Role of education	Education department	Education committee
Approving PR courses	CIPR Approved Trainers

Approving PR courses

The CIPR’s work in PR education and training raises standards and encourages best practice in industry. One part of this is a system that approves university PR courses. This process is a vigorous one, matched with government and international guidelines. Course structure, content, teaching and resources are all examined to ensure that students get good value in PR education. CIPR approved status is therefore a seal of quality assurance.

Universities must submit to the CIPR, documentary evidence such as course syllabi, teaching methods, learning support mechanisms and other material that will be scrutinised by an approval panel. An approval meeting will then be arranged and a visit will be made to the institution where the course team, tutors and students are interviewed.

The decision to confer ‘CIPR Approved Course’ status will be based on the approval panel’s findings. This process is meant to complement rather than compete with existing criteria for higher education validation carried out by statute.

Courses that have been given CIPR approval have a variety of benefits. Students on CIPR approved courses are eligible to become CIPR student members and upgrade their membership upon graduation.

CIPR approval lasts for a period of five years, at the end of which, the course applies for reapproval. There is a cost involved in undergoing the initial approval and for subsequent reapproval.

Click here for a list of approved courses

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