The Commerce Edge Academy is the first study centre in Africa to be certified as an official CIPS ‘Approved Study Centre’. Up to now the status awarded to CIPS Study Centres outside the United Kingdom have been limited to “Recognised”.
CIPS UK conferred the title in October, Ronald Mlalazi, Head of Commerce Edge Academy, tells SmartProcurement.
Since 2007, Commerce Edge has been a ‘Registered’ study centre of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS). However, only in 2014 did the international professional procurement body introduce ‘Approved Status’ outside of the UK, said Mlalazi.
In 2007 we became the first South African CIPS study centre in South Africa. In 2014 we have become the first Study Centre to be ‘Approved’, not just in South Africa, but in Africa.”
“The certification process is quite stringent, but for centres that have all the relevant quality measures in place it is achieveable”, says Esther Redman, Education Network Manager, CIPS-UK. It does help to guarantee that investing study time with Commerce Edge will give CIPS students a great advantage, explains Mlalazi.
Holding an ‘Approved’ certification from CIPS means Commerce Edge has proven that it provides high-quality course delivery and learner support along with appropriate facilities and resources.
“Our students are at the core of everything we do. Our ‘Approved’ status means we operate in a way that best supports students and surrounds them with systems to ensure their success in examinations. We are certified student-centric!”
Commerce Edge students can be confident that they have a higher chance of success owed to the study centre’s systems and policies. “The quality of lectures, tutoring and our student support platforms is certified at a high standard; and our processes promote the required hours of guided learning per unit necessary to ensure success in the examinations,” says Mlalazi.
Commerce Edge’s student centricity is reflected in its consistently high pass rate for CIPS students.
To maintain an ‘Approved’ status, study centres are audited annually and must submit reports. Current ‘registered centres’ are not presently subject to the same audit cycle.
But Commerce Edge will not stop here. CIPS’ highest standard for study centres is ‘Centre of Excellence’, which, while more commonly seen with UK Study Centres, Commerce Edge is already working towards.
This is a remarkable achievement by Commerce Edge, notes Marzia Storpioli, Head of Commercial at CIPS Africa.
“At present the majority of international study centres are ‘registered’ with CIPS to deliver qualifications, however we are now going through a process to support centres to change their status to ‘approved’. An approved centre is required to provide evidence to meet a set of criteria that have been developed as part of an Awarding Body’s regulatory compliance under Ofqual. These criteria aim to quantify that a centre has the necessary processes and procedures in place to provide a high quality of course delivery and learner support, along with appropriate facilities and resources. Approved centres are monitored on a regular basis mainly via audits and annual reports to ensure continued quality of delivery”, says Redman.
Student success through Commerce Edge’s on-line learning system
A programme of only classroom-based interaction cannot be rolled out across a continent from one study centre.
Commerce Edge’s Tutor-Enabled, Blended-Learning, On-line System (TEBLOS) is a combination of on-line tutor support and classroom support. It enables students to study anywhere in the world and at their own pace, with great flexibility to cater for their work schedule, family and social needs.
Through TEBLOS Commerce Edge supports students across Africa and the world, who enjoy balancing their lives with achieving their internationally recognised CIPS qualifications in Procurement and Supply – even up to MCIPS membership grade. More Information…
