Accreditation the way to go?

Singapore - The Institute of Public Relations Singapore (IPRS) has recently accredited 13 more members to its current crop of 57 accredited IPRS members - Marketing reports on its current situation in the Singapore PR landscape.

According to president for IPRS, K. Bhavani, "accreditation of PR practitioners is very highly regarded in the US and UK" and the scheme would "help set international benchmark standards for PR practitioners in Singapore".

"We are working on our next step now - to educate clients and hiring professionals on the accreditation scheme. Like other professions where accreditation of practitioners is the basic requirement for their practice, we hope to attain such standards for the PR industry in the near future. Singapore is the leader of this scheme here in Asia. However, looking at Australia, US and UK, we have quite a bit of catching up to do," she said

Recently accredited practitioner, Linda Fulford who is MD for Fulford PR, believes that "with so many people claiming to be able to do PR with little or no experience, we feel it's an important move by the IPRS to provide recognition and a standard for the industry" and also "serves as a reassurance to clients and well as a sales tool for winning new business".

Other accredited members such as MD of Asia for Baldwin Boyle Shand (BBS), Louise Nicholson also felt that it would eventually become a "base qualification that potential clients will value" and MD for PR Communications, Eric Chan added that accreditation would help the industry "receive a lot more respect from business owners and marketing people".

However Fulford did admit that with the current system "for someone with five years or more PR experience in Singapore, if you can demonstrate your PR capabilities and answer some straightforward questions you will get accredited.  In the UK for example it's a very strict vetting procedure including an examination and you're not guaranteed to get accredited.  I suspect Singapore will get to that point as the industry becomes more sophisticated".

Head of corporate communications for Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore, Frazer Neo-Macken, who has not been accredited, agreed that "accreditation to an extent does help increase professional credibility of PR practitioners in Singapore" and like Fulford he felt the scheme was not quite there yet - he also said that he would consider getting accredited in the near future.

"Similar to any certification, one needs to bring practical and credible experience and value to the table in order to make things happen. Getting accredited is one, but coupled with real and solid PR experience can most certainly up one's value in the market and overtime with a robust accreditation scheme in place, the industry will definitely benefit with credible and competent professionals," he said.

Perhaps one stumbling block stopping more practitioners from signing up are the costs involved. The application fee is $100 and the accreditation fee is $250 for a two year membership. You also have to be a member of the IPRS to even be considered, and the full membership fee for that can be as much as $100. One senior PR practitioner, who declined to be named, told Marketing that getting accredited was currently "too expensive" but he also admitted "that the foundation of a great industry can be strengthened if communities are established to represent the interests of all its members".