What’s studying like?

Learning with us is challenging, but fun too. You’ll gain the theory you need, but also learn how to apply it. Learn, practice, apply!

We believe that studying public relations and communications should be fun. You will make great new friends, study in the best online spaces, and learn from the sharpest minds.

But we will also challenge you. Our tutors will encourage you to think differently about what you do.

We aim to provide a supportive environment where students can feel comfortable enough to question and debate.

Our courses are all underpinned by theory, but our approach is to show how this can be applied in practice.

Read our Complete Guide to CIPR Qualifications

Balancing work and study

Here at PR Academy we know finding time to invest in professional development can be tricky – but we also know how much you value learning, improving skills and keeping up to date with trends.

It’s why we’ve redesigned all our courses into pieces of content with timings attached so that you set the pace of study that’s right for you.

But you still need to make time, so what’s the answer?

We’ve gathered lots of brilliant tips from our students over the years, here are three brilliant ones:

Match learning to your role. I spoke to PR Academy Crisis Comms Diploma alumni Chloe Chescoe for a feature on crisis comms, her advice: “Can you balance your continuous professional development with the needs of your role and your personal interests? I was interested in crisis and it was part of my role so I made that a part of my CPD.”

Learn about something that interests you. Ché Donald had a similar view to Chloe: “Learning and development should not be viewed as onerous, it should be fun and when you are learning something which you are interested in or enjoy, it makes it so much easier. You can tell that I didn’t like studying to be a Civil Engineer because I’m not one!”

Make a plan. Tehmina Boman-Behran joined us for one of our regular online open events where we chat about CIPR qualifications. Her advice: “Put together a realistic, written study plan. The PR Academy Study Hub really helps with planning – there’s a guide for each topic on how long it should take to complete that piece of learning, so you can write down a pretty accurate list of which topics you want to get through that week. Personally, I find bitesize learning – an hour or less at a time – suits me best and helps me to focus, rather than trying to get through too much in one go.”

See what it's like to study PR and communications with PR Academy

You’ll learn the theory and how to apply it. Learn, practice, apply!

https://vimeo.com/753947502

Want to know more about what studying with us is like?

Give us a call and we’ll be happy to chat.

Call Shelley or speak to PR Academy directors Ann and Kevin who can tell you more.

+44 (0) 203 862 6910

Contact Us

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COURSES

Our Courses

We’ve got a great range of PR and communication courses for you.
Study 19.03.25

Achieving Employee Engagement in Times of War

The principles of crisis communication are well-established. But what of wartime communication? Oksana Stefanova had to learn fast when her country was invaded in February 2022.
Book Reviews 12.03.25

Review: Augmenting Public Relations

In his new book, David Phillips reviews how technology is transforming the media landscape and public relations practice. Indeed, technology is now creating distinct forms of media. We need to be doing less media relations and more at the human-technology interface, he argues.

FAQs

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.
We offer plenty of support. Many 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.
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 or PRCA)
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.
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.