Dear Mr. Srinivasan:
You hit the nail on the head...squarely, strongly, and timely. I am
on the Board of Studies on a few universities as well as some private
institutions, and as rightly pointed out, there is hardly any
interaction with the students.
a. Such institutions do not want to change or upgrade their syllabii
because the faculty, having had no practical exposure to the
profession, would not like to venture into subjects like ePR;
b. There being no professional commitment or pressure from any
national body, faculty is not willing to change or update their
knowledge and skills;
c. Absence of affiliating or accreditating all those educational
institutions wishing to start public relations education or offer any
degree/diploma programme makes it open for all field, with hardly any
structured professional inputs to maintain minimum standards of practice;
It would be perhaps too presumptuous to expect a national body having
the mandate of all existing PR bodies to regulate the standards of
education, through a standardised course-ware for diploma and degree
programmes, as well as mandatory stipulations for the faculty's
educational criteria.
C.J. Singh
Managing Director
CorePR, Chandigarh
--- In prpoint@yahoogroups
wrote:
>
> Dear freinds
>
> Presently, many institutions are providing UG / PG programmes on Public
> Relations throughout the country. . Advertisement and Journalism are
> traditional subjects for a long time and the faculty members are
> sufficiently equipped to handle these subjects. But PR courses are
being
> introduced in the past 5 to 6 years in many institutions.
>
> When I interact with the students of such PR courses, I find that PR
classes
> are being handled by totally unconnected people or by the people who
have
> studied PR in their text books. They read the chapters in the class
rooms
> as available in some traditional text books. Even in big centres, where
> practising professionals are available, the colleges are hesitant to
involve
> them even for interaction.
>
> A student of a city college remarked to me, " the faculty members
are afraid
> that their incompetency and ignorance of PR will be exposed if the
> professionals come for interaction"
or not,
> this is the perception, the students are carrying silently because
of the
> attitude of these colleges.
>
> One of the Colleges started a MA (PR) Course few years back. They had
> included my name and few other senior professionals name in their
brochure /
> website as if we are taking sessions. Though, four or five batches have
> completed their course, till date none of us were invited to
interact with
> students even for one hour. I came to know about the inclusion of
my name
> after 18 months (!), when a student approached me for some help.
>
> Three years back, another college included me in their Advisory
panel for
> developing their MA (PR) course. Three months before the start of the
> course, there was a meeting for one hour (!) to finalise the course
> syllabus, which they had prepared. The purpose of the meeting was to
> crreate a record that professionals were involved in developing the
syllabus
> and to get approval from University/UGC. We received the
invitation for
> the inaguration of the course. Till date neither myself or any other
> professional had any interaction session with the students.
>
> With personal contacts, some students get internship with some of
the PR
> Agencies / Corpcom and enter the PR profession. I also observe none of
> these colleges / Departments handling PR courses have any knowledge
of the
> PR Companies or Corporate Communicators. They also do not have
contact with
> professional bodies.
>
> I have personally found that many of the faculty members handling PR
> subjects do not even show interest in joining the discussion groups
like
> this for updating their knowledge and to network with industry
> professionals.
>
> Some well known institutions like Symbiosis, Pune take interest in
involving
> the practising professionals and seeking their advise. I am
associated with
> Symbiosis in their Board of Studies. They invite the members for
serious
> discussion. Many practising professionals also are invited to
interact with
> the students. That helps the students to develop contact with the
> industry. May be very few institutions involve the industry
professionals
> for the benefit of students.
>
> Why many of the educational institutions running PR courses shy away
from
> involving the practising professionals? Does it reflect their lack of
> confidence? Why many of the PR faculty members do not show interest in
> updating their knowledge or networking with industry?
>
> May I requet members to suggest ways as to how we can bring academia and
> industry together. I invite students, and young professionals who have
> completed their PG/ UG courses, Faculty members also to share their
views.
>
> srinivasan
> Moderator
>
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