The CIPR Must Play a Stronger Role in CIPR Approved Courses

Published by Michael White on February 3, 2012 | 13 Comments

UPDATE (16/02/2012): THE CIPR’S RESPONSE TO THIS POST HAS NOW BEEN POSTED HERE.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) must do more to support their student members. Graduate unemployment has hit its highest level since 1995 and prospective PR graduates from CIPR approved courses are not being adequately supported.

The formula is simple. As students we are concerned with Return On Investment (ROI). Currently student membership to the CIPR costs £35. Other than dozens of copies of PR Week what benefits do we get in practice? To me CIPR student membership is really just a magazine subscription. If you believe this observation is overtly cynical then chat to the students who have decided against student membership. Their main concern is over the benefits.

“What benefits will I receive for joining the CIPR?”

According to the CIPR’s website student members will receive the following benefits:

Skills guides on essential areas of PR practice
Best practice case studies of PR in action
Research and reports on key communications trends and issues
Work placement finder to help you get practical experience
Networking opportunities to help you build “you” (Need to check your grammar CIPR…) contacts
Opportunities to get involved with your local CIPR group
Free subscription to PR Week

In reality all student members will get their PR Week subscription and be able to access their work placement finder (Their work placement finder was not up-to-date when I used it. Has it been improved now?). Every other benefit remains unfulfilled in my experience.

We all know that a PR degree is near worthless without the relevant work experience. Rachel Barkley (2^nd Year PR Student from Leeds Met) debates in her latest blog post over the nature of work placement and sandwich courses. Should placements be compulsory? It is vital that a PR degree is supported with industry experience – this is an area I would like to see the CIPR delve into.

In their student member benefits they have already noted that students will receive “networking opportunities” but I have never noticed such events. Either the CIPR is doing a bad job of promoting their events or this benefit is not being supported. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if the CIPR:

Arranged for their regional groups to organise networking sessions for PR students in their local area.
Arranged events purely for students from CIPR approved courses for networking between Universities.
Maintained a graduate database of PR jobs.

To my knowledge the only student members of the CIPR who receive any form of benefit from the CIPR are the CIPR Student Representatives. I was fortunate enough to be a representative for my University during 2009/10. You get to network with your regional group and arrange a CIPR approved event (albeit with a tiny budget). This isn’t enough though.

As PR students graduating from CIPR approved courses we can expect to receive ACIPR professional accreditation. No doubt, the title is fancy. Where is the value though?

As a student who is only four months away from graduating I have received no contact from the CIPR. Aren’t I meant to be on a CIPR approved course? I would at least expect an email enticing me with networking opportunities and asking me to renew my membership. Nothing though. Hands down, the most useful resource of PR students looking to graduate is Ben Cotton’s list of graduate schemes.

The CIPR define the industry as, “Public relations is about reputation… Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour…”. Yet it seems that the CIPR has close to forgotten their student membership and CIPR approved degree courses. For the continuation of the CIPR these groups contain vital stakeholders. Hundreds of students are about to graduate. What is the CIPR doing to support them? My membership has lapsed. I want to know my £35 to renew will provide me with more than a magazine subscription.

I have two questions for the CIPR:

What do you currently do to support PR students from CIPR approved courses?
What changes will you be making to the CIPR student membership benefits?

PS. Whilst writing this post I noticed that the University of Gloucestershire is not listed as a CIPR approved course. This needs fixing.

Michael is a Consultant for Keene Communications where he devises and manages digital public relations campaigns. Keene Communications has been providing public affairs, public relations and representation services for over 25 years. Michael is a certified member (MCIPR) of the Chartered Institution of Public Relations (CIPR).

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Filed in: Public Relations Tags: Advice, Business, CIPR, CIPR Approved Courses, Education, Graduates, Jobs, Public Relations, Students, University

http://twitter.com/jazzchappell Jazz Chappell

Couldn’t agree more, becoming a CIPR member may as well just be getting a subscription to PR week at a discounted rate. That’s all i’ve got out of it thus far..
- Anonymous
  
  I’m thankful for the role the institute has played so far but they do need to raise their game. The PRCA offer £12.50 student membership. I’m tempted to join with them to test out what their benefits are like in practice.
  - http://twitter.com/jazzchappell Jazz Chappell
    
    yeah, i agree, PRCA is actually now free membership when you sign up and we you get free courses etc as well so there is literally no downside to joining PRCA and CIPR. i’m glad to see they they’re improving and focusing on students more and also agree that perhaps we need to be proactive!
Richard Bailey

I’m happy to lobby the CIPR (and/or PRCA) to do more for students and lecturers – but I’m not sure we’ve found the right cause.

There are at least four parties to successful public relations education: the student (most important), the teacher/course (next), the industry that supplies placements and graduate jobs and (last and least) the professional body/ies.

Well established approved courses should have the staff, the connections and the infrastructure to provide plenty of opportunity and extra-curricular support for students. At Leeds Met, for example, we have introduced a mentoring scheme connecting practitioners and students.

The problem at Cheltenham (as I know from experience) is the lack of permanent teaching staff. The CIPR can’t fix that – but should restrict its approvals to established courses with a sufficient team of subject specialist lecturers. It’s one of the few times in life when bigger probably is better.
- Anonymous
  
  Despite the lack of permanent teaching staff at the University of Gloucestershire the teaching has improved a lot this year. All our tutors are enthusiastic (especially David Phillips!), we receive superb support and should all be heading for good grades. Perhaps my perspective of the CIPR’s support has been jaded by my past negative experiences in Cheltenham?
  
  Your four categories for successful PR education highlight that this blog post only touches on a wider debate. My focus for the moment will be on students getting practical experience – as this is the area which matters to me right now. It is in this area where I would like to see the CIPR make the most improvement.
  
  The mentoring scheme at Leeds Met sounds brilliant.
http://twitter.com/PRroamer Paul Noble

For as long as I can remember CIPR Wessex has organised an annual networking event called ‘Meet the Professionals’ for students at Bournemouth University and now this is also held at Southampton Solent Uni every year. All Wessex CIPR events are open to students at a heavily discounted rate.
- Anonymous
  
  So it seems the CIPR only operates on a regional basis? Whilst the Wessex group shows a keen interest in collaborating with students, there are other regional groups who show no interest. This is something the CIPR should look at.
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http://twitter.com/BenCotton Ben Cotton

Hey Michael,

Thanks for the mention. Its always nice to hear people find my blog useful
In terms of the CIPR and its role in CIPR approved courses, my experience (from 2004-08) is similar to yours.

Looking back; we had some great guest lectures and received a weekly copy of PR Week – and that was about it in terms of CIPR involvement. Although, the lectures were invaluable and in monetary terms, a PR Week subscription was a good deal (it cost several times more than CIPR membership), you expect more from membership of a trade body.

In fairness to the CIPR, I can’t recall precisely what the other stated benefits were, but it’s my impression that they were either unfulfilled or unappealing.

However, I’m a firm believer that trade bodies are only as strong as its members and it needs a proactive person like yourself to tell the CIPR what students want from their membership.

The CIPR have made great strides over recent years and would most likely agree that students have different requirements to a PR professional.

Have you tried reaching out to the CIPR? I’m sure they would be receptive to the points you make.

Thanks,

Ben
- Anonymous
  
  Hi Ben,
  
  You have made excellent points.
  
  Shocked to read that your experiences were similar. Students should be making more of a fuss. Especially as the CIPR could be such a useful resource in terms of connecting professionals with students.
  
  The CIPR got in contact last week (soon after this was published) saying that they will provide a response. I am still waiting for that response and will feature it on this blog once made available.
  
  Thanks,
  Michael
http://twitter.com/greenbanana Heather Yaxley

Whilst not denying that more could be done by CIPR, I am frustrated by the sense of entitlement you express in terms of what you want to get for your money. Belonging to any organization is about what you put in as much as what you get out. Personally, I think that both CIPR and PRCA need to present more than a simple economic argument for membership. I appreciate that you’ve been involved at the local level, but couldn’t you and your fellow students apply your PR brains and skills to getting an initiative off the ground locally that would connect you to CIPR members, mentors and work experience opportunities? Be proactive and make something happen that demonstates to CIPR and the wider practice what students can offer – not just what they want.

In my experience, practitioners (members of the bodies or not) are happy to help PR students who show some initiative – rather than whine about what you want, take the first step and make connections. That’s how the local groups in CIPR work – everyone is a paid up member who volunteers to organise things in their region. They’d no doubt welcome students fresh ideas and can do attitude.
Anonymous

From Alison Steel, CIPR Director of Professional Development and Membership

Hi Michael

You make some good points and, as I have suggested to you by email, I’d like to meet up to draw on your ideas and those of other undergraduates. We want to provide a student membership that is of genuine value to students and future employers. Enhancement of our student package is already underway and we have further, quite radical changes we want to make in the near future.

However, I would like to challenge the overall picture you paint of little return from student membership. There are so many more benefits than you suggest. Not all are perfect and we are working hard to make sure that, for example, networking opportunities are available and consistent between regions. I have just initiated a review of placement finder – you’re right it does need improvement.

But there are some really good benefits for CIPR student members – for example access to some 30 webinars (worth around £700) free of charge – either live or on demand. The CIPR member area also has a wealth of case studies, policy briefings and research to support your studies. The CIPR Conversation (a blog aggregator) is – as I’m sure you know already – becoming the place to discuss topical PR issues.

We already have a database of PR jobs – it’s called PR Jobshop and there are currently just short of 1,000 jobs throughout the UK advertised there. They are not currently categorised for graduate entry, so that’s something I plan to look in to.

I like your suggestions for regional networking and will definitely be picking that up with our regional committees. It would be great to bring university groups together but I fear the cost of travel for students might preclude this – perhaps there is some way we can work around this, including possibly a virtual forum.

As of last week, CIPR Council approved a change in regulations which means that graduates from three-year PR degrees recognised by the CIPR qualify to become MCIPR after just one year in a professional PR role and those who have had one year’s work experience already as part of a recognised four-year ‘sandwich’ course qualify to apply for MCIPR as soon as they are working in their first professional PR role. This move substantially reduces the length of time graduates of recognised degrees need to work in PR before they can become full members. Once you are MCIPR and complete two years’ online Continuous Professional Development (CPD) you become a CIPR Accredited Practitioner – a standard recognised by employers and recruitment agencies.

Having said all that – I would also echo Richard Bailey’s comment, outlining the multiple parts that go into making a successful education in public relations. CIPR’s input is just one part of that. Heather Yaxley also makes very important points about proactivity.

We believe we have a reasonable existing package of benefits but we are also striving to improve it, informed by the needs of PR students. As a Chartered Body we have a duty to the profession as a whole – and PR graduates are a significant part of the profession’s future.

With very best wishes – and thanks for your input
Alison
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