Primary Research Group has published Survey of Public Relations Practices in Higher Education, ISBN 1-57440-196-3.

This 115-page report examines the public relations efforts of 41 colleges and universities, exploring annual budget trends, press release practices, print and digital media monitoring strategies, and the college's use of social media. The report details the breadth of the college's public relations department, determining how many such centers each college maintains as well as staffing and administrative tendencies. With budget figures for the past two academic years, as well as projections for the coming academic year, users can see just how much these colleges spend—per student—on an array of programs and policies, including press release services, the publication of campus magazines, and the use of outside public relations firms and consultants as well as salaries by position within the department. How many colleges employ a public relations director or "czar" to oversee all public relations operations? What role does the public relations department play in managing the college website? On which social media sites—including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and MySpace, among many others—does the college maintain a presence?

Just a few of the many findings from this report are:

• 90% of colleges maintain a Twitter page
• The average college spent $25,201 in the past year on outside public relations firms, consultants, and other such services
• Community colleges issued an average of 132 press releases last year, while 4-year colleges issued 70
• Approximately 63% of colleges have a separate and distinct public relations budget
• 62% of the web administrators employed by the colleges in the sample also oversee their respective colleges' social media pages and accounts
• The average college will spend $19 per full-time enrolled student on the publication and distribution of campus magazines next year
• 47% of private schools offer a mobile app for iPhone, Android, and other devices that enables users to keep abreast of news from the college; just 14% of public schools do the same

The study is available in print and PDF format for $129.00. Site licenses are offered at $269.00. To view a table of contents, list of questions and participants, and sample data, or to order a copy of the report, please visit out website.