Public Relations: online course with internship agreement
The Public Relations online course teaches you to tell earned, owned and paid media apart, map stakeholders, plan and evaluate campaigns, pitch journalists in several languages, handle a crisis, follow EU public affairs and measure results with the Barcelona Principles V4.0. It is designed for newcomers to communications. You study 100 % online at your own pace for 180 days, with an internship agreement included, for €200.
- 180 days of access
- 100 % online, at your own pace
- Level: beginner · No prior PR experience required
- Assessment: 10 quizzes (50 questions) and a final project
- Internship agreement included
- Certificate with a verifiable QR code
- Languages: Spanish, English, French
- Price: €200
Who it is for
- Newcomers who want a junior role in communications, press or public relations
- Graduates aiming at EU affairs and advocacy work in Brussels
- Assistants in NGOs, federations or companies who already handle press or campaign tasks
- People who want to work in communications in English within the EU
What do you need to start?
Prior knowledge
- No prior knowledge of public relations is needed
- Good written English, as the course and its exercises are in English
- Basic spreadsheet use (sorting, simple formulas)
Software and equipment
- A computer with an internet connection
- A spreadsheet program: monitoring and measurement exercises are done with free means and a spreadsheet
- Free search alerts and each platform's own advanced search
- No paid media-monitoring licence is needed or provided
What you'll be able to do
- Distinguish earned, owned and paid media and explain why earned coverage can outweigh paid advertising
- Assess an online issue by separating volume, tone and the frame of the conversation
- Prioritise a long stakeholder list into a map that fits limited working hours
- Plan a campaign with clear objectives, messages, tactics and evaluation across the full RACE cycle
- Write short, targeted pitches for journalists in different countries, backed by an owned newsroom page
- Follow an EU legislative file and place an argument in front of decision-makers before deadlines close
- Build a measurement dashboard separating outputs, outcomes and impact, without Advertising Value Equivalents
- Use generative AI for drafting while checking claims and disclosing its use
Skills you will practise
- PESO model
- Stakeholder mapping
- Agenda-setting and framing
- Campaign planning (RACE)
- Media pitching
- EU public affairs
- Crisis communication
- Barcelona Principles V4.0
- Measurement dashboards
- GEO and AI disclosure
Syllabus
- What public relations is and is not: earned, owned and paid media — Defines public relations and uses the PESO model to compare paid advertising, owned channels and coverage journalists choose to give.
- Public opinion, agenda-setting and framing — How to judge whether an issue is serious by separating how much is said, how it is said, and what it is about.
- Stakeholder mapping and audience research — Turning an unordered list of contacts, institutions and audiences into a prioritised map, plus a free daily monitoring routine.
- Planning a PR campaign: objectives, messages, tactics, evaluation — Planning a full campaign around a launch and a policy deadline: what to change, in whom, by when, and how to evaluate it.
- Working with journalists across borders: pitching in a multi-language market — Building an owned newsroom with report, data and press contact, then writing short pitches tailored to each journalist's beat and language.
- Public affairs and EU advocacy: how Brussels actually works — Reading EU decision-making as a timetable of stages and deadlines, and getting the right argument to the right person in time.
- Crisis communication and issues management — Handling a fast-moving crisis: verifying facts first, avoiding premature denials or confessions, and answering journalists under deadline.
- Measurement and proving value: Barcelona Principles V4.0 — Turning activity data into a defensible evaluation of outputs, outcomes and impact, and rejecting Advertising Value Equivalents in any renamed form.
- Generative AI, disclosure and GEO: visibility inside AI answers — Drafting with AI assistants responsibly, disclosing their use, and measuring how an organisation appears inside AI-generated answers.
- Working in English across the EU: careers and certifications — Where English works for junior communications roles, which certifications are realistic now, and how to assemble a portfolio from course work.
Internship agreement
With this course, an intern could support a communications, press or public affairs team: keeping a monitoring routine with free tools and a spreadsheet, updating stakeholder maps and media lists, and drafting tailored pitches or newsroom content. Other suitable tasks include preparing a measurement dashboard after a campaign, helping to follow an EU legislative file, or producing first drafts with AI under supervision. The learner finds the host company; the school issues the internship agreement.
The internship can run at the same time as the course, within the 180 days of access.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of role does the Public Relations course prepare me for, and does it give me APR or CMP?
The Public Relations course prepares you for junior work in communications, press relations and EU public affairs: monitoring, stakeholder mapping, pitching, campaign planning and measurement. It does not give you APR or CMP/SCMP; those certifications require years of professional experience. The course points you instead to free tool certificates you can earn now and shows you how to build a junior portfolio from the four pieces of work produced during the course.
Which methods and standards does the course actually cover?
The course covers the PESO model (paid, earned, shared, owned media), agenda-setting and framing, stakeholder mapping, campaign planning with the RACE cycle, multilingual media pitching, EU advocacy procedures, crisis and issues management, and evaluation under the Barcelona Principles V4.0. It explains why Advertising Value Equivalents are invalid, and it covers disclosure of generative AI use and GEO, meaning measuring visibility inside AI answers.
Can I work in public relations in English anywhere in the EU?
Not everywhere. The final module shows that English works on its own as a working language for junior communications roles in Ireland and Malta. In the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg it works only in niches, despite high general English levels. Brussels EU affairs is the deliberate exception, where English is the everyday working language. The module helps you focus your search on the markets where an English-speaking newcomer can realistically start.
Do I need expensive media-monitoring software to start in PR?
No. A common belief is that you need paid monitoring platforms and that PR cannot really be measured without them. The course teaches the opposite: a junior is expected to reach a defensible diagnosis with free means, such as search alerts, each platform's advanced search, page visit and download counts, a hand-checked sentiment sample and a well-built spreadsheet. Paid tools come later, once an employer provides a licence.
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Content updated: 07/10/2026