The UK’s first chartered management degree apprenticeship has been launched, with Barclays, Nestlé and Serco among the first to take part.
The new chartered manager degree apprenticeship has been developed by a group of 40 employers and universities, led by Serco and supported by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). The scheme was given the green light in July by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and aims to help create the one million new managers needed by 2020 to sustain the UK's economic growth.
Nine higher education institutions, including Sheffield Hallam and Anglia Ruskin, are among the first to offer this degree apprenticeship to employers. More universities are expected to start offering the course in the next academic year.
Apprentices will follow a programme developed by employers, the CMI and the Chartered Association of Business Schools, and will become members of the CMI and attain chartered manager status on completion of the course.
Ann Francke, chief executive of the CMI, explained that the scheme is designed to help tackle the UK’s productivity problem. “People are being asked to lead without training or support, with ineffective managers draining British productivity,” she said. “Today’s launch finally addresses the core issue that a third of managers are rated as ineffective by their teams – a key cause for the UK’s poor performance in productivity.
“The new chartered manager degree apprenticeship ties together the training provided by educators and employers. Apprentices are offered the threefold guarantee of a quality degree, on-the-job experience, and a professional pathway for future development,” she added.
Skills minister Nick Boles said he has high hopes for the scheme. “By uniting the very best of higher education with work-based learning we are transforming the routes into top management jobs,” he said. “Great businesses are run by great managers and I am confident many of tomorrow’s business leaders will learn their trade through the chartered manager degree apprenticeship.”
