Foundation Award in Public Relations

The Foundation Award in Public Relations is a new qualification from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

The course is designed for those considering PR as a career option; whether school-leavers, students or those already working in a different industry who would like to move into public relations.

The qualification, which is at A-level standard, will provide an introduction to PR as a career and students will learn the basic theories of effective communication, and develop writing and other essential skills and techniques.

Students who pass the Foundation Award are qualified to take the CIPR’s Advanced Certificate professional qualification.

The course provider is City Lit in London in partnership with PR Academy.

This year's remaining 3 day courses leading to the Foundation Award in PR take place as follows:

13th, 27th Oct and 10th Nov
21st, 28th Nov and 12th Dec
15th, 29th Nov and 12th Dec

The 3 hour exam is taken on the afternoon of the 3rd day of each course. Total costs per course, exam and certification is £595.

Applications + payments should be sent to Shika at City Lit in Covent Garden, London - [on shikha.sharma@citylit.ac.uk, tel 0207 492 2675] where the course and exam takes place.

Learning Skills Council funding

Training organisations and employers who deliver the Advanced Apprenticeship in Marketing and Communications containing the Foundation Award can apply to their local Learning Skills Council for funding. For further information click on the link below:

http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/partners/frameworks/apprenticeships/advancedapprenticeships/marketingandcommunications.htm

Teaching and assessment

Teaching comprises 15 hours of lectures and workshops during students will examine and discuss case-studies and current issues. Students are assessed in a three hour examination involving a report, a news release exercise and an essay.

Syllabus

The course will examine the key terms, techniques and theories of public relations and look at the relationship between PR and marketing, advertising, promotions and publicity.

Define the field and scope of public relations and its relationship with marketing, advertising, publicity, propaganda etc. Broad introductions will be given to the specialist areas of PR and to in-house or and consultancy working practices. Concepts such as corporate social responsibility reputation management and working with publics will be considered.
Examine the role of the professional PR practitioner, focusing on ethical issues, the CIPR code of practice and continuous professional development.
Understand the principles and practice of effective media relations; writing for the media, understanding a news story, use of visual imagery, working with press and broadcast media.

Entry requirements:

Education to at least A level or equivalent
Plus those whose first language is not English must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the language – spoken and written to – International Language Testing System (IELTS) band score of 7.0 or above or equivalent.