Accredited Training and Academic Education
Oil and Water, or Perfect Complements?
Working with Professional Bodies
King’s College London – 17th June 2011
Helen Southall
University of Chester
Background – The NTI
• 2 academic staff seconded from CSIS
– Later, 50% share of 1 administrator
• Originally part of a national, government-funded
scheme
– Targets and focus for funding were on ‘skills gap’ re. low-
end ICT training. Brokered training delivered by FE colleges
– Other targets related to contact with SMEs
– Funding ended in 2006; most NTIs closed down
• Chester NTI chose to move to higher-level training
– Accreditation is a slow process, so other funding sources
(e.g. JISC) and support from institution essential in interim
Background – The NTI
• Since May 2007 the NTI has
trained in excess of 500
delegates at OGC & Apple
accredited courses
• Delegates have included many
from the NHS, Civil Service,
local authorities, armed
forces, Police, courts, H.E.,
and other public services
• Other delegates principally
from banks and
manufacturing, plus company
directors and many freelance
contractors
Becoming an ATO for PRINCE2®
• PRINCE2 certification is frequently demanded in project management
(and other) job adverts
– Also useful to organisations tendering for project management contracts
• ATO status is essential
– Cannot legally claim to offer PRINCE2 training, use copyright materials, or book
PRINCE2 exams without it
• Badge of quality
– Anyone can offer ‘project management training’
– Only ATOs can offer ‘PRINCE2 project management training’ and be listed on the OGC
web-site
• Benefits including access to a pool of accredited trainers, ATO meetings
and newsletters, BPUG, exhibitions, contact lists
PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other
countries || The Swirl logo™ is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce
Becoming an ATO for PRINCE2
• The accreditation process
– Slow, expensive and frustrating (especially if starting from
scratch)
– Nothing is taken for granted. Being part of an HEI is
(rightly) not an advantage. Management procedures and
marketing materials are carefully vetted. Materials are
accredited on a slide-by-slide basis.
– Trainers must all be individually accredited
• High level of relevant hands-on experience is a pre-requisite
• This means existing university lecturers won’t necessarily be
eligible
• There are also significant timetabling issues
• Despite the frustrations, when we achieved
accreditation we were genuinely ready to run our
first course. Not always the case in HEIs!
Some Pitfalls (and Advantages)
• The torture never stops...
– Not a one-shot deal; all ATOs (and trainers) are re-inspected annually
• This is actually quite helpful, e.g. in providing justification for the required administrative
support
– Substantial annual fees relating to the ATO itself, and individual ‘products’
and trainers associated with the ATO
– Regular updates to PRINCE2 itself mean compulsory re-writing and re-
accreditation of teaching materials
• High overheads
– High course fees
• Lots of specialist commercial competitors
– Large market
• Potentially, lots of hassle dealing with unusual or foreign
administration and finance procedures
– Potentially, lots of delegates, including new overseas markets
So.... Oil and Water?
• Professional qualifications such as
PRINCE2 don’t plug comfortably
into HE ‘levels’
• Differences of emphasis...
– Academic courses
• Transferable skills, learning how to learn, critical
thinking, flexibility, long courses, lasts a lifetime
• Coursework, short exams, support, presumption
that students will pass until proven to fail
– Professional certification (e.g. PRINCE2)
• Short, intense, high-pressure course
• Learning (& retrieval in exam conditions) of
knowledge, jargon, standard methods, specific
information on who does what and when
• Regularly re-tested; it is presumed that this
‘version’ will go out of date within 5 years
• Pressure from employers (and already-qualified)
to make sure exams aren’t ‘too easy’
• Issues re. dyslexia, ESL etc
...or Perfect Complements?
• What did delegates ask for?
– Ongoing mentoring and support with implementation
– Complementary academic qualification
• What can we offer?
– Difficult to compete head-to-head with commercial
training companies; our overheads are too high and
short courses aren’t (yet) our core business
– However, continuing to offer only 3-year degree
courses doesn’t meet delegates’ needs, and funding
changes mean that it’s not a realistic option anyhow
• M.Sc Programme & Project Management
– Based on Chester’s award-winning Work-Based &
Integrative Studies degrees
– The missing link after (or before) the 5-day
professional course
– Unlike training companies & non-ATO universities, we
can provide both professional and academic aspects in-
house
Conclusions
• Courses which command high fees are not a short cut to high profits
– Obtaining and maintaining ATO status is expensive
• There is a lot to be said for belonging to an exclusive club
• There is even more to be said for being unique in an exclusive club...
– ‘the only active ATO within a university’
– We regularly get business because of this, even from clients who
aren’t particularly interested in academic courses
• Quality is critical
– HR course bookers, business people, freelance project managers
(i.e. typical delegates) are willing to pay high fees for good
quality – but they will also complain loudly and effectively if they
don’t think they’ve received it
• An indication of what to expect from students paying up to
£9000 / year from September 2012?
Contact Details
Helen Southall
Business & Curriculum Development Manager
NTI
h.southall@chester.ac.uk
01244 512191
http://www.chester.ac.uk/business/nti