The Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) announced last week its collaboration with Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA), as a first step to securing a suite of Australian Qualifications for the Communication and Public Relations profession.

“PRIA spent the past 18 months consulting widely with our members, communication educators and representatives of the HR profession, to establish a clear set of skills and competencies required of current future PR professionals,” said Graham Le Roux, general manager PRIA.

“Over the past decade our industry has reformed from an enabling function that sits on the edge of the org chart to a position of critical authority, having earned its place at the executive table. Now, we need to ensure that our education and training framework is mapped to the skillset that can deliver on the productivity, innovation and performance expectations.”

The PRIA is leading a significant program of reform to prepare current and future communication professionals for the rapidly expanding skills they will require throughout their careers.

The partnership with IBSA is a significant component of the reform program, which will also include:

• strengthening PRIA’s alignment with Australia’s accredited public relations and communication universities;
• the upcoming launch of the PRIA Professional Framework for public relations and communication professionals, and a complementary professional development program.

“Our partnership with IBSA is in its initial scoping phase, to determine the breadth of the skills required for a suite of dedicated Communication and Public Relations qualifications. We look forward to these qualifications strongly informing all education and training courses for communication and public relations.”