IPR President-elect welcomes Teesside’s PR degree

The president-elect of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), Tony Bradley, spoke of the growing professionalism of the PR industry when he met public relations degree students at the University of Teesside.

Mr Bradley, a director of Bradley O’Mahoney Public Relations in Newcastle, will in 2006 become the IPR’s first president from the North East.

He told students public relations is now recognised as a strategic management function to look after the company’s reputation by more and more forward-looking organisations. “Gaining chartered status for the Institute of Public Relations will help to move PR beyond its reputation for ‘spin’ and being airy-fairy.”

Mr Bradley added that public relations was also “gaining academic credibility” and he welcomed the IPR’s approval of University of Teesside BA (Hons) degree in Public Relations.

“Public relations is now one of the favoured professions for many students, with between 50 and 100 people chasing every junior PR job. So, the importance of gaining a qualification accepted by the industry and making the right contacts has never been more important.”

During his visit, Mr Bradley met several of the prize-winning graduates from the University of Teesside’s BA (Hons) Public Relations degree, including Jennie Boddy, who he is pictured with.

Jennie, 21, from Acklam, Middlesbrough, is a former Acklam Grange School and Middlesbrough College student. She gained the DTW Prize at her graduation in November for the best overall performance on the PR degree and is now working for the Guisborough-based public relations agency as an Account Executive.

Before that she had a brief spell working in the press office at Middlesbrough Football Club.

She said: “The Teesside course was excellent preparation for working in PR because of its focus on the business nature of public relations.”

Jennie’s main project on the degree looked at the growing problem of women and binge drinking with her research showing it is likely to get a bigger problem. Her dissertation looked at the effectiveness of government campaigns to shock people into stopping smoking or avoid obesity. Her verdict: Campaigns can alter behaviour in the short-term - but have little impact in changing people’s long-term behaviour.

The public relations degree is offered by Teesside Business School, which is part of the Middlesbrough-based University of Teesside. For more information about the degree contact the course leader, Maria Hopwood, email m.hopwood@tees.ac.uk or phone 01642 342841.

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