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Public Relations in the Education Sector

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Objectives:

Introduction
Is PR a single unit or a part of another unit?
PR: past and present
PR and education
Who works in the PR area? What are their qualifications?
United Nations - UNESCO and their work
UNESCO Brazil Project - Respect For All
The importance of PR in the education sector
Is PR used positively or negatively with education?
Conclusion
Bibliography

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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 sellerinitiated efforts to set-up channels of information and persuasion in order to reach a companys
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

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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
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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 members 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
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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 Standardsetter 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 members 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 members 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 cant 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
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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 its going for. There arent 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
teachers 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.

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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.

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Bibliography
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Introduction to Public Relations. (n.d). Public Relations. Retrieved from http://

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Member state (n.d). UNESCO. Retrieved from http://en.unesco.org/countries/member-states

Introducing UNESCO (n.d). UNESCO. Retrieved from http://en.unesco.org/about-us/

introducing-unesco

The Benefits of the PR Professional (2016). From Public Relations Tutorial. KnowThis.com.
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Bemays. Edward L. The Later Years: Public Relations Insights, 1956-1986.

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encyclopedia/Pro-Res/Public-Relations.html

Brooks, S. H. (n.d.). Five Changes that Will Have an Impact on School PR in the Next Five
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Konstanca, M., Milan, D. (n.d) STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
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Grunig, L. (2009, November 19). Public Relations Research Annual.
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