Developing Continuing Professional Development Courses
- a guide to good practice
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the means of improving knowledge and skills
of personnel throughout their working lives. CPD may be used to:
 update knowledge and skills
 prepare for changing roles and responsibilities
 increase general competence
This can be achieved by undertaking short courses, part-time study, e-learning or a
combination of these approaches. This guide has been developed based on a workshop
involving a range of CPD providers in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. It aims
to provide some generic advice on developing a successful course and signpost where you
should go to ask for help.
For the purpose of this guide, the definition of CPD is restricted to courses that are
specifically designed for this market and fully paid by the individuals or their employers (i.e.,
not attracting any funding from the SFC teaching grant).
For information on developing Masters courses please see the “Developing Successful
Edinburgh Masters Toolkit” available on Communication and Marketing’s Support Services
webpage.
WHY CPD?
Providing CPD courses can be beneficial for several reasons including:
 enhancing the profile of your centre/department among practitioners and
stakeholders
 increasing the impact of your knowledge by providing expertise which can be used in
practice
 enhancing relationships with potential collaborators and key stakeholders
 raising the profile of other courses being offered, such as MSc courses
 creating an additional income stream
Before developing a new course, it is important to define your main objectives and your
primary audience(s). This will help to inform your decisions on format and content as well as
the price of the course. While you should build on existing capacity, for example, successful
Masters programmes, the content and format must be tailored for CPD students who often
have different experiences and needs to full-time students.
IDENTIFYING AND RESEARCHING THE MARKET
A CPD course needs to be useful enough that employers give time off and pay a fee for the
employee to attend. Alternatively, it has to be so attractive for the individual that he or she is
willing to devote their own time and money to conduct the course on top of other
commitments. When identifying your market you should ask yourself:
 what skills and knowledge will the participants gain through the course?
 which sectors and/or professions need these skills?
Once you have identified who you believe should be your target group it is time to check
whether this group is likely to take up the offer. Market research is important to make sure
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your course fits the needs of potential participants and at the same time offers something
different to what is available already. Market research should address:
 who the target audience is?
 who your competitors are?
The Centre of African Studies (CAS) had
 what training provision currently exists for
three objectives when they decided to
this group and/or in this field?
explore opportunities for CPD delivery
 what seems to be the going price?
in 2009: 1) to enhance the reputation of
CAS among stakeholders involved with
 how will you be different to the current
international development 2) to
market offering?
encourage students to enrol on the new
 what formats of delivery will suit the target
MSc in Africa and International
group?
Development and 3) to create an
 who are the gatekeepers in the
additional income stream.
sector/profession?
A lot of this information can be gathered by deskbased research, searching the CPD/Training pages
of other academic departments, professional
associations and professional training agencies.
Also use your own and your colleague’s networks
to learn more about the sector.
You should also make direct enquiries to members
of the target group and relevant gatekeepers. Use
your own networks and contact a sample of
practitioners and relevant HR departments,
professional associations and regulatory bodies
engaged with the sector.
The University’s Communication and Marketing
unit can provide advice on how to do market
research and in some instances they will conduct
the research for a fee.
Market research suggested providing
parts of the MSc through distance
learning. A local market was also
identified so they decided to offer oneday courses, which were marketed
through the webpage and relevant
networks. There were not enough
participants to run the courses, which
suggested that there was in reality a
limited local market, particularly in the
current financial climate. However, the
marketing of these courses raised the
profile of CAS and triggered enquiries
for customised training and consultancy.
In the meantime, a postgraduate
certificate by e-learning has been
developed and will be offered from
January 2011.
Further information: Communication and Marketing
DEFINING THE CONTENT AND FORMAT
As said above, individuals attending CPD courses or conferences have different needs to
full-time students. Potential CPD participants may be experiencing:
 increased role complexity
 increased skill requirements
 new ways of working in teams
 job insecurity
 time constraints for those working full time
To meet these challenges the CPD provider can help to:
 broaden skills, develop individuals’ potential
 encourage people to be proactive in their own career planning
 develop a process of self-evaluation and reflection
 form networks
 give professionals proof of the quality of their practice
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This means that developing a CPD course is
different from developing an undergraduate
or postgraduate course and the format and
content has to reflect this. The content as well
as format should allow the participant to
recognise the relevance of the knowledge
gained and apply it to their own practice. CPD
students often bring valuable skills and
knowledge relevant to the course topic from
their own experience, so consider how this
can be utilised within the course for the
benefit of all the students as well as yourself.
The School of Law’s Legal Practice Unit, in
collaboration with the Office of Life Long
Learning, has for a number of years run a
series of ‘update’ seminars given to legal
professionals from law firms throughout
Scotland. The most successful of these has
been running since 1991 – an achievement
only possible due to the ever-changing nature
of the subject matter (i.e., legislation) and the
quality of delivery of these updates.
Combining the knowledge and research of the
School of Law’s top lecturers, the Law Update
series remains a notable fixture in the
University’s CPD calendar. Despite the
current economic downturn these courses have
remained popular and generated income for
the University.
Consider all the formats in which a CPD
course can be delivered before choosing the
one which best suits you. It need not always
be daytime when rooms can be very difficult
to secure for more than an hour at a time due
to UG and PG teaching requirements. Many
CPD events are run in the evening, at
weekends or on a Wednesday afternoon and evening combination to coincide with the
University’s half day. The options for remote participation are also becoming much more
widespread and popular and include live transmissions of seminars online or by
videoconference, online courses, which are taken between specific dates with an interactive
participant “chat room” and support from the tutor and at any time of the participant’s
choosing with just a time limit for completion.
Identify hooks within the target sector which you can hang your offer on to make it relevant to
the students. This can be forthcoming or recent changes in legislation, current policy debates
or new challenges in the relevant field.
The Centre for Research on Families and
Relationships have experienced that, whilst it
may be hard to get enough participants for a
training course, conferences targeted to
practitioner audiences are popular even when
charged at the same rates. If your main
objective is to engage with research users and
to create an income stream, organising
conferences may be a better alternative.
If the market research has identified barriers
to CPD in your target group it is important
you design the course in a way that makes it
feasible for them to enrol. E-learning
provides the most flexibility for the students
but, if building a network and sharing
experience within the group is important,
some form of face to face meeting may be
needed to create the trust needed for people
to share.
ACCREDITATION WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY
Non-credit bearing CPD courses do not have to go through approval within the University.
For these courses a certificate of attendance may be issued to participants but there is no
assessment or formal accreditation of the course. For a lot of CPD students this is sufficient
– they develop new knowledge and/or update their skills without the stress of assessments
and exams.
Market research carried out within Law and Social and Political Studies has however shown
that, increasingly, CPD students do like to get credits for their courses. For the course
“Listening to children”, provided by the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships,
60% of the students opted to have the course assessed for credit.
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The accreditation process for CPD courses is the same as for undergraduate and
postgraduate courses through the School Board of Studies and the College Postgraduate
Committee. Accreditation will provide the student with a formal assessment and the
appropriate number of credit points. Further enquiries will have to be made if the student
wants to use this for a degree programme at a later stage.
Further information: CHSS Postgraduate office
ACCREDITATION FROM PROFESSIONAL BODIES
Several professions have a programme of
accredited courses either recommended
or required to maintain the professional
licence. In some cases, having this
accreditation is crucial for entering that
particular field. Course accreditation from
a professional body may also be seen as
a quality stamp for potential participants.
However, there are costs involved with
this. Professional bodies require a fee for
accrediting courses and the process of
documentation takes time. The course
has to be ready before accreditation is
sought and renewal is subject to
submission of evaluation material. You
have to weigh the costs up against the
potential benefits, which may be hard to
predict. If in doubt you should offer the
course without accreditation first and
revisit the issue if there are indications
that you have failed to attract participants
because of this.
SCRIPT in the School of Law considered applying
for accreditation from several professional bodies
for their Law and Medical Ethics e-learning
course, including the Royal Colleges of Nurses,
GPs, Physicians and the Health Professionals
Council. They chose the Royal College of Nurses
(RCN) because it has a sizeable membership of
over 400,000 and because nurses generally
represent a well-defined audience whom we could
target via an integrated marketing campaign of
online and print advertising, and direct mail.
Another reason was that RCN has a clear policy
on accrediting online distance learning. Since the
course has been accredited, 419 hits on the course
webpage have been directed from the RCN site,
although only one student has requested the RCN
certificate on completing the course. At this stage
it is still difficult to tell whether the investment has
paid off but having the accreditation on the
webpage provides a seal of approval that may be
important when students consider taking the
course.
MANAGING AND ADMINISTERING THE COURSE
The CPD Unit at The Office of Lifelong Learning (OLL) was set up specifically to provide
assistance with the administration and management of CPD events and courses to staff
across the University. This can cover anything from an evening seminar to a short training
course or a large international conference, and can be at whatever level of involvement you
require. As well as advice, they have a number of resources available for registration,
payment and data management through their flexible online booking system and
administration team. OLL’s experienced event managers can deal with all aspects of
organisation, including venues, catering, course materials and publicity. They are also able to
devise a budget for setting up events and manage income and expenditure.
Please contact The CPD Unit early in the planning stages for discussion and advice. While
OLL is not a commercial department, the CPD Unit will normally charge a fee for their
support. These charges are designed to reflect the amount of work involved and the
anticipated outcome of the event or course.
More information and advice: Office of Lifelong Learning
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COSTING AND PRICING
Ordinary undergraduate and postgraduate study programmes have funding from the Scottish
Funding Council and the fees paid by students are set by the College with guidance from the
Fee Strategy Group at University level. CPD courses do not have funding from the Scottish
Funding Council and the costs of the programmes should be fully paid for by the participant
or his/her employer, i.e., they should not be subsidised by the University. Sponsorship and
exhibitions can also provide an important source of income for conferences and courses. A
budget covering all direct and indirect costs is therefore required to set the fee. Do not forget
to include the development costs (these can be seen as an investment to be paid back over
time).
The profit margin will depend on what potential customers are willing and able to pay; please
check what other providers charge and consult with potential customers. It is widely accepted
that quality costs so charging less to
attract higher numbers may actually
The Centre for Advanced Study of the Arab
defeat the purpose.
World, a collaboration between the Universities
of Edinburgh, Durham and Manchester, is
If you realise your costs are too high to be
improving the way Arabic is taught world wide.
competitive you should seriously consider
Having organised a series of CPD workshops
whether developing the course is
aimed at teachers in the UK, Jonathan
worthwhile. If the course is important for
Featherstone was hired by the British
strategic purposes, for example, as a way
University in Dubai to run a week long
of raising the profile of the institution
programme for Arabic teachers in the Emirates,
among key stakeholders, you may
which was processed as consultancy by ERI.
consider running it at a loss. However,
this is not sustainable unless the course
creates synergies that bring additional income. It may be appropriate to offer places at a
reduced rate to enter the marketplace but make sure this is communicated clearly so people
don’t get put off when the price increases.
If you are in the lucky situation that the demand for the course exceeds the capacity to
deliver, you can consider developing a “train the trainer” approach where you develop a
programme designed for trainers who then obtain a licence to deliver the courses further.
Alternatively, you can work with colleagues within or outside the University through a subcontract arrangement.
Note: If you intend to provide customised training for a company rather than an open course
with delegate fees, this should be processed as consultancy through the ERI Consultancy
office. This ensures the activity is covered by the University’s indemnity and liability
insurance. ERI will assist with everything from negotiating appropriate fees to invoicing.
More information and advice:
Budget, costing and pricing:
Licensing :
Consultancy:
Office of Lifelong Learning
Knowledge Exchange Office
ERI Consultancy Office
COPYRIGHT
CPD is about sharing knowledge so you may be happy for your slides to be re-used and the
knowledge spread after the course is over. However, if you have developed a unique
concept, you may not appreciate it if someone else takes the idea and delivers your course
on a commercial basis. Whilst the risk of this may be low it is worth safeguarding against this.
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Training material is protected by copyright and if you want to make this clear you can put
©University of Edinburgh on your slides, handouts or booklets. Needless to say, just as you
want to protect your copyright, you should be careful not to infringe on other people’s
copyright.
If you develop a course with a partner from a different institution (academic or non-academic)
it is a good idea to write a collaboration agreement to agree on ownership, share of
costs/income and the right to deliver the course without the other party involved.
More information on copyright, collaboration agreement and licensing: KE Office
MARKETING THE COURSE
As with all marketing, an integrated approach using several channels is recommended to
spread the word about your course. Evaluation of SCRIPT courses show that most students
heard about the course online in one way or another. Recommendation from friends and
colleagues was also important so make sure your own networks are aware of your course(s)
and can pass on the information.
Some tips on online marketing:
 ensure it is easy to navigate to the course from your main webpage
 ensure the page is tagged with the appropriate key words to be picked up by search
engines
 send information to appropriate email lists you are member of and ask colleagues to
spread the word
 identify email lists that target your group – some will allow you to post information for
free when the course is of benefit to the group
 use relevant social media channels such as Linked-In, Facebook and Twitter
 use Google Analytics to map the flow of traffic on your website
Printed material and advertisements are more expensive but may be appropriate as a
supplement to online marketing. The Communication and Marketing webpage provides a
series of guides on how to develop publishing and marketing materials.
More information: www.ed.ac.uk/communications-marketing
Production of publicity materials (fliers, journal advertisements, etc.) is also a service offered
by the Office of Lifelong Learning.
MAKING THE MOST OF CPD
If all the processes above have been conducted successfully you should be ready to run the
course! As said at the beginning, you may have several objectives for developing a CPD
course and it is important to have these in mind when you deliver the course.
Use the opportunity to gain more knowledge about the practice field; look out for good
examples you can use in your teaching, unanswered questions that may form the basis for
your next research proposal and projects you can collaborate on. Developing the relationship
with partners is often the hardest part of a collaborative research and knowledge exchange
project. Running a course with practitioners in your field provides a great opportunity for
getting a head start!
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