Academics globally pledge to mentor PR

The aim is to assist in problem-solving and addressing challenges in PR globally, delegates were informed at the Federation of African PR Associations (FAPRA) conference in Johannesburg yesterday, Tuesday 23 May.

Prof Ronel Rensburg, head of Communications Management at the University of Pretoria, gave delegates an update from the Global Alliance Academic Forum, which is evaluating world public relations education and accreditation standards to ensure consistency of excellence in public relations training.

The Fapra conference, held for the first time in South Africa this week, saw over 150 public relations practitioners from all over Africa interacting with their South African counterparts in a conference themed 'Managing Africa's Reputation'.

Emphasis was also given to initiatives underway by the world body of PR associations, the Global Alliance, which will hold its 2007 conference in South Africa - the World Public Relations Festival - in Cape Town in May next year.

Globally, organisations like Fapra and South Africa's own Institute of Public Relations (PRISA), which played host to Fapra this week, have until December 2006 to sign a global code of ethics of public relations - which all their members will then have to abide by - as well as fall in line with proposed global PR training standards as the debate continues into 2007.

Fostering excellence in Africa

Academics undertook to work closely with PR practitioners to foster excellence in Africa for Africa. A handbook, PR in Africa, is already in progress as an academic work. The issues presented by Rensburg to delegates at the Fapra 2006 conference will be tabled at the Global Alliance for 2007.

Explained Rensburg: "Academics are very similar across the globe, but in Africa we have an added social responsibility: we need to shape, teach, research, implement and maintain our discipline in our growing, changing, learning and developing democracies."

Rensburg said that in 2002, PR academics across the globe were given the opportunity to scrutinise the discipline at the ninth International Public Relations Research Symposium in Bled, Slovenia. For the first time, African scholars were invited on board. Academics from around the world had to report on the status of public relations in their respective countries/continents using the following framework:

• A preview of the country/continent - against the background of political, economic and social issues impacting on the country.
• A background/history of PR in the country.
• The naming of the field.
• The debate about relationship-building and communication.
• Parameters of the field.
• PR as a separate academic field - or not?
• The definition of the field.
• The way forward - issues that need to be investigated.

A book about global PR appeared as a result of this conference and PR in Africa as an academic field - albeit with humble beginnings - became a player on the global stage, said Rensburg.

Value-adding agents

Issues that came out of the discussion in the Academic Forum subsequently, included:

• PR academics should be the leaders and mentors for practitioners.
• PR academics should be instrumental in advising practitioners how PR can add value to business and instruct PR practitioners to become socially responsible corporate citizens.
• PR academics should provide a cohesive framework for PR students. They should work towards inducting graduate and postgraduate students into internships in organisations.
• Academics should not merely transfer PR knowledge, but inculcate in their students with an understanding of the world of work and the level of expertise that that they will need as PR practitioners.
• Academics should provide for their students the purpose of PR: the why, the what and the how in the big picture - addressing therefore the fundamental question of what will be expected from them as practitioners.

A question that has come up again and again during deliberations, said Rensburg, was what public relations and public relations practitioners should do to distinguish them as value-adding agents.

The process

She said while academics would be addressing some issues for years, the process had begun to make public relations more relevant in Africa:

• "In building the image of Africa, PR academics can assist in simultaneously building the image of the 'terribly misunderstood discipline and practice'.
• We can learn and incorporate from the developing world, but must find our own PR voice in Africa. We are different and we do things differently here - it is time for us to acknowledge this.
• We plead for an African PR philosophy and theory, formed out of the soil and intellectual capacity of Africa. In this we call upon academics at African institutions to write and bring their PR experiences to book.
• One of our ideals is a standardised African PR curriculum - that all of our students across African universities can study. This curriculum will include the "pure PR science". Applications of PR (for example, sustainable development, corporate governance, globalisation, CSI, etc) come and go with trends and change that are ever eminent - but the pure science will linger longer.
• Along with a core curriculum for PR comes the required disciplines without which we will never be able to function as fully-fledged PR practitioners and they are: communication and all the specialisation areas in communication science, political science, economics, business management, philosophy and sociology.
• PR academics should ensure the transmission of competencies as well as skills. They should be mindful of the strategic intent as well as the technical aspects of PR and transmit these to their students. Education and skills training are equally important.
• PR academics should work closely and continuously with leaders in Africa - so that these leaders become knowledgeable and sensitive to the value and power of the performance dimensions PR in the world of work."

Clear deliverables

The Academic Forum has decided on the following more immediate tangible deliverables, Rensburg continued:

1. "An Intercontinental PR Academic Network - where academics across the continent can share (virtually and in real time) ideas and solve problems. In view of the fact that there is a lack of professional academics in PR, this network can work towards staff, student and skills exchange. We will source funding to aid this endeavour.
2. The network can embark on joint PR research projects. Research outcomes that can be used by organisational leaders lend legitimacy to PR practice.
3. A handbook, PR in Africa, is in progress. We already have a publisher and will work towards getting as many as possible contributors across Africa to participate in this important academic endeavour. We will also embark - with students, colleagues and practitioners - to produce articles and document case studies about PR in Africa.
4. Academics undertake to work closer together with PR practitioners in striving towards making PR more relevant in Africa. The power of relevancy should never be underestimated.

"In the real world of work, the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. In the world of PR the satisfaction lies in the taste that the pudding produces. It is the creation and maintenance of business relationships, a job well done, a project successfully completed, a conflict managed effectively, a crisis solved satisfactorily, a leaderss reputation saved - that will be remembered by our stakeholders. In the end PR is what PR does," Rensburg concluded.