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>> PROFESSOR TOM WATSON: PR is a massively growing industry. In the UK alone it is considered
there is some 50,000 public relations practitioners and it covers government, it covers corporations,
it covers not for profit organisations as well as consultancies, so there’s massive
opportunity.
>> LIZ WILLINGHAM, EMPLOYER: I find that all staff that I’ve recruited from Bournemouth
University, and also the undergraduates with the work experience students that we have
as well, they all come with a really great way of relationship-building. They have a
real commercial savvy in how they should present themselves and manage themselves and it’s
a real testament to the university, I think, that they do produce such great graduates
that really can hit the ground running and that’s, for a small employer like myself,
it’s hugely important.
>> STUDENT: Every company needs a good face and public relations is about building and
sustaining a good reputation with brands, with organisations and the public and every
company, everything, needs public relations and it’s important to see this as a tool
to do good as opposed to manipulate.
>> PROFESSOR TOM WATSON: Studying Public Relations within a media school like Bournemouth means
there’s a lot of collaborative work. Students are working across the field, they’re working
with other students, with journalists, with people who are making television productions,
people who are making interactive websites, things like that. That’s very important
because media has converged dramatically over the last ten, fifteen years and public relations
is part of that, so social media is becoming one of the new areas for public relations,
if not becoming the dominant area. So our students will work on social media studies
and social media practice alongside advertising students, most particularly, but with students
across the whole range of the school. So it’s a benefit for them to be working in that field,
because it just is the way that the world is now.
>> STUDENT: I’d really recommend the course. I think it’s fantastic for people from all
range of disciplines, whatever you’re background, it gives you a thorough grounding in everything.
>> PROFESSOR TOM WATSON: They’ll know about public relations, but they’ll also know
about the ability to think, analyse, prepare ideas and communicate them to others.
>> LIZ WILLINGHAM, EMPLOYER: Having that academic basis is very important for us to gain credibility
with our clients. PR is often seen as a very fluffy, intangible business and we have to
work extremely hard to prove our worth and ensure that the return on our client’s investment
is there and that does take some academic credibility and that’s why I always employ
graduates.