The latest edition of PResense newsletter focuses on the PR education scene in India and has a list of PR institutes in India, compiled by Ms.Uma Bhushan, Sr. Faculty, K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai. I just couldn’t help linking to it

The list included names of institutes offering PR courses, in which States these institutes are based in, courses offered, eligibility, and course duration. I only wished we had the contact details of these institutes too.

The list also details the best five courses in Public Relations in India as follows:

1. Two-year full time post graduate diploma in Communication Management with option for majoring in Public Relations, Corporate Communication and Event Management in the second year at Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication (SIMC) Pune
2. MA in Advertising and Public Relations (MAAPR) at the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism, Bhopal
3. 2 year full time MA in advertising and Public relations at the School of Broadcasting and Communication, Mumbai
4. One year full time Diploma in Public Relations and Corporate Communications at the Xavier Institute of Communications (XIC), Mumbai
5. One year post graduate diploma in Advertising and PR – started in 1981 at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi

The ranking was given for full time courses, for duration (more for two year) and whether the course is exclusively on PR or is clubbed with Advertising.

There is also a directory of courses in mass media (courtesy Indian and Global PR-Student Blog!).

Before ending the post, how about these two topical topics doing the rounds these days:

1. Familiarising PR students with the new media: There is a new form of online media consisting of blogs, wikis, social networking sites, memes online forums, etc. These are exerting their share of influences on any company’s stakesholders today, if not yet as much as the traditional media do. PR students should be made to understand and use these emerging tools of communication and media.

EducationPR quoted a report ‘The Professional Bond: Public Relations Education for the 21st Century‘ published by the Commission on Public Relations Education, ‘The contemporary practice of public relations requires practitioners to immediately respond to emerging issues and crises via Web sites, blogs, and other new media. Students of public relations consequently must know how to use today’s communications technology, monitor it, and (most likely) adopt rapidly and unpredictably changing technology.’

Forward Blog talks about projecting some best-case and worst-case scenarios for the future of communication and technology in the class.

2. Industry collaboration for PR education advancement: There have been write-up about practitioners-vs.-Ph.D.’s debates. I am glad that in India, Indian PR professionals are currently collaborating thoughts to design a course for the Anna University. We have to see that there is an equal distribution of theory and practice.