Survey of public relations practices in higher education

the long version

This 115-page report examines the public relations efforts of 41 colleges and universities, exploring annual budget trends, press release practices, print and digital media monitoring strategies, and the college's use of social media. The report details the breadth of the college's public relations department, determining how many such centers each college maintains as well as staffing and administrative tendencies. With budget figures for the past two academic years, as well as projections for the coming year, users can see just how much these colleges spend-per student-on an array of programs and policies, including press release services, the publication of campus magazines, and the use of outside public relations firms and consultants, as well as salaries by position within the department. How many colleges employ a public relations director or "czar" to oversee all public relations operations? What role does the public relations department play in managing the college website? On which social media sites-including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and MySpace, among many others-does the college maintain a presence? The report presents a wide range of data broken out by total student enrollment, public or private status, and type of college.