CMI recognised for outstanding work with apprenticeships and developing professional managers

21 October 2016 -

Federation of Awarding Bodies names CMI as the best awarding organisation in the country

CMI has been named as the Awarding Body of the Year at the 2016 Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) Awards.

The reward was awarded to CMI for its outstanding contribution to education and skills in the UK, particularly for its work with re-building the profile of apprenticeships and battling against the UK’s lacklustre productivity.

In February, the government again confirmed that the UK has a productivity issue and lags behind the other members of the G7 by 17%, costing our economy billions each year.

CMI’s research has previously highlighted this and in July 2014 the Management 2020: The Future of Management & Leadership report recommended the development of new professional development pathways for aspiring and practising managers and leaders, leading to the creation of the Trailblazer apprenticeships.

CMI worked to form a group of 30 leading employers from multiple sectors and representing different scales of business, and has played a key role in gaining approval from government for new apprenticeship standards for team leaders and supervisors (level 3), operations and department managers (level 5) and the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship.

CMI chief executive Ann Francke said: “We’re delighted to have received this prestigious award from the FAB. Through working as an awarding body in partnership with employers, higher education institutions, education partners and other professional bodies, we’re now creating many more routes for established and new managers to develop the professional skills the UK needs to meet our future productivity challenges.”

Alongside the apprenticeship agenda CMI works across all education and business sectors and has seen a ten-fold increase in its business with the Higher Education sector in the last three years, helping more graduates to enhance their employability with CMI’s practically focussed qualifications embedded as part of the University offering.

CMI has also introduced Curriculum Enrichment and Academic Engagement programmes to help support the learning environment and student experience. These programmes drive engagement across universities and business schools by providing a range of interventions such as mentoring, guest speakers and training.

Recent surveys of CMI’s partners and students demonstrate the impact CMI has achieved in a relatively short period of time, with nine out of 10 of their university partners and 53% of students suggesting CMI has had a high level of impact on student employability.

The institute was also recognised for the growth it has experienced in recent years, growing its qualifications business by 15% in each of the past two years and helping its provider partners to place higher volumes of learners on programmes as a result of its partner-focussed approach, which has generated record levels of satisfaction.

Over the past three years, CMI has also doubled the work it is doing with the armed forces, adding real value to service personnel looking to effectively translate their military experience into compelling reasons that civilian employers should hire them as and when they leave the armed forces.