NJOMACS

This study examined how public relations is used to achieve organisational goals in select Private Universities in Nasarawa State and FCT, Abuja. Private universities in Nigeria face numerous operational challenges, with inadequate funding being one of the most critical. These institutions depend largely on tuition fees and internally generated revenue to cover costs associated with infrastructure, laboratories, libraries, and faculty salaries. This situation often limits their ability to effectively utilise public relations (PR) as a strategic tool for institutional growth and stakeholder engagement. The study was anchored on Public Relations Transfer Theory and Two-Way Symmetrical Model, Data were collected from 383 respondents across three private universities; Bingham, Nile, and Veritas Universities via structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and frequency tables were used to analyse responses. The findings revealedhat community engagement and press releases are the most commonly used PR strategies. While 38% of respondents rated PR strategies as "very effective," a significant proportion (21%) found them "not effective", citing issues such as negative public perception (47%) and a lack of skilled PR professionals (14%) as key challenges. Furthermore, it was discovered that conventional media were perceived as more impactful on public perception than social media, reflecting a continued reliance on traditional communication channels. The study concluded that although PR is widely practiced, its full potential is often limited by weak strategic planning, poor stakeholder alignment, and inconsistent message delivery. The study recommended, among others, that there is the need to strengthen digital engagement and community outreach as vital means to improving public trust and institutional visibility.