Graduate Programs in Communications and PR – The Ontario Edition!

 Much like Linda (who also posted on the topic of PR and communications education), I was a fourth year university student debating what I should do after graduation. As a Communications and English double major, I constantly got the question “what are you going to do with THAT degree?” and I would always answer that I’d hoped to find a career in public relations. So in April I began a frantic job search to prove them all wrong… my degree CAN land me a job in PR. However, I soon realized one thing – I was going to need some practical skills, and thus lead me to this program. As a self-proclaimed geek, I had looked into both Masters programs and post-graduate certificates (on my own time… for fun) so this topic was of great interest to me!

My area of research focused on Ontario colleges and universities that offer Certificate and Masters programs in PR and Communications. These graduate programs give scholars from almost any discipline the versatility to utilize their previous education, interests, and skills to find work in a wide range of Communication fields. Like the Public Relations profession itself, Communications graduate programs in Ontario have experienced a great evolution in a short period of time.
 
Like Linda, I did not come across any national standards for PR and Communications graduate programs. However, I did find that Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities have established standards for post-graduate programs in Corporate Communications and/or Public Relations. These were created to encourage consistency across all PR college programs in Ontario. The standards ensure graduates are able to: write clear, targeted communication materials, execute public relations plans, and complete all work in accordance with PR codes of professional ethics, standards, and laws. For Masters programs, universities in Ontario set their own program standards and determine their own academic and admissions policies. The Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) has also established some recommended standards for PR programs to meet the needs of the industry.

A graduate education in Communications or PR will not necessarily guarantee an individual a job as a PR practitioner. But as the profession of public relations continues to expand, so will the requirements to enter the field and advance within it. This education will open the door to a career in Public Relations, but what happens after graduation is the responsibility of the individual.

So all my fellow PR (soon to be) grads… you can make your versatile education work for you. And best of all, soon you can share your success with the people who asked, “What are you going to do with THAT education?”

Jessica Bowes. 

Edited by: Jesse Phillips

Links for you to enjoy….

Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities – PR program standards
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/college/progstan/aa/70243.html
The website is from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and describes how Public Relations programs are standardized by the government of Ontario. These standards are discussed as well as, the presentation of learning outcomes, accreditation of programs, and how the standards were developed and are updated.

Why Study PR?  By Eleanor Baird
http://www.cprstoronto.com/resources/item.aspx?id=164
I thought this was an interesting student-written article investigating whether a post-graduate certificate is really necessary for a career in Public Relations. The author interviews students, professors, and Public Relations practitioners.

Canadian Public Relations Society’s Recommended Standards for Public Relations Education
http://gs.fanshawec.ca/cc&pr/CPRS.htm
 This page (from our very own class website) lists the recommended standards in Public Relations education from the Canadian Public Relations Society. These were created to maintain a high standard of education within the profession.

Observations after the first couple of weeks…

Hello

There are a few things I’ve noticed about our class blogging:

Some people in the class are starting to jump in and warm up to the conversations. They are using the comment aspect. Over the next two weeks we can anticipate more than 35 new blog entries. The final due date is November 13. The comment traffic is growing – I hope to see it grow even more over the next couple of weeks.

I’m pleased that many people in the class are using personal examples and using a more casual tone than you used in the business reports you submitted on the same subjects. The personalization makes the entries come alive and we learn about each other and from each other. Let the class know how your topic relates to PR practice or PR trends.

Collectively, we all need to use the spellcheck feature before posting. 

As well,  please remember to post your name after your blog entry. Since we are sharing one blog, it is useful to know who is commenting and who is blogging.

FORMAT ISSUES

The spacing and line and paragraph formatting on WordPress  seems to move around.

More likely, we are inexperienced users who are missing an understanding of how to edit in WordPress. I’m wondering if someone in the class knows how to get the format to look like a typical WORD document? A few times I have made an edit or watched a student make an edit and then when the file is re-saved the edit has not stuck. There seem to be justification errors in some of the entries and when we have gone in to correct these the ‘wonky’ spacing persists.

The spacing on the recommended sources you are including does not seem to “stick” for all entries. Some of the entries collapse together. I hope we figure this out.

Thanks all for your work. I am appreciative of the nerve necessary to post in public, and to peers. I have a fairly large shy streak myself.

Dana