Fitzwilliam Institute

Hi,
My daughter is interested in doing a course with the Fitzwilliam institute - takes 6 months and cost over €4,000. Before she spends that I'd like to know something about this insitute. Their website only tells me they are "part of an established group of companies". I'd like to find out more about who actual owns it and if their courses are worth doing. Anyone know?
Would appreciate independent views. I know I will get the "sales" talk from the institute themselves but that is not what I am looking for.

Check who (college, professional body or other independent examiner) is accrediting her course as part of the decision to go anywhere.

I don't know anything about the institute you mentioned, so am not casting aspersions on the place - I'm just putting this out as a general piece of information.

You can get some information by doing a [broken link removed] on the CRO website. You could also pay to get full reports/filings.

Thanks folks.
Their PR course is accredited by the Public Relations Insitute of Ireland so I think that looks ok. Will try the CRO as Clubman suggests.
Would be interesting to hear from anyone who had complete a course with them too.

Paddy - Just tried to have alook at the Website. It takes an age to load and frankly it does not do them any justice. Was looking as my own daughter had expressed an interest as an additional course to what she is doing. Personally I won't take any heed as to who they are accredited by, as it seems like a self regulating body.

This might help especially the link therein.

Assuming that the course is PR-related, you might get more relevant feedback on the boards.ie PR forum.

Note that your daughter can probably get tax relief on the course fees. I wonder if the fees are set high on the expectation that the employer typically pays, rather than the employee?

I was somewhat amused to see one of these institutes (possibly Fitzwilliam) offering a diploma course in wedding planning! I have a vision of a class full of screaming Bridzillas.

Have got some more feedback on the Fitzwilliam Institute. Two people said they found the course very good. One got a placement and a job as a result but the other didn't/ Another person said she should wouldn't recommend the course at all. They promised a work placement but not all students got one. Most were told to check around themselves! They charge nearly €4000 for a 6 month course and put great emphasis on the placement element but that's appears to be sales talk.

I inquired about their writing skills element and this young lady found them "useless". Said she has learned more about how to write press releases etc., in the job she has now...which she got herself.
Said sometimes lecturers didn't turn up for classes and she found the standard of lectures quite low.
I am getting worried now as my daughter has paid a deposit and is due to start in two weeks time.

A course in communications, journalism or marketing could prove more valuable in the long run.

Public Relations is a load of old X anyway, have you seen the salaries offered? We're talking Clerical Officer in the civil service type salaries for newbies!

In my experience, PR and event management courses are for dreamers.

My job is some of both and my background is in science. Why did I get my job? Because my science job involved being logical, methodical, organised, involved deadlines, report writing and predicting the unexpected - transferable skills that made me the right person, above people with PR "qualifications".

shesells said:

Why did I get my job? Because my .... job involved .. ..... predicting the unexpected.

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wow! Predicting the unexpected! Such an amazing skill set must be in great demand even outside the PR business. I imagine paddypower or irishpsychics would make great use of such extraordinary ability.

Much of planning an event is planning for the unexpected, what could go wrong and being ready to deal with it in the eventuality. Any problem with an event/product launch/press conference should only be noticeable to the organisers and not to the attendees.

Seems expensive for 6 months.

thanks all for the feedback.

shesells - I have to say I would be inclined to agree about the usefullness of these courses. My daughter already has a communications degree (DCU) but would you believe, it didn't include things like report writing, issuing press releases etc., Thats really what she is looking to gain now and not so much PR and Event managment. The attraction, as I mentioned before, was the placement promise by the Institute but I think she may have second thoughts about this now following the earlier report that placements are hyped up to make the course sound attractive. I think myself she would get the report writing and press release writing etc., by doing a one or two day course with Carr Communications or some other reputable group. She is looking to use the experience she already has to perhaps get a start as a communications officer - maybe with a charity? Appears to be difficult to into this end of things.

That is a ferocious amount of money for a 6 months course even if she were to get tax relief. That [broken link removed] mentioned above was quite frank.

The Carr Communications courses whilst good are also expensive. Could she get any help from somewhere like FAS

The Government are pumping money into training over the last year and a lot of companies are offering 70% grants on courses. Not sure though if she would need to be availing of these through an employer. Might be worth investigating. http://www.skillnets.com/ is a good example of this.

Paddylast I'm amazed the communications course didn't include Press statements etc! I know quite a few people with that degree all working in communications or as press officer so I assumed they had at least done press releases in college. Did you daughter maybe not choose the modules with this content?

I remember doing a networking course with Fitzwilliam about 10 years ago. It was expensive back then, but by applying thru FAS I got it for free. Worth checking out

Paddylast said:

My daughter already has a communications degree (DCU) but would you believe, it didn't include things like report writing, issuing press releases etc., Thats really what she is looking to gain now and not so much PR and Event managment.

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She could try and get a job in a PR firm - her degree should at least help her 'get-in-the-door'. Then at least she would get on-the-job training in a real PR-type environment.

I'm sure she would quickly learn how to write press releases etc after seeing how a few real ones are put together.

In my opinion willingness to learn, enthusiasm plus her DCU degree would be more attractive to an employer than an expensive PR course.

I went to the Fitzwilliam Institute myself about ten years ago and studied for a Diploma in Financial services, certified by the "Institute of commercial mgt(UK)" ! At the time I was greatful to the course as it placed me in a job at the end of the six months. However in hindsight I really dont believe the qualification is worth the paper its written on. It never seemed to carry much weight in subsequent job interviews as prospective employers didnt recognise the course or even the Institute itself for that matter.

Before you spend your 4,000 euros check out other courses is my advice !

My sister did that course in Fitzwilliam and they got her a placement doing a decent job in a decent company which I imagine is half the battle. They made her permanent and she has got a very good career out of it. I guess some people get more out of it than others. It is expensive though.

I interviewed somebody recently who was fairly scathing about an Event Mgmt course she did at Fitzwilliam. She certainly didn't feel she got good value for money.