The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
(CIPD) Programme
In addition to courses on the MSc in HRM and Organizational Analysis students participating in the
CIPD programme will attend a series of full-day workshops designed to develop some of the core
skills and knowledge required to practice as a human resource professional. Students will also carry
out work with an external organization in order to write up a Management Research Report (MRR)
and complete a Continuing Professional Development plan as part of their MRR submissions.
Participation in the CIPD programme is a serious commitment, particularly as its success relies
heavily on a number of outside professional specialists and external organisations. Consequently,
King’s reserves the right to select students for the professional stream at its discretion and may also
limit numbers on the programme to ensure that it can be run successfully in any given year.
Professional Skills Workshops
The skills workshops take place on a weekly basis starting in November 20012 until March 2013.
Students must attend and participate in up to 13 workshop days that are geared to provide insight
and guidance on key HRM areas and issues within modern day organisations. These workshops will
be run on Friday between 10 am and 5 pm and cover key areas of human resource strategy, policy
and practice, such as:

The design of the HR function

Recruitment and selection

Training and development strategies

The design of jobs and reward systems

HR leadership and performance management

The design of work-life balance, diversity policies and employment law.
The workshops involve extensive input and participation from expert practitioners to provide students
with access to wide variety of specialist HR professionals. Workshop details and presenter
biographies are included in this binder.
As the workshops are focused on providing practical insight and experience of contemporary HRM
topics, students will be expected to participate in a range of learning experiences including role-plays,
team based activities, and presentations etc. The workshops will not be formally assessed. However,
student activities will be reviewed by presenters in terms of student participation and an individual’s
ability to effectively contribute during such workshop activities. Students who are unable to effectively
contribute to workshop sessions will be coached and encouraged, where appropriate.
Management Research Report (MRR)
The MRR scheme is designed to give students an opportunity to gain direct experience of the nature
and operation of HR strategy, policies and practices within organisations. Students are assessed on
the Management Research Report (MRR) which is prepared on the basis of a project with an external
organization. Where required, students will be provided with access to an organisation to carry out the
project on an agreed area of HRM, together with the organisation’s internal HR team.
The nature of the project to be undertaken will not be chosen by the student, nor will there be any
choice in terms of organisation e.g. while a student may want a project to cover training, or may want
to undertake an industry specific project e.g. financial services, neither can or will be guaranteed.
However, student preferences for projects and organisations will be matched where possible.
Students can also separately arrange to work with an organisation of their own choice. However,
where this occurs, the nature of the project must be agreed in advance.
Some students choose to do their management reports with organizations they are working for. On
other occasions students find work placements/internships on their own. We do realize that most
students will not be in employment and will need help in getting access to organizations. In those
cases King’s will facilitate access to organizations and help students to carry out their management
report. However given the nature of organizations, particularly in today’s volatile economic climate we
cannot guarantee that every organization will be able to allow student’s access where originally
promised. In such cases where organizations are unable to facilitate student projects we will arrange
for the MRR to be completed in another organization or in some other way. For example in some
circumstances we may help students utilize their dissertation to complete the MRR.
The student will be expected to commit at least 5-10 days of time working at the outside organisation,
and sufficient additional time to research, prepare and finalise a management report on the chosen
subject area. This work will be carried out between March and September 2010. The final report
should be between 5,000 and 7,000 words and will be formally assessed by King’s. The student will
need to pass (i.e. obtain at least 50% grade) in order to gain CIPD accreditation.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
As part of the CIPD programme students are also required to complete a CPD log which is a record of
their learning over the previous year. Students must record their continuing personal and professional
development which has been enhanced though attending MSc courses, CIPD workshops and while
working on their dissertation or MRR project. This record must identify how students have covered the
CIPD professional standards (http://www.cipd.co.uk/about/profstands/practitioner/default.htm). These
standards are set at a basic operational level and cover the knowledge, understanding and
competence in four fields:

Leadership and Management
CPD/Learning Log
Management Research Report

People Management and Development
Managing and Leading People
Managing for Results
Managing in a Strategic Business Context
Managing Information for Competitive Advantage

Specialist and Generalist Personnel and Development
People Management & Development

Applied Personnel and Development
Employee Relations
Employee Reward
Managing Diversity & Equal Opportunities
Performance Management
Students must demonstrate how they have managed to cover at least 3 of these standards; through
attending and learning from workshops, lectures, seminars and their dissertation and MRR projects.
The CPD should also identify how the student intends to continue to learn in the forthcoming 12
months. In this respect the CPD is both backward and forward looking in terms of learning. The binder
includes some samples of CPD log provided by the CIPD.
Both the Management Research Report (MRR) and the CPD log are to be submitted by 30th
September 2013.
Registration and Fees
The deadline for the registration CIPD programme is 17th December 2012
CIPD programme fee (2009-2010): £1,500 (payable at the end of the first term)
The fee covers interactive workshops, mentoring by HR professionals and experts, MRR and CPD log
assessment. If a student wants to become a member of the CIPD during their studies that would incur
an additional fee payable to the CIPD.
CIPD registration process
We will provide the CIPD with a list of students who have registered for the CIPD accredited MSc
programme, these students will then be assigned a key number. At this point students DO NOT
become members of the CIPD therefore cannot access benefits of student membership, if they wish
to join as members they can do so during the course but that will be a student membership. Once
students have passed the CIPD accredited MSc programme then their membership will be upgraded.
However if students do not become members during the course, they can do so once they have
passed the course.
Regardless of whether the students become members or not, if they have passed the CIPD
accredited course they have fulfilled the obligation required by many organizations.
To become a chartered member individuals need to have 2 - 3 years HR related experience.