Co-Operating with Civil Society Organisations in Undergraduate Public Relations Education

Abstract

Civil society organizations (CSOs) play a crucial role in democratic societies. These autonomous organisations, working for the benefits of the civil society in various fields, are significant hubs for Public Relations (PR) management and practice. However, as to be able to serve a social transition, PR must be conceptualized beyond a corporate-centric perspective. In the literature, a new PR understanding, associated with the concepts such as postmodernism and activism, is stemming on the axis of cultural critical tradition. To operationalize this PR definition, the students in the field should be supported to create awareness towards civil society. Within this context, this study aims to question the development of an understanding regarding the public benefit dimension in undergraduate PR education, based on the CSO - Department collaborations and to make suggestions thoroughly. This study reviews undergraduate PR programs of the State and Foundation Universities in Turkey. Existence of possible collaborations and their features are scrutinized via structured interviews, which were participated by 43% of the sample. In sum, it was concluded that the collaborations were at a national level, short termed and far from sustainability, the subject was included in the courses at different grade levels and the most of the studies were conducted in the field of health.