Advanced Certificate in public relations
The CIPR Advanced Certificate gives you an excellent grounding in both theory and practice. It is a valuable qualification in its own right and also prepares you for the CIPR Diploma in Public Relations. It is a ten month course with 48 hours of tuition, taught at degree level.
Studying for the Advanced Certificate is a great way to develop your skills or gain a solid introduction to PR. The course gets you thinking in a more planned and focused way, introducing you to key theories of things like communication and social media to help you to deliver winning campaigns. You will come away from the course a more critical thinker too, equipped to ask the killer questions that really help you gain the respect of your clients or your senior managers.
Your tutors will be drawn from practice and academia – a great mix to help you understand the theory, but know how to apply it. Learn more by checking out the webinar that we ran about the course here.
If you want to take your PR career to the next level, the Advanced Certificate is for you!
Syllabus
The course comprises three units and three assessments.
Unit 1: Managing PR, including:
- History and development of PR practice
- Relationship to other communication areas
- Introduction to media relations, internal communications, public affairs,
- corporate responsibility and financial PR
- Systems theory
- Organisational culture and structure, and management theory
- Communications theory and models
- Assessment: Critical reasoning test (taken at home with a series of questions supplied).
Unit 2: PR in Action, including:
- Campaign planning: targeting publics, developing messages and selection channels
- Media relations: writing press releases, media interviews, press launches and preparing for media coverage
- Internal communication: employee engagement, internal communication
- and change, preparing briefings, speeches and presentations
- Assessment: Portfolio of four pieces of work based on a case-study.
Unit 3: Professional development
Management skills, organising and managing effective meetings, time management, presentation skills, negotiating and problem solving.
Assessment: 2,500 word critique of PR as a developing discipline.
There are three assessments:
- Critical reasoning test (open book)
- Planning assignment
- Critique (an in depth look at an aspect of PR in the workplace)
The Advanced Certificate is right for you if…
You are interested in pursuing a career in PR
You have been working in the PR industry at fairly junior levels for at least two years
You are working in any field of Public Relations, for example media relations, internal communications, public affairs and would like your first professional qualification.
Enrol
Check that you meet the enrolment criteria and enrol via the CIPR at www.cipr.co.uk
Study options
Meet our tutors
Check our results
Find out about our bursary
