Marketing and Public Relations (PR)

Marketing and Public Relations (PR) are closely aligned subjects. The main difference is that marketing focuses on selling or promoting a product or service, whereas PR is concerned with maintaining a positive reputation for a company, organisation or person as a whole.

Marketing is a wide ranging subject including areas such as digital marketing, brand, advertising, retail, marketing communications, research and analytics, supply chain and consumer behaviour.

PR includes public communications theories, strategic public relations planning, media relations, public diplomacy and strategic communication, digital media, public affairs and advocacy, and research methods.

Marketing and Public Relations courses at Stirling help you to prepare for a career in the rapidly-shifting professional landscape in an age of 24/7 connectivity. Our range of courses include Marketing, Retail Marketing, Event Management and PR, with many offering work experience or consultancy project opportunities.

Marketing and Public Relations courses

Courses labelled  are available for online study only.

Undergraduate courses
Course	Start date
BA (Hons) Marketing	January 2023, September 2023, January 2024
BA (Hons) Retail Marketing	January 2023, September 2023, January 2024

Postgraduate courses
Course	Start date
MSc Marketing	September 2023
MSc Marketing Analytics	January 2023, September 2023, January 2024
MSc Marketing and Brand Management	September 2023
MSc Public Relations and Strategic Communication	September 2023
MSc Public Relations and Strategic Communication (Online)	January 2023, September 2023, January 2024
MSc Strategic Communication and Public Relations (Joint Degree UPF Barcelona)	September 2023

Scholarships

We offer a variety of scholarship and funding options to help you finance your studies at the University of Stirling.

Undergraduate scholarships

See more undergraduate scholarships

Postgraduate scholarships

See more postgraduate scholarships

2nd in Scotland

and Top 20 in the UK for Marketing

Complete University Guide 2023

Top 5 in Scotland

for Business, Management and Marketing

The Guardian University Guide 2022

Graduate careers in Marketing and Public Relations

Graduates can head towards a specialist career in marketing, PR or events management, or can take a more general route to a management career in the public, private or voluntary sectors. The skills gained from a marketing or PR course at Stirling give you a wide range of analytical, problem-solving and professional skills which are highly valued by employers.

Graduates from Stirling have gone into roles such as:

Digital Marketing Manager
Marketing and Sales Executive
Press Officer
Visual Merchandiser
UK Retail Marketing Graduate Programme
Graduate Management Scheme
Public Relations Officer

Our graduates have gone on to work for organisations such as Adidas, Tesco, Heineken, Scottish Media Group, Marks and Spencer, BBC, Nestle and Hewlett Packard.

Marketing and Public Relations research

The University of Stirling’s research in Marketing and Retail looks at consumptions patterns and consumer behaviour in an evolving social landscape.

The Consumers, Cultures and Society research group specialises in bringing the experiences of consumers (and those driving the market) to wider audiences through the evolving character and social structure of the 'consumer society'.

The Institute for Retail Studies is involved with local, national and global research, exploring topics such as how the retail brand has evolved, the processes involved in retail internationalisation and different retail spaces. They carry out many research projects for public and private sector bodies.

Public relations research at the University of Stirling is carried out by the Communications, Media and Culture division. They are committed to wide-ranging research which crosses boundaries between arts and humanities, social sciences and management.