UK-based, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) will be launched at the UoN on February 8 while classes start next month. Housed by the institution’s Corporate Affairs, the university will offer certificate and diploma courses taught by seasoned PR professionals.
Diploma and certificate courses under the qualification will cost Sh239,500 and Sh175,220 respectively. The courses are designed to run for six months of a total 48 hours.
Course lead Anne Gichuhi praises the course as a game-changer for professionals keen on getting ahead of the pack. The University is using the data of its communication graduates and PR lobbies to market the course that is the dream of many, partly because of its global reach.
“The CIPR qualification is a game-changer in the communication industry and shapes PR practitioners to rise above the tide, adding remarkable value to every boardroom conversation,” Ms Gichuhi says in the marketing literature for the course that has been endorsed by the Kenyan PR lobby.
According to the Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK) president Wilfred Marube the lobby is “excited and supportive of this effort to professionalise the industry.” Dr Marube says the chartered course equips with knowledge and skills required for executing “effective PR programmes”.
Though comparatively more expensive than local courses but dwarfing even university degrees in preference, chartered courses have acquired an unassailable lead with more relevant theories, sticking to the tradition of quality curriculum and practicals, the latter a bloat in Kenya.
The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) has endlessly faulted the local universities for producing half-baked graduates who require arduous on-the-job training and panel-beating to find their way through the work-life maze.
Although holding mercurial degree papers, Kenyan graduates have been accused of failing simple tests like writing readable and relevant cover letters when they are asking for internship and employment opportunities. A majority of them are worse in getting the subject matter, communicating context and report writing.
It is expected that a more practical course like the CIPR could give Kenyan PR practitioners the much needed shine and energy at a time they have been accused of doing very little apart from writing Press coverage invites to newsrooms.
Their writing skills and ability to interpret cases, including handling crises and breaking down complex projects, have come into question when their publics are left in the dark at the more trying moments. Tragedies or leadership wrangles at institutions they work for have exposed the Kenyan PR brigade as inept and clueless.
However, Kenyan PR practitioners, especially those working for the government, have complained about being bypassed and undermined when State officials, including ministers, bring on board their own preferred PR people, be they personal assistants, consultants or communication specialists.
Among other thorny issues, these ‘special’ PR people are branded quacks, but call the shots and do so outside departmental hierarchies while taking home top dollar to the chagrin of the government employees who take the flak when things go wrong.
The University of Nairobi already has bachelor’s and master’s PR courses. At master’s, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication runs PR and development communication specialisations, the former attracting fewer students. It is not yet clear why the CIPR course will be housed at Corporate Affairs and not at the School of Journalism.
According to the university’s director of Corporate Affairs, John Orindi, who will be one of the CIPR tutors, the qualification “equips one with professional skills for corporate communications, public relations and brand management”.
Apart from CIPR, other popular chartered courses are Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), and Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT). There are more.
HI,
I am interested in a post-grad diploma in public relations. Kindly need to know if you are offering.
Thank you.
Teresa,
How are you? We appreciate your question on PR. However, we are a magazine and don’t train. You can contact the University of Nairobi who are offering CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) course.