Abstract

Public relations practice has become a matter of great concern to many individuals, institutions and corporate bodies in recent years. Notwithstanding the benefits of public relations to higher education, there are conflicting views about its significance to the operations of universities. Hence, this study focused on the assessment of public relation practices of selected universities in Enugu State, Nigeria. The selected universities are University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu and Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu representing federal, state and privately owned universities respectively. The specific objectives of the study include to identify the role of public relations in promoting the image of the selected universities; to examine the management support of public relations practices in the selected universities. To identify the challenges public relations managers face in the selected universities; to investigate the specific measures public relations practitioners have taken to manage university related issues and crisis such as strikes, cult activities, examination malpractices, overpopulation. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. Forty-three (43) staff of the public relations units of the three selected universities make up the target population of the study. Considering the small size of the population a census was undertaken. The frequency, percentage distribution tables and mean scores with the aid of SPSS software were used to analyze the data descriptively. The findings of the study revealed that public relations unit plays a significant role in promoting the image of the selected universities. It was also found out that the management gives fair supports for Public relations practices in the selected universities, the Public Relations unit is usually a party to all the decisions made, they are not only made to disseminate the information without making any input. The findings also revealed that public relations unit are largely faced with some specific challenges in selected universities altogether, and these challenges have effects in the public relations units’ performances. Finally, it was also found that some specific measures were taken by the public relations units to manage the various crises and issues faced in the universities. However, these measures have been effective to a low extent.