Hooray for the CIPR

Congratulations to the CIPR and to Kevin Ruck for finally sorting out a proper qualification for people entering the profession.

The big selling point is that it is actually properly accredited - you can trace a quality link back through the CIPR to the UK's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.  This means that if someone turns up with this qualification on their CV you can tell something about them.

Of course there is the Kingston University course - which is certainly accredited (I was even an external examiner on it for a brief period of time) - but it's aimed at more senior people and involves a longer-term academic committment (which isn't to everyone's taste).

The problem is that the professional bodies have kept their hands out of accreditation for too long.  The CiB offer a series of excellent courses but, apart from their relationship with Kingston, they don't really have a quality assurance process to match that applied by a chartered body like the CIPR.  The IABC's Accredited Communicator Qualification has yet to receive the respect in Europe that it enjoys in North America.

I suppose I should declare several interests.  Simply are supporting the programme for the first public courses and we're offering an in-house option to our clients.  On top of that I've been a member of the CIPR for far too long and I regularly rant on the subject of learning in their magazine.

So I know a little of Kevin's journey to pilot the syllabus through.  And it started with a search for a suitable qualification that he could promote to a corporate client.  After a years of searching he couldn't find anything really suitable so he started working with the CIPR on defining what he throught was needed.

I'm most excited because I think it marks the beginning of better recognition for IC professionals.  Although it's an entry-level qualification, it provides a quality benchmark against which other training courses will be judged.  Obviously courses like Melcrum's Black Belt have an excellent reputation and have nothing to fear, but others have much to worry about.

Liam

Comments

[Kelly Kass]

Liam,

Many thanks to you and Kevin for taking the time to chat with me for the article.

This new qualification is quite exciting indeed...

Kelly