Students celebrate a decade of success

It’s been ten years since the first students embarked on their journey towards the Graduate Certificate in Management, run jointly by SELECT and Edinburgh Napier University.

Since then, more than 150 managers have improved their learning of what makes a great leader, and have been able to add value to many organisations as a result.

The programme consists of nine workshops run over a year, each on a different aspect of management. The areas covered include:

• the skills of good management

• improving communication and building great teams

• an introduction to coaching

• managing change

• recruitment

• motivating staff.

The students get a chance to think about their own teams and the challenges they face, and there are opportunities to learn from each other and take tangible ideas back to work.

The course is really practical in nature, which surprises some students who perhaps think a university course would be all theory and academic learning.

Students are encouraged to share experiences and ideas, and the formal assignments inspire students to ‘try out’ some of the things they have learned on their course back at work.

“I didn’t think it would be so practical and so relevant for me” said James, a previous student. “I was able to take ideas straight back and use them, which was great. It definitely improved my management skills as a result.”

This year, 16 students from 12 organisations – all members of SELECT – started the programme in September, and are now well on their way to writing their first assignments. We will be inviting applications for the 2018 programme in July, so watch this space for more information.