Cardiff Metropolitan University first to gain degree endorsement against sector professional standards
CIMSPA higher education partner Cardiff Metropolitan University has achieved a sector-first by having its BSc in Sports Management undergraduate degree programme endorsed against the sport and physical activity sector’s professional standards framework.
The higher education endorsement programme has been developed by CIMSPA and its higher education partners over the past 18 months, and ratified by sector employers. By ensuring the degree programme content aligns with the knowledge and skills employers value most, CIMSPA-endorsed degrees deliver “work ready” graduates with the ability to step straight into their first career role.
Students completing the Cardiff Met BSc in Sports Management will gain a degree endorsed against the CIMSPA General Manager professional standard. In an innovative move, the foundation level of the degree is aligned to the Entry Manager professional standard as well. This will mean the course students will achieve an employability benchmark even before they graduate - making it easier to enable employer-suited work placements during their studies.
Cardiff Metropolitan University were one of the first universities to partner with CIMSPA, and have been consistently engaged with our work – driving student employability and challenging the current sector employability benchmarks.
Leigh Robinson, Pro-Vice Chancellor has praised the endorsement, commenting: “The CIMSPA endorsement system gives Cardiff Met an effective way to provide our graduates with high-quality and high-impact, practice-focused and professionally-recognised education.”
Chair of the professional development board, Richard Millard, expressed his support of the degree endorsement stating: “On behalf of the professional development board and the employers we represent we would like to both congratulate Cardiff Met on their achievement and thank all of the universities that have been engaging with CIMSPA for their hard work in aligning their programme to the sector’s professional standards; which will allow graduates to be employable from the moment they graduate.”
CIMSPA CEO Tara Dillon commented: “I’d like to congratulate Cardiff Metropolitan University on being the first to reach this key milestone.
“The CIMSPA endorsement kitemark that Cardiff Met can now associate with this degree is a badge of quality that parents and students can rely on to symbolise educational quality delivering real-world skills and employability.
“I would also like to thank all eleven universities whose hard work and expertise over the past 18 months has led to this success. Their degree programmes are already on the endorsement pathway, with many new institutions also moving into partnership with CIMSPA.
“The CIMSPA higher education partnership network is growing and with over 1750 higher education students now directly engaged with their chartered institute across 21 institutions, we are seeing a growing response to the call for employable skills to be built into degree programmes. With more degree endorsements to come, there is a bright future for our sector’s workforce.”
Find out more about the degree programme here.