Hossein Karimi

Head of the Public Relations and Protocol Office

Description of the duties of the Head of the Public Relations and Protocol Office

Public relations is the art of establishing communication in order to inform audiences and raise their awareness, and equally to create the conditions for receiving their expectations and wishes so as to move in line with them. In other words, public relations is the art of dealing well with people. Public relations devotes all its efforts to regulating the relations between the organisation and the public; it seeks intelligently to apply the organisation’s aims and programmes, relying on ethical principles and professional mission, in the form of planned work directed towards realising and safeguarding the interests of the organisation and of the public. The duties of public relations are to establish sound, reasoned and principled communication with audiences, to provide clear and transparent information, and to receive audiences’ expectations and wishes by employing various methods and techniques.

Public relations in higher-education institutions

Today, in organisations, recognition, mutual understanding and communication for the purpose of attaining objectives are accepted as a fundamental principle of management.

This kind of communication, referred to as public relations, is considered one of the most important factors affecting the fate of any organisation and group. In today’s world, public relations units are regarded as powerful elements in evaluating and strengthening programmes and advancing the objectives of organisations.

Public relations plays various roles in different positions and distinct circumstances, but two of its roles — internal and external organisational communication — stand out more clearly than the rest.

The art of public relations is to be able to discern the resources and conditions of the external environment, link them with the resources within the organisation, facilitate the implementation of internal directives, and ultimately establish the organisation’s relations with the outside world correctly. The first step in this respect is to know the environment and the organisation, by which is meant identifying and examining its internal and external strengths and weaknesses.

The principal organisational objective of universities is the advancement of their teaching and research. A university is made up of three groups of academics: professors, students and staff. The university’s management is responsible for coordination among these three groups. To achieve this objective, management needs the necessary instruments and mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is the university’s public relations department. Without effective public relations, achieving coordination and unity of purpose in universities towards their highest objectives is not possible. The essential function of the public relations department is of fundamental importance for the academic, cultural and research advancement of universities. Strengthening public relations appears necessary in order to strengthen the bonds of sympathy between the university’s managers on the one hand and professors, students and staff on the other.

As the most important managerial mechanism of universities, public relations plays an important part in coordination, information and culture-building. Particular attention to public relations as an institution capable of acting systematically, in a planned and considered manner, to strengthen engagement and understanding between the various parts of the university is of great importance.

Public relations 

In line with the University’s objectives and in step with the mission of the senior management in developing the University, the University’s public relations office devotes all its efforts to preserving the University’s standing and dignity, defending its ideals and activities, enlightening and informing public opinion about the University’s performance, understanding the needs of its audiences, seeking to make the University accountable to society, and creating friendship, empathy and mutual understanding with internal and external audiences.

A: Objectives of public relations

1. Policy-making, planning and applying suitable methods for reflecting the University’s aims, activities, programmes and positions

2. Strengthening still further the spirit of understanding among staff and creating the conditions for more suitable communication between them and the University’s officials

3. Gathering, collating and analysing the views and perspectives of audiences and the media on the University’s activities, and presenting them to the University’s officials

4. Observing the principles of professional ethics and emphasising the norms of the sacred law of Islam in dealing with audiences

5. Planning to create an electronic public relations service for guiding and managing public opinion

6. Establishing links with the public relations units of other governmental and private executive bodies in order to introduce the University

7. Expanding the University’s links with industry and society
8. Improving and developing the University’s international relations and engagement, particularly with reputable universities of neighbouring and Islamic countries
 9. Reviewing and enhancing the sub-systems within the University’s public relations

B: Description of the duties of public relations:

In view of the objectives mentioned, the main duties and responsibilities of public relations are as follows:

 Publicising and presenting the University as a useful and responsible social institution in matters of science and technology

Using the wide range and capabilities of the media to convey the University’s message

Further expanding the University’s internal communications

Continuously developing the information held by the University’s public relations office 

Taking part in holding cultural programmes such as festivals, conferences and training workshops at the University

C: Public relations activities

Given the variety of public relations activities, the University’s public relations activities may be classified into several sections. It should be noted that each section also has numerous sub-sections:

1- Information and media relations

2- Forming the strategic public relations council

3- Forming the public relations publications committee

4-Electronic public relations

5- Protocol and occasions

6- Supervision, planning and evaluation

7- Documentation work

8- Capacity-building work

9- Research and opinion polling 

10- Communications

11- Publicity and publications

12-Appointing a liaison officer for all the University’s units to relay news

13- Drawing on student capacity