90 PR students experience on-the-job immersion!
For the 4th consecutive year, the Public Relations Department organised an immersion day for its Master’s first-year students. This innovative formula attracts more and more companies every year. These enterprises include communication, public relations and influencer marketing agencies (BeInfluence, Dentons Global Advisors Interel, Famous Relations, FINN, ICF Next, Ribbon Agency, Saper Vedere, Voice Agency, Whyte), companies (IKEA, ISCAL Sugar, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Pairi Daiza, STIB, The Barn), public utility organisations and institutions (Federal Police, FOREM), European institutions (European Commission) and non-governmental organisations (Amnesty International Belgique Francophone).
A total of 90 students were able to visit companies in small groups. They spent the day assisting various people within the industry, such as directors and communication officers, press officers, consultants, community managers, digital managers, internal communication officers, and influencer marketing experts, etc. They were allowed to participate in meetings, brainstorming sessions and even media training. They also drafted content and proposed campaign ideas for social networks, the press and influencers. Some of their ideas and content proposals have also been adopted by companies.
Thanks to this experience, the students were able to familiarise themselves with the jobs that await them, identify practices and what they require in terms of skills, but also share the lessons they learned from this day with their classmates.
This visit was also appreciated by all the host companies, who intend to repeat the experience and offer an internship to IHECS students:
"I am always delighted to welcome IHECS students for on-the-job immersion. It allows me to escape from my normal work routine and show the students what happens behind the scenes here and the work we do in digital communication. The three students I hosted were particularly interested and proactive!"
Brian May, Digital content manager, Amnesty International Belgique francophone
"I would like to thank these five PR Master’s first-year students from IHECS for visiting us and demonstrating their interest in our agency and our exciting profession. This represented an opportunity to involve them in our daily work lives, to introduce them to the various aspects of our business and to make them eager to learn what life in an agency (with its many facets!) might be like. It proved the perfect time to answer all their many questions and to immerse them in the thrilling world of Public Relations. We look forward to doing this again!"
Laura Godinho, PR Manager, Famous Relations
"We are delighted to have been able to host the students for the day, and it was a pleasure to introduce them to the reality of our profession. Thank you to them all for their positive contributions and their interest in our agency!"
Géraldine de Terwangne, Communication Manager, VOICE AGENCY
"The students contributed all day by asking relevant questions and they got involved in a wide variety of situations (press conference, meetings, writing a brief for our website)."
Isabelle Langnickel, Digital Leader, European Commission
"I was delighted to have shared this experience and your students impressed us with their seriousness, thoughtfulness and professionalism."
Guillaume Denis, Co-worker Communication Leader, IKEA Belgium
"We hope we have convinced ten people to become new ambassadors of The Barn and committed commmunication".
Alice Louis, Communication Leader, The Barn