Can new MEPRA college deliver improvements?

Ask anyone working in public relations about the biggest challenge the industry faces and the answer is simple lack of talent.

It is the one issue that unites agency bosses across the region and one that they are making an increasing amount of noise about.

Last week's announcement by the Middle East Public Relations Association that it is to launch the region's first training college dedicated to PR is yet another initiative to try and raise the skill set of PR professionals.

The college, which is being run in collaboration with the International Communications Consultancy Organisation, will offer online courses for people that sign up, with classroom courses for managerial and supervisory staff due to start in March next year.

Predictably, agencies that are not affiliated with MEPRA have poured cold water on the exercise.

Cem Arikoler, regional director for PR firm Promax and chairman of the Arabian Business Communicators Association, is sceptical.

"Definitely anything for the industry is good but I've been very suspicious of and always open about my comments on MEPRA and their activities," says Arikoler. "MEPRA were always organising training, so this is not a new thing it's all about an external partner approaching MEPRA and saying, 'we have online training, why don't we do it together.' So I don't see this as a MEPRA initiative."

Arikoler does, however, see value in online modules which will be a key plank of the MEPRA-ICCO College offering.

"I believe that online modules are a great initiative because PR executives don't have time to drive to Knowledge Village [in Dubai] and go to a university. So, the technology behind it is great. My concern is content," he says.

"If they say they're going to educate people, it can't be just a book that my people can go and buy in Magrudy's and read and learn by themselves."

Mike Wallis, managing director of Wallis Marketing Consultants, which is also not a MEPRA member, says the college is a "superficial" initiative that will have little impact. "It's almost entirely cosmetic and really does an enormous disservice to the industry, because what it suggests is that with a few clicks of the mouse and a couple of hours in front of the PC, one can be brought up to speed fairly quickly on the dos and don'ts of the industry.

"What's needed is not training," he adds. "What's needed is fundamental education. That's something which is rooted in formal education, where people practicing PR have university degrees or are strong writers. It's also about people who begin their careers as junior account executives and sweat and grind and stuff press packs and learn the business from the bottom up. And that can't be done online."

Executive committee member of MEPRA and Asda'a managing director, Sunil John, says that the college should not be seen as a panacea, but as part of a continued process of improvement within an industry that needs to mature.

The first phase of the college's activities, says John, will be to focus on giving junior level PR executives the basic set of tools they need to give their careers a proper foundation. "Essentially, the college has been created to address the talent crunch that this industry is facing, and which is hindering growth and the standards that MEPRA would like to uphold," says John.

"The first stage will focus at the aspirant level and the fundamentals of PR, which are the same anywhere in the world. Then, when we take it into the classroom, we'll be looking at more advanced stuff and on how regional intricacies come into play."

While more established members of MEPRA adhere to international standards, John argues that newer members without the budgets to set up in-house training departments need extra help.

"I'd like the college to help all of our members, but it is especially suited to younger members that are perhaps only one or two years old so they can pick up the skills required and get off to a good start and then grow from small to medium-size agencies."

Not all non-MEPRA affiliated agencies have scoffed at the initiative either.

Sarah Livingston, managing director of Momentum PR in Oman, says she welcomes the launch of the college because it will help agencies refine the skills of people recruited from other marketing disciplines. She highlights two areas that MEPRA's college should focus on: strategic planning for crisis scenarios and written skills.

"I am able to find more and more candidates with generic marcomms backgrounds because the number of courses is steadily increasing. But in terms of PR-specific skills, it is quite different," says Livingston. "We're trying to train them in-house because we are not a global agency and we don't have the ability to send them into different markets. This kind of facility would be superb.

"I am a big believer that the character you are plays a huge role in how successful you are in PR," she adds. "If you already have a good understanding of marketing communications and PR and you have the right attitude, you would then be an ideal candidate for this kind of detailed training."

The MEPRA-ICCO College won't cure all of the PR industry's ills not even those affiliated with it would pretend so.

But if it helps to slow the pace of job-hopping, poaching and an over-reliance on recruits from abroad, it must be welcomed as a positive move by an industry that knows it must take action.

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

READERS' COMMENTS

View all comments (0)

Have your say

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM