Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1980

Public Relations Education Seminar The ‘Public Relations Education Seminar', jo intly sponsored by the Centre for Communication Studies and the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), was held on 4th-5th September, 1980 at New Asia College. Twenty-five delegates from the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Hong Kong took part m the Seminar. Professor Timothy Yu, Director of the Centre for Communication Studies, welcomed the participants and Professor J. Carroll Bateman, President of IPRA, delivered an opening address. At the Seminar, five sessionswere held and the following topics were discussed: 1. Present state of public relations education 2. Ideal syllabuses for university level public relations education 3. Placement of public relations instruction in the academic structure 4. Subjects required for BA or MA degrees in public relations 5. Public relations education in Third World countries Welcoming Remarks by Professor Timothy Yu Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, It is my great pleasure as a new member of IPRA and Director of Centre for Communication Studies to welcome you all to this unusual occasion today. This International Seminar on Public Relations Education and Training is the first of its kind ever held in Asia, so far as I know. The fact that Hong Kong has been chosen as the site for it is an honour to the city, and we feel all the more honoured that the seminar takes place in this University, and our Centre is asked to become aco-sponsor. The main purpose of this seminar, as you all know, is two-fold: to review what is already available in Public Relations training through programmes in institutes of higher learning, and to discuss and recommend suitable and practical syllabuses for Public Relations Education especially for the Third World. In this connection I would like to pay tribute to the International Public Relations Association and its council chairman, members and general secretary, who in their Paris meeting last June decided to move one step further, after their 25 years of glorious success in promoting and upgrading the professional standard of Public Relations. And this one further step is closely tied up with the human factor of society building, to identify the Association more closely with the increasing need for better trained and fuller equipped PR practitioners. I have no doubt that this seminar which has successfully gathered together the best brains in Public Relation education and training w ill produce results that benefit the whole of the Third World. And the department of communication on the Chinese Univer sity campus is looking to this Seminar for guidance in our effort to devise an effective undergraduate pro gramme of training young men and women in Public Relation studies for Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. I am confident, ladies and gentlemen, that this Seminar will be fru itfu l. Let me wish you all success in the discussion in the next two days. 20