FAQs

It varies according to the course and the stage you are at. As a very general guide, think about allowing between two and four hours a week, but this can be more when you are doing an assignment. For most courses there is a maximum time that you have to complete the course and hand in your work so you can decide if you want to take the maximum amount of time and spread the learning over longer, or do it more quickly which will mean more hours each week. For example, the CIPR Professional PR Diploma can be completed comfortably in about ten months. The short CIPR diplomas in about six months and the Foundation in about two months. But all can be done more quickly if you have the time.

We offer plenty of support. Some courses offer individual tutorials that can be booked. The course leader is easily contactable and there is always someone in the office who can help with day to day queries.

Yes you can. All our courses are available online. Students study with us from all around the world. Our online courses are available around the clock and any live sessions are usually recorded for those in different time zones. Note that all teaching and assessments are in English.

The quick answer is no. There are lots of advantages to being a member of a professional body though so if you aren't already, think about joining.

It isn’t essential, for example you can study while on a career break. For some of the higher level courses you will need experience. For example, for CIPR Diploma level courses you need to have a minimum of five years experience and reasonably senior level. Some of the assignments are designed to be based on your work but if you aren’t currently employed a tutor can help you with other options.

Yes, most of our students are working full time and many have family commitments too. While the courses are demanding – they wouldn’t be of value if they weren’t – the pace of learning and the flexible options make it possible.

They aren't heavily academic. We still discuss theory because that’s what makes us better practitioners, but we show how to apply it in practice. We call it applied learning. The assignments are mostly in the style of business writing rather than academic essays or dissertations.

There may be funding available in your area, so it is always a good idea to do some research as there may be schemes that we aren’t aware of. The CIPR occasionally has funding schemes and we'll update here when the next one is announced.

It's great news that your employer is investing in your development. The first thing to do is get a purchase order - you will need it when you enrol. This is really important as without it we aren't able to raise an invoice. Alternatively, you can pay using a company credit or debit card at checkout - that's probably the easiest way. The second thing is to allow plenty of time! We need payment before you can join the course and we know that sometimes company's payment processes can take a while. So act now to get it all sorted in time. If you need any help or advice, just give us a call.

For some courses we offer payment by instalment, or you can pay for the whole course upfront at the time of enrolment. When you pay by instalment, monthly payments will be taken automatically by Stripe, our payment processing service. Payments will be taken every month on the same date as you made the first payment. So if you enrol and make the first payment on the 22nd of the month, future instalments are payable on the 22nd of the next month and so on until the course is paid for. The payments plan starts from when you enrol. Remember, we need the full payment or the first instalment before the course starts. Also, as our terms and conditions set out, you are liable for the full course fees even if you decide not to continue.

At PR Academy we have been teaching online since we started in 2007. We have a specially designed online learning centre - we don't just put you on Teams! Our teaching is delivered through a mix of on-demand content, guided reading, live workshop sessions (usually recorded for later playback) plus tutor support. We have an online library that we have curated specially for our courses. Some courses offer individual tutorials that can be booked and the opportunity to submit an assignment proposal for individual feedback.

For CIPR courses, your course fee is a combination of the PR Academy tuition fee and the CIPR awarding body and registration fee. PR Academy provides all your tuition plus an online learning centre with books and resources and marks your work. You don’t really need to buy any books as most resources are online, but you can of course purchase books if you like and we can help you to decide what to buy.

Most of the courses give you a maximum time to complete - usually one or two years, so there is plenty of flexibility. If you want to extend beyond this, then it is usually the decision of the awarding body (e.g. the CIPR)

The London Accelerator courses provide two intensive days of tuition plus full access to the online course including any online activities and tutorials. You still have one or two years to complete your studies (depending on which course you join) but you can complete it much more quickly.