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 increase when you are doing an assignment. Most courses have a maximum completion time, allowing you to either spread learning over a longer period or complete it more quickly by studying more hours each week. For example, the CIPR Professional PR Diploma can be completed comfortably in about ten months. The short CIPR diplomas can be completed 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. Many courses offer individual tutorials that can be booked. The course leader is readily 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 from all around the world study with us. 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.

Since 1 June 2025 you need to be a member of the CIPR if doing one of their qualifications. This is included in the cost of the course and applied at the time of enrolment. The grade of membership is "Professional Student" - you can see the CIPR membership benefits ↗ on their website. Fees for membership are the same at all CIPR Teaching Centres. If you are already a CIPR member, see our FAQ that explains how the CIPR will manage your membership. If you enrolled before 1 June 2025 and would like to purchase this level of membership, please get in touch and we can arrange it. PLEASE NOTE: It can take the CIPR up to eight weeks to process your application and for your membership to start. The PRCA and AMEC do not require you to be a member, but there may be a discount available to members and many other benefits to joining  - check when you enrol with the organisation.

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 be at a 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 quickest and easiest way to pay is with a company card. (We can provide a receipted invoice after payment.) If your employer wants to pay by bank transfer on receipt of an invoice - no problem! The first thing to do is get a purchase order - you will need to upload it when you enrol. This is really important as without it we aren't able to raise an invoice. (If your company doesn't operate a PO system, just get in touch and we'll explain what we need to get the invoice raised correctly.) Allow plenty of time.  We need payment before you can join the course and we know that sometimes company 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 or message on WhatsApp - we're here to help!

We offer payment by instalment for some courses, or you can pay for the whole course upfront at the time of enrolment. When you pay by instalment, Stripe, our payment processing service, will automatically take monthly payments. 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 payment 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. On some of our courses you can select between "Guide Learning" which includes tutorials and live sessions or "Independent Learning". All our learners benefit from all the brilliant resources on our Study Hub and there is always someone available to help with queries.

For CIPR courses: Your course fee is a combination of the PR Academy tuition fee and the CIPR awarding body fee (like an exam fee), a CIPR registration fee and since 1 June 2025, CIPR Professional Student membership. For all our courses: For the tuition fee, PR Academy provides all your tuition via our bespoke online learning centre - our Study Hub. It includes an extensive online library with around 60 books, all the resources you need for your course and, depending on the course and learning option, tutorials, assignment idea feedback, live online sessions, plus we mark your assignments. Check out our Study Support Package. You don’t need to buy any books unless you would like to.

Most of the courses give you a maximum time to complete - usually one or two years, so there is plenty of flexibility and it is rare to have to extend beyond this. However, if you do need to extend beyond this there are policies in place to cover this.