Key Concepts in Public Relations

Public relations is a relatively young academic discipline: the first postgraduate degree in public relations was founded at the University of Stirling in 1988 (L'Etang, 2004, p. 198), and the first truly scholarly theory‐based UK text book appeared in 1997 (Kitchen, 1997); there is currently only one full‐time Professor of Public Relations in the UK (Ann Gregory at Leeds Metropolitan). A young subject, but a popular one: the Chartered Institute of Public Relations now lists 26 institutions offering “approved” graduate and postgraduate courses (www.cipr.co.uk), but many more exist. According to the Higher Education Statistics...