BA (Hons) Public Relations

Level One

Introduction to Public Relations

The module provides a broad introduction to corporate public relations (PR), including the role of PR within corporate life and in particular, the assurance of an organisation’s reputation. It is designed for students with no previous experience or knowledge of public relations and the professional activities of practitioners.

There are two main areas of study:

• The context of public relations
• The practice of public relations to meet objectives.

Public Administration 1: Democracy and Bureaucracy

Students need to understand how legislation is drafted and enacted in the UK and how journalism – the Fourth Estate – effects a check on Government and Parliament(s). This involves a study of the political, democratic and administrative structure of Parliament, government, local government and EU institutions, in part by positing the question 'Who Runs Britain?'. The module also examines how local government services are delivered around the UK, in the absence of a uniform structure and the emergence of various experimental models. Issues such as public accountability, consultation, responsibilities and decision-taking mechanisms are also studied.

 Multiplatform Media Skills for PR

In this module students are introduced to the editorial and production skills required for multiplatform production in the increasingly converged media environment. The focus will be on organisational story telling and output production for radio and television with, as the module progresses, increasing attention given to related online content. During the module, students will work in a production workshop environment with all tasks performed under appropriate time constraints. By bringing the professional environment into the workshop the students will experience the pressures of operating as a public relations practitioner across a range of broadcast and web-based media. Core skills of portable recording, editing, story telling and writing for broadcast will be developed through the module, incorporating interviewing techniques, story selection and editing processes, and audio/visual illustration.

Communication in Society

This module offers an introduction to the communication industry, following an historical and theoretical pathway through to understanding the current workings in mass communications.  The students will examine the development of various means of media communication and fundamental models and debates that have emerged in the attempt to account for them in a modern, Western cultural context.  Access to means of communication and the development of various genres of communication and the impact of digital revolutions on our "Information Society" will also be explored.

Financial Communications

This module provides students with an understanding of the relevance of finance and accounting and some of the current issues facing business people. It develops students' ability to understand and comment upon issues which will arise when pursuing a business career. It examines the underlying reasons behind why organisations spend considerable time and money producing 'financial communications', and the extent to which these communications achieve their objectives.

Integrated Communications

The more we understand about how people communicate, the better position we shall be in to manage an organisation’s messages. This module encourages students to understand a range of core communication models and theories, in order that they will be able to analyse the likely impact of media messages on target audiences. A crucial aspect of this module is the discussion of integrated communications and how the disciplines of advertising, marketing and public relations fit together.

Effective Copywriting and Design

The ability to write targeted copy, quickly and accurately, to achieve a predetermined purpose is a key skill for the communications practitioner who needs to appreciate which medium will be the most appropriate to reach the right audience and deliver the intended message. To do this, a clear understanding of different media, their characteristics including strengths and weaknesses, target audiences, and how they work at a practical level, is important. The relationship between the medium and the message also includes aspects such as type style, design, and paper and an understanding of the conventions of page layout, whether for print or electronic media.  It is important that the practitioner also understands the contributions that can be made to the effective delivery of a message by (for example) professional photographers, designers and illustrators, and how to brief such professionals.

Level Two

Essential Law for PR

The key skills of a professional in PR include an understanding of, and an ability to write for, different audiences and channels of communication from tweets, blogs, news media and speeches to weighty consultation and strategy documentations to justify policies. Today’s PR operates though multiplatforms of sound and vision, thus practitioners need to understand the essential legal and ethical responsibilities associated with multiplatform communication, working with journalists and with the news agenda. Central to public relations is the management of the reputation of an organisation and an understanding of the legal issues around reputation is an essential skill for a PR journalist. A PR professional must have a basic understanding of contract law and of the legal rights and responsibilities of freelancers.

Public Administration 2: The Journalist as Public Watchdog?

Journalists frequently claim an important role as "watchdogs" over public authorities, whether their work takes them to Westminster, Brussels, Whitehall, or Town Halls, health trusts, hospitals and trade organisations across the UK. This module builds on the work done in year one to further examine the role of the journalist in the coverage of local community, regional, and national affairs. It considers the specialist work of political, health, crime and business correspondents in the context of the relationship between government, the private sector and the citizen. It addresses issues such as media relationships with officials, representatives, and politicians and examines limitations on, and opportunities for, the reporter to obtain information that institutions prefer the public not to know.

Public Relations Organisations and People

Effective management of PR does not depend on luck; there are Codes of Conduct for practitioners to follow and the typical client / consultant relationship is usually organised into a Contract. This module will look at Public Relations and how it works as a business in its own right, together with how it works as a function of other businesses in order to provide students with a clear image of the establishment, structure and style of a PR consultancy, linked to the professional processes that go on within the business. As well as the world of PR consultancies, this unit will consider and discuss the role of PR within an organisation, considering the similarities and differences between the structure and performance of consultancy and in-house PR resources.  One activity taken in-house from time to time will be the selection of a specialist external consultancy for a particular job and the unit will review the range of consultancies available, along with how to select, contact, and brief the appropriate choice, and manage the ensuing relationship.

PR in Organisational Communications

The module considers the role of Public Relations (PR) in the context of the changing nature of communication between organisations and their publics. Of particular concern to communication is the rapidly evolving technological context that is transforming the environment within which communication takes place. Technological change has also had a social impact in terms of individuals' use of media, access to information and social interaction that all have implications for communication. Through completion of the module students will be able to plan and evaluate the contribution of PR within an integrated communications campaign strategy and develop their skills in presenting and defending their ideas within a realistic context.

Research Skills and Practice

The main aim of this module is to encourage students to consider the relationships between the media and audiences, to ask critical questions relevant for their field of study, and to choose the right method to answer them. It introduces qualitative research methods for communications and guides students through the practical dimensions of conducting a research project into media audiences. In order to help students to understand basic research methods commonly used in communication and media studies and their limits this unit will include discussions on contemporary critiques of these methods, as well as their ethical and philosophical dimensions. Students will examine the multidisciplinary character of these methods and their historical origins in the fields of sociology, anthropology, and psychology. The contribution of literary criticism, history and economy to what is often referred to as "critical analyses" of contemporary cultural production and reception will be also a matter of discussions.

Community Engagement

Community Engagement is an increasingly important aspect of Public Relations practice, a spectrum of communication that includes influence and consultation. Approaches to corporate reputation assurance are moving away from persuasion towards reaching consensus. Thus, Public Relations practitioners need to understand persuasion and reaching consensus. Persuasion and influence are well established subjects of academic study. The focus tends to be on change and constancy in individual and group beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviour. However, they tend to belong to an adversarial model of relationships. The quest for constituency consensus means that corporate advisers need skills in counselling and negotiating to implement new thinking about participative leadership styles and co-operative business relationships.

Options

Students choose one from the following:

Event Management

This module provides an insight into the strategic management of events of all sizes and types.  The module provides a framework of the sports event planning process, using short and long-term strategies and an overview of operational strategies.

Living Culture

This module examines some of the complexities of how people participate in and consume culture. Involvement in cultural activities is a means by which people construct a sense of self, identity and values. Yet, through participating in 'culture', they are creating group identities. The individual and collective levels are subtly intertwined. Critical attention is given to the styles and codes through which participants distinguish themselves from other cultural groups or values and, correspondingly, how these groups are represented by outsiders, including the media. The resistive and creative potential of these cultures will be questioned in light of consumer culture, as will their power to establish community, diversity and power relations. 

Culture Industries in Context

This course examines transformations in the contemporary global economy and how they come to bear upon the production and consumption of culture.  Students will critically engage with models of Post-industrial society, Post-Fordism, globalisation and the new, 'knowledge' or 'symbolic' economy. The economy is increasingly based on information, services and leisure with communications-based industries, such as advertising, media and PR playing crucial roles. Consideration will be given to the resulting development of an advanced consumer culture in which people increasingly organise free time and identity around cultural and material products promoted in cultural terms. Some parallel developments, such as the growth of the voluntary sector, will also be examined. Overviews of key culture industries will be integrated into an understanding of how the media works as a vehicle for their products. Consideration will also be given to work environments and job roles in the creative and cultural industries and to matters of policy and regulation.

Level Three

Independent Study (Double Module)

Students undertaking a dissertation in a topic of their choice within the field of journalism, PR and communications and apply key theoretical concepts to their research. Although staff supervision is provided, students are required to work on their own initiative and provide evidence of their ability to collect, select and evaluate relevant information and present it in a clear and logical manner.

Options

Strategic Corporate Public Relations (Double Module)

This module considers Strategic Corporate Communication as a means of engendering trust and building reputation in key aspects of corporate activity, in particular in Investor Relations. It considers strategically vital concerns of corporate management at the highest level, in particular Corporate Governance and other institutional, social, political and technological issues that have a direct effect on the cost and availability. Modern media techniques and pressures have been to the fore in the recent fiscal crises as has the relationship between commercial and political interests and imperatives.  This relationship will be described and developed as part of a wider understanding that strategic communications is not just a commercial or fiscal priority, especially in difficult times.

Values Issues and Crisis Management Counselling (Double Module)

PR operates in a cultural or social context and the range of problems faced by the organisations  represented often present as issues with a potential to become part of the media and public policy agendas and with the potential to have a direct positive or negative impact on the reputation of an organisation. The management of the PR aspects of such issues is part of the PR practitioner’s professional remit. Crises that have the capacity to impact on the reputation of an organisation are often closely associated with issues and also need managing. The study of issues leads students into the study of the PR implications of crises that seriously threaten an organisation. Some crises are the result of mismanaged issues but others are not, such as the aftermath of a natural disaster, terrorist attack, a quality control failure in a production line, a passenger aircraft crash or a hostile takeover bid. Again, the contribution of PR is to the work of a management team reporting to the highest level. Successful crisis management enables the PR practitioner to establish their value to the organisation at the highest level. On a personal level it has the potential make or break a CEO’s or PR practitioner’s own reputation. The module will help students develop a theoretical and practical understanding and application of digital communications used within Public Relations including: design and writing for web sites; blogs and social media: and to make them aware of some of the implications of this medium for PR.

Digital Communications

Students will look at the history of the internet and at some of the underlying technology and web page design. They will also look at content-management systems, SEO, data journalism and data- base driven websites. The implementation of measurement tools will also be explored. Consideration will be given to the strategic use of websites and how these can link with blogs, social media and current digital communications tools as part of a long term integrated PR strategy. Image optimisation will be covered involving the use and understanding of software such as Photoshop to ensure efficient and correct use of image data.

Internal Communications

Internal Public Relations involves more than employee communications and is an essential aspect of most (perhaps even all) PR programmes.  In particular students will consider ethical aspects of Internal Public Relations and distinguish the role of Internal Public Relations from that of related fields such as Human Resource Management and internal publicity. Employees are stakeholders in the organisation and its activities.  Public Relations with employees is at least as significant as that with those outside the organisation. In addition, employees are also often members of the local community in which the organisation or firm is based.  They can therefore play a multi-faceted role in reflecting, supporting, challenging or influencing a firm's public face as well as in other Public Relations roles such as marketing and political lobbying. At times of organisational change this becomes critical. PR can create and develop change champions and ensure that messages about change within the organisation are effectively managed, limiting the scope for damaging rumour and speculation. It is essential, therefore, for Public Relations practitioners to understand the principles of effective employee communications and the distinctive contribution that Public Relations can make through the range of organisational public relations contexts and outcomes to which it can contribute.  The module also helps students to understand and evaluate ways in which these activities fit into the wider PR strategies of an organisation, such as in branding and customer development.

Branding & Reputation

This module will explore what is meant by "brands" and "branding", and students will come to realise that brands and branding are a necessary part of people’s lives, as well as major contributory factors in the on-going success of organisations. This module aims to provide a solid understanding and application in the strategies of global brand management and the impact on reputation. Key branding concepts such as brand identity, brand image, brand positioning and brand equity will be explored and supported by brand insights that will provide clear insights and illustrations of branding strategies in action. Key skills and theories of brand management will be presented and discussed within the context of a global brand management environment.  Students will gain a clear appreciation of the role of brand strategy within a corporation’s operating plan.  This will entail consideration of environmental factors causing changes to the structure and composition of the brand portfolio as well as discussion of conceptual issues surrounding the strategic roles of brand management.

Roots of Cultural Conflict

The module will provide an opportunity to examine and analyse recent and ongoing international news stories in a cultural and historic context.  Themes will include colonialism, conflicting cultural and religious worldviews, economic paradigms, construction of national identity, cultural stereotyping, public health initiatives, poverty, the impact of NGOs and foreign aid, and the significance of a free press. The module will begin with a brief overview of western colonialism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but will then focus on more recent developments, exploring the nature and consequences of clashes in cultural world views and the impact of globalization. 

The single PR degree course is based in the Media, Humanities & Performance building, a purpose built Media base located at the Brayford Pool campus in Lincoln.

There is the opportunity for students to work, in any capacity, on Siren FM, theUniversityofLincoln’s own Community Radio Station which broadcasts to theLincolnarea and further afield via the web.

Already, students following courses of study joint with Journalism have made a significant impact on the station’s output.

There are also opportunities for work experience on live briefs through Cygnet PR – the Student PR Agency – and local PR agencies that invite students to work alongside their programme of studies.

In the field of PR, the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) – the professional body for agencies, consultants and in-house teams - invited the University of Lincoln to be one of only eleven partner universities as it seeks to strengthen its relationship with Higher Education; this offer was accepted in July 2011.

The relationships with the two main professional bodies ensures that Lincoln graduates have ready access to a range of supplementary skills, training opportunities, placements, work experience and paid internships – both bodies are committed to employers paying interns a minimum wage.  

BA (Hons) Public Relations graduates will be able to evaluate evidence, arguments and assumptions, to reach sound judgements and to communicate effectively.

Through this, the graduate will develop analytical techniques and problem-solving skills that can be applied in many types of employment within public relations, but also of value in other career choices, including further study.

Our graduates are uniquely prepared for a future career in either Journalism or PR. Opportunities exist in online journalism, radio and television news, public relations, advertising, corporate communications, publishing and freelance writing.

2012 Entry	UK/EU	International
Full-time	£9000	£10499
Part-time	£75 per credit point	£88 per credit point
Placement (optional)	Exempt	Exempt
Assessment Only	£38 per credit point	£44 per credit point

 

2013 Entry	UK/EU	International
Full-time	£9000	£11130
Part-time	£75 per credit point	£93 per credit point
Placement (optional)	Exempt	Exempt
Assessment Only	£38 per credit point	£47 per credit point

For further information and funding your study please see our Fees & Funding pages.

Fees and Funding