In a tough job market, being able to indicate your professionalism as a PR practitioner is vital.
Gaining the CIPR qualifications (Foundation, Advanced Certificate and Diploma) is a mark of commitment to improving vocational competencies through key knowledge and practical skills.
The first assignment is a robust CRT (critical reasoning test) which assesses understanding, critical reflection and application of a wide range of concepts and best practice approaches.
The results from this test have just been released with an excellent pass rate achieved by the Cambridge Marketing Colleges students – 95% for Advanced Certificate and 97% for Diploma.
These are not easy courses, as evidenced by the fact that tomorrow, the guys need to start work on their second assignment, producing a robust PR/communications plan to respond to a real life situation.
That will be followed by selection of a topic for the final assignment, a 2,500 word critique (Adv Cert) or 6,000 word research project (Diploma), to be submitted at the end of July.
We also heard our other students gained a distinction or merit in their final project and can now add that elusive CIPR Diploma to their CV.
These students certainly prove that when the going gets tough, tough PR practitioners get studying. Congratulations to them all.
Having attended one of the CIPR sessions as a Guild of Motoring Writers journo keen to know more about PR professionalism, I can fully attest to Heather’s words here. The course really is anything but easy – challenging and stimulating students to a very high level.
My day-long Saturday session left me pretty awed at the issues and theories covered. It’s no simple ‘this is how to do PR’ overview, but a proper immersion in the psyche of it, and how PR practitioners can become professionals, not just officers.
I’ve challenged myself to plough through one of Heather’s coursework tasks, so will be visiting Birmingham library in the next few weeks to start genning up. Nothing like trying it for yourself to see what’s really involved!
Oh, and well done to all on the course. I’ll follow how my ‘classmates’ get on with interest…
… and for anyone who’s doubting the merits, here’s food for thought: http://www.stuartbruce.biz/2009/02/the-value-of-cipr-membership.html