Public Relations

If you enjoy writing and talking to different people, and love framing ideas in imaginative and engaging ways, then a career in Public Relations may be right for you.

Public relations practitioners plan and implement communication campaigns to influence people’s attitudes and behaviour. They are effective networkers who work closely with journalists to manage media publicity, and act as a crucial link between an organisation and its publics, such as the community, customers and corporate shareholders.

Public Relations professionals are also involved with crisis and issues management, government relations, lobbying, events, sponsorship and fundraising, and employee relations.

Our graduates go on to pursue exciting careers in a wide range of organisations.

Practical, hands-on learning

The assignments for this subject are highly practical. You’ll plan and deliver an innovative public relations campaign for a real client, take part in a mock media conference, build a website, use social media, create a range of advertisements, and write media releases for print, broadcast and online media. You'll also learn how to organise events, prepare corporate documents and deliver professional speeches.

Watch previous students presenting their PR campaigns.

Our students enjoy visits from a wide range of professional guest speakers in class, who will share their insights about what it's like working in the public relations industry.

Public Relations students can get involved with the award-winning Management Communication Students' Association (MCSA), a student club that organises regular activities for its members.

You'll also be eligible to become a student member of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ), for a discounted fee.

Internationally recognised

Waikato is the only university in New Zealand - and one of only four outside the United States - whose Public Relations programme is certified by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). This is your guarantee of a world-class learning experience, as the PRSA sets the gold standard for PR education.

We're also ranked in the world's top 200 universities for Communication & Media Studies in the QS World University Subject Rankings 2020.

You'll be studying at Waikato Management School, which is ranked in the top 1% of all business schools globally with our prestigious Triple Crown Accreditation from EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB.

Qualifications

If you wish to take Public Relations as your 1st Major subject, you'll need to enrol for either the Bachelor of Communication, the Bachelor of Business,  the Bachelor of Management Studies with Honours or the Bachelor of Climate Change.

Otherwise you can take it as a 2nd Major (8 papers) or Minor subject (4 papers) for any other bachelor's degree offered at the University of Waikato.