Congratulations go to Bournemouth University’s BA (Hons) Public Relations degree course which celebrated its 21st birthday last week. Two Orchardettes, Brooke and Emily are proud holders of the BAPR qualification and spent four happy years studying the world of PR and the media in the seaside town.

Still considered to be a ‘new profession’ the coming of age of the popular degree course sparks thoughts about the development of the industry as a profession. What used to be a case of few and far between, PR degree courses are now as familiar to universities as business degrees giving undergrads a huge selection of choice. However, BAPR is still regarded as one of the top PR degrees in the country and for us one of its key selling points was a year in industry with the opportunity to work with some of the top agencies in the UK.

Emily’s highlights from her years of study: Live pitch to eBay UK; interviewing key figures in the PR industry as part of my dissertation including the man himself, Mike Regester, this was a star struck moment for me having read and referenced a number of Regester and Larkin books and was set up by my wonderful boss Steve; the burning Firestation and as Brooke already mentioned Mr Kevin Maloney – what he doesn’t know about PR no-one does.