Public Relations in the Education Sector
Introduction
Public relations means “the way organizations, companies and individuals communicate with the public and media” (Intro to PR). It has played a big role in the most important fields in life. For example: politics, media, government, sports and other fields. The field in which we will be discussing is the education sector. As we know PR has a huge function in education. And when we say education we mean by that the sector of colleges, schools, universities, and etc. The job of PR in education is to connect the educational institutions with other organizations in order to enhance the relationship and build awareness or for several activities.
Is PR a single unit or a part of another unit?
Public relations is the management of communication or a message between an organisation and the public; it communicates through the media in different forms such as social media, newsletters, publicity events, press releases, etc. PR is also a planned activity and creates a better image and goodwill. Public Relations is part of the promotional mix, which is a coordination of all seller-initiated efforts to set-up channels of information and persuasion in order to reach a company’s objectives or goals. The mix also consists of publicity, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and personal selling; therefore PR is not a single unit. It belongs in the promotional mix with the other units.
PR: past and present
Public relation has become more important now than in the past. Because in the past there was no public relation, or atleast it was very minimum. In the beginning of PR, it was a one-way communication that involved a sender (organization) and a receiver (public). However, it evolved when Edward L. Bernays, the founding father of modern PR, practiced it as an act of activity of two-way communication. And nowadays PR has a big role in different areas and fields such as education.
PR and education
We can find a public relations department in almost all schools or educational institutions. The public relation department can do several things for the schools or the universities such as manage events or communicate with other organization. Also, they work to create the image of the school or the university to represent it to other fields. The PR department becomes the official speaker for the educational institutions. They communicate and give feedback and manage the events and activities which can help build the education sector and improve it in a good way.
Before public relations was introduced, people had a hard time getting to know about education in schools and universities. Therefore, PR helped simplify the introduction of education through videos or events that explained about certain curriculums. It also helped them better understand what kind of education and earning skills they offer to the students that would like to join them. PR helped women get their education and it played a crucial role in showing the importance of gaining knowledge and their education. It also emphasised on the importance of schools and universities.
Who works in the PR area? What are their qualifications?
Who works in PR? Well public relations is a vast field of work that requires many different people to get the job done, including PR specialists, event planners, public speakers, financial advisors, etc. PR specialists are the people who work in public relations, they create and provide a public image that will satisfy their clients and employers. There are several jobs that are required from a PR specialist. Which include writing, editing, and checking press releases, newspapers and social media. A PR worker has to improve and create good media relationship. Public speaking, whether it is in a presentation, a conference or an event is also considered one of the jobs required from a PR worker, they also plan and think about how to arrange an announecement. As well as designers, who use logos and signs to create the best image possible of an organisation. A Public relations worker is also required to have some skills and qualifications in order to work in the field. They should have a bachelor degree in the media or journalism, in order for them to have a background knowledge about public relations. Writhing skills are also necessary, where the PR worker must have confidence while presenting or talking in public and dealing with customers. In addition, working under pressure is a required skill as the field that they are working in requires a lot of pressure and management.
United Nations - UNESCO and their work
United Nations in an organisation in which education is one of the most important principles in its field of activities. . One of the biggest educational organizations in the world is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It was founded in 1945 and their goals are to create the opportunity for all the kids boys and girls around the world to have the rights to having an education. Also, they work to protect the cultural and heritage sites in the world to protect the different cultures. They aim to protect the freedom of expression round the world (Introducing UNESCO).
They began to work and help improve the education around the world, as social and economic developments went alongside the improved education.The organisation targets a sustainable world which includes societies that believe in knowledge. As any other organization, the UNESCO set several strategies and objectives to enhance and build the best education through the sustainable development. They support the member’s countries to provide the best education with the highest quality learning for all citizens. Helping people to be more creative and have more responsible to their education. In addition, the UNESCO work in developing the educational system through laboratory of ideas such as enhancing the education strategies in each member countries to maintain the best education. The UNESCO also focused on rebuilding schools, libraries and museums that were damaged in European countries as a result of World War 2, this was one of their first major project. Another thing is Standard–setter which means dissemination of the successful educational rules through the good practices in education sectors. Also, they work through the Clearinghouse, which means focus in the development of the successful practices that can affect the education in a good way and make it more successful and worthy. Moreover, they have work in Capacity-builder by supporting the countries to cooperation and share the educational policies and practices that can help to achieve their goals and support the education among the member’s states. Also, they support international cooperation through exchange the mutual benefits in education.
UNESCO Brazil Project - Respect For All
The UNESCO involves many countries round the world. They have 195 members and 10 associate members (Members states. UNESCO). They have office in each member’s countries to help to connect with the organization through the strategies and activities to maintain the goals of the organization. The UNESCO did a lot of projects and activities round the world and they have priority program that highlights most of their goals in the organization. For example, One of their activates they did that related to education specially in Africa because they have the priority of education because they have many kids can’t access and have the education as one of their rights. One of the examples of UNESCO activities is the project of Brazil teaching respect for all. This project aims to promote the tolerance and racism in education for all kids in Brazil.
Also the project aim to teach children and youth that violence is not good and all people are the same and they should respect all the gender, national and religious. They want to teach them through the education in schools and the kids can learn easily than others.
The importance of PR in the education sector
So is public relations a minor or a major importance in the education sector? It is definitely a major importance. How will on know about the universities abroad? How will one know what degrees they offer? How will they know about promotions and events? PR covers all of that. It spreads the word to target markets, differentiated or even undifferentiated and concentrated markets. For example, Zayed university mainly consists of female Emirati students and the PR specialist made sure that that is the image it’s going for. There aren’t a lot of international students or male students in this particular university since public relations has finalised the market-orientated mission, which is to provide a better future for Emirati students.
Is PR used positively or negatively with education?
Public Relations has affected the education sector and in such a positive way, even though PR is seen in a negative aspect sometimes. Of course there are drawbacks in PR, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. In the education sector, public relations has been used in a positive way especially since it promotes education and learning, which is definitely a good thing. It helps the educational systems to improve and raise their quality, enable access to everyone, and improve the teacher’s professional education as well. This can be achieved by research, selecting the proper techniques of communication and how to implement PR on the public. This way, PR professionals can use their ability to understand the good qualities of an organization and can use media outlets to communicate them to the public. In the education sector for example, a university offers free scholarships to limited international students who exceed their qualifications, but how will the message reach them? Through PR. A school is hosting a Breast Cancer Awareness vent, how will the message reach the public? Through PR. So PR helps not only in getting people to apply for education, but helps in the awareness of other matters that are interconnected with education. But all in all, PR is used in a positive way that helps spread the importance of education. And well, when is education seen as such a negative thing? Education is such an important thing to have in life; you can lose everything in life, but you can never lose your education.
Conclusion
All in all, public relations has served great successes and accomplishments, not only in the UAE, but worldwide as well. Education has become such an importance in our day and lives and PR has helped introduce new institutions and improve the education sector by enhancing the image and hosting new projects that help individuals and society as a whole.
