Project Management - Degree Apprenticeship

While are a matter for individual employers, typically an apprentice might be expected to have achieved appropriate level 3 qualifications on entry eg 3 A-levels at grade 4/C or higher, or a vocational equivalent.

Apprentices are also typically expected to have achieved maths and English at level 2 prior to starting the apprenticeship.

The teaching and learning strategy has been shaped in response to ten years’ delivery and most importantly the needs and requirements of - and feedback from - students.

For instance, the strategy is designed to be as informal as possible and is based on interactive lecture and seminar sessions and inclusivity of the Virtual Learning Environment platform as an appropriate blending learning medium.

At this stage in students’ learning, they will be required to be autonomous learners in many respects, and this will certainly apply to the major project module and the work-based learning and dissertation modules in particular.

Both formal and informal formative and summative assessments will require students to demonstrate advanced study skills and to use them in the critical analysis and synthesis of information from a variety of sources.

Various modes of assessment will be used in different modules to ensure all aspects of learning are assessed and that students are engaged in different forms of assessment, covering their diversity of learning needs.

Modes of assessment may be drawn from the following, for example:

• essays will allow the students to explore the theoretical context
• literature review - students learn how to use existing literature to help solve a problem, win support, or determine what further research needs to be conducted
• results reported in written form, in poster form, or as multimedia presentation
• individual reports encourage independent study through a structured framework
• pre-seen and unseen written assessments and examinations add academic rigour
• presentations and structured debates develop communication skills and teamwork
• short exercises involving data analysis promote statistical research skills
• portfolio work develops appropriate methodologies and reflective practice

Industry Placement and Field Trips

It is a requirement of this degree apprenticeship that students will be employed in a suitable project management role to complete all aspects of the apprenticeship.

Expert Tutors

All staff involved in the delivery of adult education courses within the College are approved to teach the subjects and modules they deliver. The approval process ensures that staff delivering a given programme are appropriately qualified and, where appropriate, possess relevant technical and industrial experience and professional practice.

Project managers are responsible to the project sponsor/owner for the end-to-end delivery of a project or a subset of a project, dependent on the complexity and criticality to the business.

They have responsibility for delivering the project in line with defined objectives, taking decisions to manage stakeholder expectations by leading a multi-skilled, cross-disciplinary team to deliver the project to time, cost and quality requirements.

Using their unique knowledge, skills and leadership behaviours project managers will manage the social, legal and environmental implications of their project. In addition, they will manage a variety of interfaces with the organisational entities involved in the project, reporting to the project sponsor and working within the requirements of the programme and portfolio as appropriate.

A project manager must also have the competencies to contribute to benefits management and realisation, consolidating appropriate metrics to report thus ensuring that identified business benefits are achieved.

To achieve these objectives, project managers will apply appropriate governance and project management methods and techniques to initiate and execute projects, interfacing with other projects within larger project programmes to meet the strategic objectives of the organisation.

They will have an appreciation of programme management techniques and an understanding of how projects are managed within a larger programme.

Projects span public, private and third sectors in industries as diverse as banking, insurance, government, healthcare, retail and transport. Increasingly, organisations employ project managers to improve processes or implement change to become more efficient and effective.

This may require managing interdisciplinary teams within various organisational structures and across organisations.

These skills and behaviours require the project manager to be an effective leader of change, able to develop a group of direct, sub-contract, or temporarily aligned resources into a coherent team that delivers the project objectives.

They will have management responsibilities, including resource budget planning, and may also hold people development accountabilities.

They will have an understanding of the diversity of roles and challenges facing project professionals and an appreciation of tailoring needs, recognising the different contexts and technical requirements that exist in different industry sectors and/or organisation sizes.