Article by Prof Ananya M Mehta

The Necessity of PR in Higher Educational Sector

By Ananya M Mehta

Asst. Professor – PR and Events,

Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Pune.

M: + 91 9881743357, 020 39116118

E-mail: ananya.mehta@simc.edu

Introduction and Growth of Education Sector in India

Importance of education cannot be overemphasized in the present day context as it is the single most important means for individuals to improve personal endowments, build capability levels, overcome constraints and, in the process, enlarge their available set of opportunities and choices for a sustained improvement in well-being.

Education is now widely valued not only for its intrinsic value in enriching the lives of individuals but also for its functional value in the development of the human capital of a nation. Educational investments in children have shown to have high private and social returns. The private returns are associated with increased productivity and earnings in adulthood, and with further non-pecuniary gains arising from the greater efficiency with which educated individuals are able to acquire and process information.

India’s educational development is a mixed bag of remarkable successes and glaring gaps. In the post-independence period, the pace of educational development was unprecedented by any standards. At the same time, perhaps, the policy focus and public intervention in the provisioning of educational services was not adequately focused or, even misplaced, to the extent that even after over five decades of planned effort in the sector, nearly one-third of the population or close to 300 million persons in age-group7 years and above are illiterate.

There are critical gaps in the availability of infrastructural facilities and qualitative aspects of education including, teachers training, educational curricula, equipments and training materials, particularly, in the publicly funded schooling system of the country. The attainments, as also the failures have not been uniform across all regions. Though the regional differences are indeed striking, there has been a significant reduction in inequalities in educational attainments across gender and population segments by income levels and the rural-urban divide.

Growth of Higher Education System in India

Status until end of Ninth Plan (March 2002)

Academic Year 2006-07

State/Central Universities (Nos.) :133, 369

Deemed Universities (Nos.): 27, 109

No. of colleges: 12,340, 18,064

Women’s colleges (Nos.): 1,500, 1,902

No. of students enrolled: 7.5 million, 11.2 million

Allocation (INR in bn): 25, 42 (Tenth Plan)

Source: Mid-term Appraisal Report of Tenth Plan, MHRD Annual Report 2006-07

Defining Trends in the Sector

The Educational sector is a very large sector in India. It includes primary and high schools, under-graduate and post-graduate colleges, B-schools etc. Though a large part of India is still rural, the education institutions at that level include small government and private schools and vocational colleges.

Today, good public relations are vital to the successful functioning of any educational institutional.  Public relations in education institutes at lower levels are almost non-existent. The schools never go in for conferences or promotion. The awareness is not very high. The only PR tool they end up using without realization is promotion through word of mouth. There are NGOs who acquire the PR techniques to raise awareness in villages and small towns regarding such institutes and the importance of education.

In urban areas, however, education has become a crucial factor for survival. In the last three years, higher and specialized education has topped the trend. Higher education has its own challenges. Critics call it too expensive. University faces competition for students and declining resources.  Universities usually have three charges to fulfill: Teaching, Service, and Research. Therefore, the role of PR comes in to picture. Institutes use PR techniques to promote themselves and gather brand recognition. This gives them better visibility and attracts crowd. Also, Alumni play a very crucial role as they have their own interest in their Alma matter. 

The work of public relations is to create a favorable image of any organization. In such cases, PR benefits the small educational hubs but the customers they attract are at a loss. Maintaining community relations applies for those activities dedicated to upholding the image of the institution or maintaining and promoting understanding and favorable relations with the community or public at large.

It also requires funds although the expenditure is much less than any advertising tool. Research says that the general public would trust a public relation activity more than any advertising which they know has been paid for.

Role of PR in Educational Institutes

Education Institutes use public relations both internally and externally. Internal PR stands for PR within the organisation and its employs. External PR stands for maintaining favourable relations with the public.

Events are held within the organisation for the members to build a good rapport amongst themselves and smoothen communication. Faculty/Staff Handbook, Faculty meetings, Faculty luncheons, News releases e-mailed to F/S & posted online are other tools to facilitate internal PR.

The purpose of internal PR is to clear communication about organizational intentions, activities and performance, improve sense of cohesion among employees, and circulate adequate task-related information, positive information regarding an organization’s ability to provide challenging and meaningful tasks.

The external PR of any organization is when the institute holds several conferences, sends out press releases, manages events and keeps itself much in the public glare for better promotion and more recognition. Institutes these days maintain special ALUMNI Relations Cell through which they keep in constant contact with their students who have passed out and are doing well in the industry. They do it for the purpose of a better brand name and to ensure decent placements to the upcoming batches through their contacts. 

And with, internet taking the centre stage for all communication, the role of PR here becomes precise yet demanding. Use of social media sites, blog, pod-cast etc is the tools available on the PR professional at the fingertip giving them a wide scope of reaching out.

Future Trends

Today the public is already online, and the internet allows anyone to be a publisher. Public relations practitioners must learn how to use the internet efficiently to address these issues for their clients.

The future of PR in education sector says that the clients will expect more. They would want exclusive access to information as media is transforming. There would be information flow in every dimension. People would ask for transparency in information. Public relations specialists are struggling to recognise the impact that the internet, and its associated communication tools (such as, virtual communities), will have on how communication occurs. Reaction is slow to the changes being made in business and culture.

The five major trends in the next three years that impact public relations are as follows:

•  More individual publishing (blogging)

•  More noise (that is, the amount of information people are bombarded with each day including advertisements and so forth)

•  More media outlets

•  Greater direct communication and

•  Public relations becoming more accountable

Summary

PR is a vital element of the institutions’ relationship with the outside world. It is considered that PR has seven major roles to perform for any educational institution:

•  Expanding the number of applicants to the institution

•  Helping the institution to become better known

•  Helping the institution to gain an enhanced reputation

•  Influencing decision makers to smile upon one’s institution

•  Improving internal relations

•  Maintaining good relations with the community

•  Maintaining positive relations with the alumni

These aims are used in any kind of educational institutions be it schools, colleges or senior colleges offering professional courses. They seem to apply in large measures to such institutions, although their relative importance may be different.

The use of the term public relations has so far been deliberate, however it may be a little misleading for use in educational institutions because of its historical link with the commercial world and its negative public connotation of trying to mislead, deceive and create false impressions. Although the times in this regard have changed but the thoughts still remain the same.

 “Create an image for your company or your competitors will do it for you.” In the higher education sector this statement by Keever is equally true; as competition for students increases and funding decreases, making it necessary for universities to create and maintain a distinctive image in the market place.

Higher education institutions are becoming increasingly aggressive in their marketing activities to convey an image that is favourable and in all aspects beneficial to their public, be they prospective students, employers, funders etc.

The educational institutes try their best to create and maintain a very positive image amongst the minds of the people. They do so through measures like press conferences regarding any new development in the institute, press releases concerning the activities, branding of the institutes, maintain contacts with the people who can benefit the organisation in any way. It includes the who’s who of the society, the media people and also their alumni.

They organise large scale events and hold public meetings. The institutions nowadays believe in the trend of branding, which is done through specially designed logos that convey the mission and vision of the institute. The logo becomes the identity of the organisation. Just like any other organisation, the educational institutes also have their ups and downs which they try to cover up through crises management. This is a time when the PR department is on its toes and works its best.

Bibliography

Books:

Robert L Heath, “Handbook of Public Relations”, London: Sage Publications Ltd., 2000, pg-535.

Websites:

http://wiki.media-culture.org.au/index.php/Virtual_Communities 

   Managing External Relations in Schools: A Practical Guide By Nicholas Foskett

   www.tulipchildren.org

   www.exchange4media.com

   Educational-information Web Resource on Public Relations.mht