DEVLET VE VAKIF ÜNİVERSİTELERİ HALKLA İLİŞKİLER VE REKLAMCILIK PROGRAMLARINDA YAPAY ZEKÂ: BİR MÜFREDAT İNCELEMESİ

The application of artificial intelligence in public relations and advertising reveals the need for transformation in the education of students in these fields. It is considered essential for students graduating from this field to closely follow developments in artificial intelligence during their education and to be well-equipped in this field to secure a job in the sector. Therefore, determining the place of artificial intelligence in education and adding courses to the curriculum according to the needs have an important place in the education of students who will work in business life. In the study, an attempt was made to reveal the distribution of courses related to artificial intelligence in the course curricula of “public relations and promotion”, “public relations and advertising”, and “advertising” programs in Turkey, and whether these distributions differ in state and foundation universities. In the study conducted using the content analysis technique, data were collected from university web pages, Bologna information packages, and by requesting them from relevant institutions via e-mail. Within the scope of the study, 27 public relations and promotion programs were identified in state universities, 10 public relations and promotion programs in foundation universities, 16 public relations and advertising programs in state universities, 20 public relations and advertising programs in foundation universities, 4 advertising programs in state universities, and 6 advertising programs in foundation universities. In the study, it was determined that state and foundation universities did not include artificial intelligence courses in their curricula sufficiently, but foundation universities were numerically more prominent than state universities. It was determined that the artificial intelligence courses in the public relations and promotion, public relations and advertising, and advertising course programs of state and foundation universities were similar. It is recommended that more AI-focused mandatory and applied courses be added to public relations and advertising programs.