University relations director vs assistant director, communications

The differences between university relations directors and assistant directors, communications can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a university relations director, becoming an assistant director, communications takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a university relations director has an average salary of $95,885, which is higher than the $54,965 average annual salary of an assistant director, communications.

The top three skills for a university relations director include marketing campaigns, project management and investor relations. The most important skills for an assistant director, communications are customer service, property management, and professional development.

University relations director vs assistant director, communications overview

	University Relations Director	Assistant Director, Communications
Yearly salary	$95,885	$54,965
Hourly rate	$46.10	$26.43
Growth rate	8%	3%
Number of jobs	23,143	36,340
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age	42	48
Years of experience	4	6

What does a university relations director do?

University Relations Directors manage the company's partnership with schools. They are employed by companies with businesses that cater to universities, colleges, or other related academic institutions. They handle the group that works as account managers or act as account managers themselves. They are in charge of setting their department's targets. They also create strategies to meet their goals. University Relations Directors should have a wide network. They should know how to create professional relationships with clients, maintain clients, and ensure customer loyalty. University Relations Directors should be familiar with the current trends in the academe and their business field.

What does an assistant director, communications do?

An assistant communications director is responsible for managing the communicative operations across the company, handling the dissemination of information among employees, and releasing management announcements to media platforms. Assistant communications directors draft project techniques and strategies, as well as monitoring social media contents and press releases. They also identify business opportunities by analyzing recent trends that would generate more revenue resources and increase the company's profits. An assistant communications director must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in assessing business information to prevent miscommunications and negative publications.

University relations director vs assistant director, communications salary

University relations directors and assistant directors, communications have different pay scales, as shown below.

	University Relations Director	Assistant Director, Communications
Average salary	$95,885	$54,965
Salary range	Between $56,000 And $163,000	Between $30,000 And $100,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Nevada	Connecticut
Best paying company	Nike	Pace University
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between university relations director and assistant director, communications education

There are a few differences between a university relations director and an assistant director, communications in terms of educational background:

	University Relations Director	Assistant Director, Communications
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Southern California

University relations director vs assistant director, communications demographics

Here are the differences between university relations directors' and assistant directors, communications' demographics:

	University Relations Director	Assistant Director, Communications
Average age	42	48
Gender ratio	Male, 51.7% Female, 48.3%	Male, 34.1% Female, 65.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 17.2% Asian, 5.2% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	16%	12%

Differences between university relations director and assistant director, communications duties and responsibilities

University relations director example responsibilities.

Draft all shareholder communications and 1993 annual report/Form 10-K; manage registrar/transfer agent activities and relationship with NASDAQ.
Experience in managing stock splits, odd-lot buybacks, proxy fights, annual meetings, litigation settlements and securities offerings.
Hire, train and manage play-by-play broadcasters guaranteeing a professional and informative listening experience.
Initiate and execute successful programs to encourage alumni attendance, involvement and donations.
Maintain CRM database used for benefactor tracking, financial reporting and marketing-driven fundraising efforts.
Establish automation and integration with CRM databases that enable accurate audience segmentation and time responses.

Assistant director, communications example responsibilities.

Manage and develop marketing, communication, and implementation process improvements for training curricula and the department's intranet website.
Increase Facebook followers from 100,000 to 300,000 by identifying and engaging supporters.
Engineer a statewide network of local Facebook groups that enable the campaign to easily communicate with supporters across the state.
Create and update an eye-catching, interactive Instagram account in order to keepall families aware of all camp activities and events.
Serve as representative to senior management team during community events and company spokesperson for division, including to nonprofit sector clients.
Develop best-in-class trade show presence that always generate positive ROI, in addition.

University relations director vs assistant director, communications skills

Common university relations director skills

Marketing Campaigns, 25%
Project Management, 22%
Investor Relations, 7%
Investment Community, 4%
Website Content, 3%
Professional Development, 3%

Common assistant director, communications skills

Customer Service, 13%
Property Management, 7%
Professional Development, 7%
Alumni, 6%
Photoshop, 5%
Graphic Design, 5%

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University Relations Director vs Assistant Director, Communications

Updated January 8, 2025

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