities throughout the United States and have become a point of reference in other parts of the world.
Frank Ovaitt is President and CEO of the Institute for Public Relations.
