EDUCATING THE FUTURE WORKFORCE

endorsement; it’s far more than a kitemark. It ensures our degrees are mapped to industry standards that have been designed with employability at the core. With one of our strategic objectives being to produce ‘future ready’ students, we believe the CIMSPA accreditation is instrumental to achieving this,” says Lisa Binney at Solent University.

The endorsement scheme and the professional standards of Entry Manager and General Manager provided a sound framework for programme and curriculum design at Cardiff

Metropolitan University, says Elizabeth Lewis, academic team lead for sport management and culture.

“Using the standards, we were able to identify some of the key knowledge, skills and abilities that our future sport managers need to be successful in the sector.”

The scheme has wider benefits beyond improving opportunities for graduates, believes Marc Keech, University of Brighton.

“CIMSPA has helped sport-related degrees demonstrate not only the critical thinking required from service delivery in a range of environments, but has also highlighted how important sport and physical activity are to national and local economies.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE DEGREE PROGRAMMES ENDORSED?

That CIMSPA endorsed degrees provide students/graduates with the skills and behaviours to work in multiple roles across the sectors is not in doubt. What remains more difficult to gauge however, is the extent to which employers understand the value of these professional qualifications and how they can help alleviate their staffing issues.

“Industry partners that we speak to appreciate the endorsement once we highlight the worth. We find that we are having to play quite a large part in educating industry about professional standards. In time, we hope this will become more two-way rather than us guiding the way,” says Sarah Lee, Hartpury University.

Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Lewis agrees. She says providing a work-ready workforce is just the start. Both employers and graduates should commit to lifelong learning.

“The degree programme prepares them to work as an entry/ general manager in sport but also develops a wide range of management skills which are desirable in a number of industries. The skills that graduates may need might be specific to an organisation and how they operate and therefore it’s important that training and development opportunities exist, whether through mentoring and informal learning or structured formal learning. It’s important that both students and employers embed the idea of lifelong learning and development to keep up with and stay ahead of sectoral changes. Universities play a key part in this by providing learning opportunities that align with industry needs and can be made accessible to the workforce at an appropriate time and cost.”

Equipping Graduates With Transferrable Skills

There are currently 122 degree programmes endorsed by CIMSPA and approximately 2,000 students have been accredited via their degree to date. Higher education partners are seeing graduates move into a variety of roles from sports coaching and development to community and charity roles to working with local authorities, leisure trusts, health and well-being centres and national governing bodies of sport.

“It has been noted through alumni contacts that the students who received the CIMSPA graduation prizes have gone on to work within the industry and have done really well. The feedback is that they really valued the development of their understanding of the role of CIMSPA during their degree and what the endorsement gave them. They found they had confidence discussing it at interview stages and