You need to be chartered to be recognised as a legal PR practitioner. Since NIPR regulates the activities of Public Relations, they also have the right of restricting the practice to only chartered members.

You have to be registered as a student member and sit for qualifying exams which is a criteria for potential membership or apply for membership with the institute if you have a Mass Communication or Marketing degree.

The minimum requirement for registration with NIPR is 5 credit passes (English compulsory). Any other qualification is also accepted for registration (OND, HND, BSc etc).

With NIPR certificate, you can proceed for the following:

• Direct entry degree programme in Mass Communication or related courses in Nigerian universities like OOU, DELSU, Ambrose Ali, etc.

• Postgraduate diploma (PGD) in related courses - UNN, UNICAL, etc.

• Masters programme * - MSc in Public Relations (UNN) or Masters in Communication Arts (UI). * Note that you need to have 2/5 years post certificate experience to go in for the masters programme.

Registration for student membership is done at the Institute's National Secretariat - No 28 Ajanaku Street, Opebi - Ikeja Lagos. PES can assist students that can't make it to their office because of time constraint to register.

Student membership registration ------------------------------ N5,000

COURSE REGISTRATION;

A.  Professional I and II -------------------------------------------- N2,500 Per course
B.  Professional III -------------------------------------------------- N3000 Per course
C.  Exam fee---------------------------------------------------------- N2,500

Note that these fees are subject to review by NIPR.

NIPR Exams are written twice a year (May/June) and (Nov/Dec). NIPR gives a maximum of 3 years for the completion of all the requirement. However, the actual duration is determined by individual student.

There are fifteen (15) courses for the entire completion of the requirement for the award of a professional diploma.These fifteen courses are divided into 3 stages. The The stages include Professional I , II and III. Each stage consists of 5 courses each. The breakdown is given below;

PROFESSIONAL I AND II STAGES

    PROFESSIONAL I                                                                               PROFESSIONAL II

• Principles of Public Relations                                                             Economics

• Business Administration and Management                                     PR for Private & Public Sectors

• Principles of Psychology and Sociology                                            Public Relations in Government

• Public Relations Media and Methods                                                Research & Evaluation in Public Relations

• Communication Theories and Practices                                          Comparative Public Relations Systems

 PROFESSIONAL III

• Public Relations, Policy, Planning and Strategy

• Corporate/Product Brand Management

• Media Relations Dynamics and Management

• Stakeholder Relations Management

• Marketing and Advertising Management in Public Relations

Note that you have to complete the Professional I and II before proceeding to the Professional III stage.

Exemptions are only given to students who have Mass Communication or Marketing degree who are expected to do the Professional III stage on presentation of academic transcript. However, advice on exemption policies can be gotten from NIPR office.