Realizing UiTM’s vision of gaining international recognition- the final year students of the Public Relations Programme from the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, jointly with the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) hosted and organized the “Public Relations Education Landscape in Malaysia” seminar on October 22, 2008 at the UiTM International Centre in UiTM, Shah Alam.
The seminar was attended by public relations experts, academicians, students, practitioners, government regulators, IPRM members, and prospective employers and it was officially launched by the Assistant Vice Chancellor (Corporate Communication & International Relations) Universiti Teknologi MARA, Assoc. Prof Dr. Ahmad Redzuan Abd Rahman.
The seminar showcased and discussed the current status of public relations education in higher learning institutions in Malaysia and other significant issues related- covering benchmarking standards, practicality, qualifications, syllabus, marketability and current trends, to ensure that students graduating meet the needs and demands of the ever shifting communication industry both on the national and international levels.
In conjunction with the seminar, participants also witnessed the launching of the IPRM Public Relations Educators’ Chapter- a group represented by lecturers from various public and private universities and colleges teaching Public Relations programmes and courses, armed with the sole objective to improve and standardize benchmarks for the Public Relations programme curriculum in Malaysia, promote research and publications in the field. The Chapter was officially launched by the IPRM President, Dato’ Haji Mohd. Hamdan Hj. Adnan.
About 170 participants, students and lecturers of FKPM, as well as those from other higher learning education institutions such as Lim Kok Wing University College, University Sains Malaysia and also INTI University College attended the seminar.
The seminar featured a number of notable speakers in the field of public relations. Among the speakers were Dato’ Haji Mohd. Hamdan Hj. Adnan, President, IPRM, Puan Omi Habibah Hj Shariff, Director, National Policy, Information Department, Ministry of Information, Mr. Ravindran Raman Kutty, Head of Corporate Communications, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd., Assoc. Prof. Ilias Md. Salleh & Wan Norbani Wan Noordin, UiTM, Hamidah Karim, Managing Director, Prestige Communications, Doris Lim, Deputy President, IPRM, Dr. Jamilah Ahmad, Universiti Sains Malaysia and also Assoc. Prof Dr. Kiranjit Kaur, UiTM.
‘Public Relations Education Landscape in Malaysia: An overview’, served as the opening topic for the seminar- presented by Prof. Dr. Kiranjit Kaur, UiTM. Here she explained in detail and provided an insight into the public relations programmes, courses and subjects offered at the various higher education institutions in Malaysia, how they differ from one another and what can be adhered for the better future of the public relations curriculum in Malaysia. She also discussed the needs of the industry and appropriate skills to develop among students to meet these needs.
Under the first panel - ‘The Employment Challenges in the Public Relations Industry’, Dato’ Mohd Hamdan Haji Adnan presented his topic, ‘Consumerism and Human Rights in Public Relations Education’. The topic in general revolves around the need for public relations programmes to include subjects covering areas of consumerism and human rights in its syllabus. He highlighted its importance because both consumerism and human rights are very pervasive in their impact in today's society which indirectly stimulates national growth and development.
Puan Omi Habibah talked about ‘The Sufficiency of Public Relations Curriculum for Employment as Information or Public Relations Officers in the Government Service.’ She shared with the participants her years of experience working at the Ministry of Information- stressing it’s objectives, functions, how public relations practice has changed in the past two decades and why it is crucial for students to be well-equipped in every sense of public relations from theory to practice.
A public relations practitioner must be aware of his or her surroundings, be insightful and must have a thirst for knowledge- these are among the attributes of an aspiring public relations practitioner as explained by Ravindran Raman Kutty, Head, Corporate Communications, of Northport (Malaysia) Bhd. In his topic ‘Did My Public Relations Professional Programme Prepare Me to Head the Public Relations Department?’ Mr. Ravi elaborated on the crucial need for students or graduates to have a deep desire to constantly improve themselves not only in classes but also out there in the working world.
In the second panel- ‘Standards for Public Relations Effective Learning’, Assoc. Prof. Ilias Salleh and Pn Wan Norbani Wan Noordin presented on, ‘The Internship as part of Public Relations Education’, which focuses on the feedback of the various industries taking interns- explaining in detail where students are lacking in vital areas of public relations practice such as poor writing skills, poor command of the English language and also speaking skills. She furthermore recommended that the internship period should be extended to six months from just three months because most corporations and organizations find that three months is just too short a time for an intern to learn anything but the basics.
With the title, ‘The Writing Curriculum in Public Relations’- Pn. Hamidah Karim, Managing Director of Prestige Communications emphasized on the importance of writing and the attitudes that students should have when it comes to writing because in the field of public relations, writing is very crucial and no practitioner can escape this fact. She suggested that students or graduates should further improve their writing skills and this can only be done by constantly drafting, and taking comments into account as constructive criticism.
Doris Lim, Deputy President of the IPRM in her presentation ‘Financial Public Relations’, gave details about the various opportunities in investor relations- an untouched area of the public relations industry. She suggested that investor relations should not only be practiced by accountants but also by public relations practitioners because it involves corporate governance, transparency and total disclosure. Also, in her talk, Doris recommended students to join in the investor relations industry because it is an interesting field and it also has a lot to offer in terms of opportunities and experience.
E-Learning is important and nowadays emerging towards a better tomorrow. Dr.Jamilah Ahmad from the University Sains Malaysia spoke about the relevance of studying public relations through e-learning in her paper, ‘Feasibility of Public Relations Courses Through E-Learning: A Case Study in Malaysia’, she pointed out that e-learning method is still an infant technology and learning tool in Malaysia.
The topic presented indeed was helpful for all participants especially the students who are about to graduate or are thinking about pursuing a career in the public relations industry for it discusses the public relations on a micro analytic view. Apart from that, participants were also given the opportunity to interact with the speakers personally in the Q&A session held after each session.
