Undergraduate program
The Department of Communication Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University currently offers a four-year baccalaureate degree in the professional field of public relations.
The Bachelor of Public Relations is respected nationally and it attracts students from across Canada - and beyond. With the support of hundreds of employers across the country, our co-operative education program ensures that our undergraduate students develop the solid professional skills and knowledge required to begin careers in public relations.
History
In the mid 1970s, members of the Canadian Public Relations Society began to work with faculty at Mount Saint Vincent University to establish the first professional degree in public relations in Canada. Research conducted by the society into the needs in the marketplace indicated that university-educated professionals would be in high demand in the latter half of the 20th century.
The first group of students entered the program in 1977, and four years later 24 students made up the first graduating class. Co-operative education was part of the program from early on as an option, but in 2001 the department introduced a co-operative education component as a requirement of the degree.
More than 1,500 students have graduated to date and are pursuing rewarding careers in public relations. Many have used their BPR (Co-op) as an entry point to graduate programs in business and public administration, law and communications. While other Canadian universities have introduced public relations curricula with degrees in Applied Arts or Communication, the Mount remains the only one to give a Bachelor of Public Relations (Co-operative Education).