Bridging practice and academia: Global insights on the role and future of public relations education

This article investigates how public relations education is conceptualized by academics, practitioners, and instructional practitioners across diverse global contexts. Using a Delphi study conducted in 24 countries, it examines views on the purpose, content, and structure of future public relations education. The study is theoretically grounded in social constructivism, communities of practice, and critical pedagogy, providing a multidimensional lens for analyzing how learning in public relations is shaped and legitimized. Findings reveal a shared emphasis on experiential learning, ethical responsibility, and real-world engagement, but also highlight diverging priorities based on regional context and professional profile. Three orientations – transformational, practice-oriented, and foundational – emerge, reflecting distinct visions for the future of the field. The article advances current debates on aligning academic training with professional expectations and calls for integrated, reflexive, and socially grounded public relations curricula. It offers new empirical insights into the global dynamics shaping public relations education and proposes concrete directions for bridging the academic-practice divide. • Global study (24 countries, 6 continents) maps how PR education is understood across roles. • Three stakeholder clusters reflect divergent priorities and assumptions. • Experiential learning is valued, but critical pedagogy remains marginal, aspirational, and unevenly applied. • Visions of PR education differ by role and deeper views on PR’s societal purpose. • PR education must enable ethical agency and systemic change, not just functional performance.