By PV Staff
The Head of Communications and Partnerships at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ghana, Ms. Praise Nutakor, urged students studying communications to invest time in learning best practices in the communications field.
She made the call when addressing students at the Pentecost University in Accra at an event organized by Women in Public Relations (PR) Ghana dubbed Industry versus Classroom (photo).
According to the UNDP Ghana Communications and Partnerships Head, communication is the lifeline of every organization and new practitioners must be well-equipped to be fit for purpose after school.
“Be curious to upskill in relevant areas and particularly acquire digital communications skills to have a competitive advantage after school”, stated Ms. Nutakor.
She cited free tools like Canva, PosterMyWall, Adobe Spark, Lumens, and PowerPoint templates that the students can explore to produce simple designs and videos in the fast-paced communications industry.
In addition, Madam Nutakor advised the students to start embracing criticisms and rejections because the communications profession is not for the light-hearted. She explained that in the profession, communications products and advice are often criticized and sometimes rejected, so is important students start embracing criticisms from their lecturers and mates on class work and see these as opportunities to improve.
“In the industry, criticisms and corrections help you stretch yourself to deliver excellent results to go higher. If you coil back, you will remain down”, she noted.
Moreover, she emphasized the need for students not to box themselves in only one area, but they must possess all the cards to have the best chance of winning after school. Being broad-minded and open to other opportunities beyond communications, she said, is useful. She added that learning about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a good starting point as these give campaign ideas and can help students to be versatile in different topical areas.
Ms. Nutakor thanked Women in PR Ghana for always giving members the opportunity to impact the next generation of communications professionals.
Women in Public Relations Ghana is a professional networking organization committed to educating, mentoring, and empowering female PR professionals and students. It was established as a not-for-profit organization by Ms. Faith Senam Ocloo, a Fashion PR Specialist and Founder of e’april Public Relations.
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