IN DEPTH
Why accredited courses and what accredited courses?
The information professions are changing fast, accreditation gives students confidence that the courses they choose are at the cutting edge of the profession and the employment market.
UNDERSTANDING the information professions is core to CILIP’s mission to unite, support and advocate for all information professionals. Knowing what they do, what their workforces look like, and the challenges they face enables CILIP to deliver relevant services to its members, and to attract future members. CILIP’s job is to keep the profession as navigable as possible for its members, their employers, and their trainers. This task has been made more challenging by the impact of new tech- nologies and unstable economic conditions but, by the same token, has made CILIP’s services more valuable to individuals and organisations who need to keep pace.
Who are you trying to impress?
The process of accreditation enables learning providers to put CILIP’s knowledge and understanding to use and ensure that what they do is professionally relevant. A CILIP accredited course has to meet five criteria, all of which strengthen links to the real world of the information professional. Learning providers are willing to undertake this because they know students look for accreditation when choosing courses. Accreditation can also boost a course’s standing in its parent organisation because independent external validation and working with a professional body improves their students’ future employability. The first criterion is that all courses are assessed using
CILIP’s Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB –
www.cilip.org.uk/pksb). This is a tool that has been developed in consultation with employers, academic institutions, CILIP members and other key stakeholders. All of these stakeholders are important but links with employers are likely to be a high priority for prospective students. As a professional body, CILIP’s links to employers exist on many levels. A key one is through its Employer Partners scheme (
www.cilip.org.uk/EmployerPartner) which includes govern- ment departments, local authorities, academic institutions and libraries, as well as private companies, but also through its Information Professional Jobs (https://informationprofessional-
jobs.com/) service. Involvement of an organisation in this part- nership can directly affect their attitudes toward recruitment and the professional awareness of applicants. CILIP also has longstanding relationships with recruitment agencies, as well as many of its individual members have hiring responsibilities in all sectors.
PKSB
The PKSB, which is revised to reflect the evolving skills for a successful career includes “core principles” such as ethics and values at its centre, then “professional expertise” like collec- tion management and development, or data management,
September 2022
and then “generic skills” which range from customer focus to leadership and strategy. Accreditation requires the learning provider to demonstrate how their course maps on to the PKSB.
The second criterion is that learning providers must provide evidence of validation through internal quality assessment procedures. This includes proof of support from the senior management of the university or college for the department and the delivery of courses or modules and also ongoing dialogue to gain and respond to student feedback.
Employers again
The third criterion is that learning providers engage with employers and must provide evidence of employer involve- ment in shaping courses, including curriculum review and development. So while the content of the course is vetted by CILIP against the PKSB to ensure professional relevance, the links of the learning provider to employers provides another layer of value.
The relationship should see employers supporting, or complementing, course delivery, and learning providers must provide evidence of employer involvement in shaping courses, including curriculum review and development. This interaction with employers also includes learning providers showing evidence of the kinds of roles their students progress to on completion of courses.
Professional development
The fourth criterion is a requirement that course staff are up to date with their own professional practice and requires evidence that there is a staff development policy in place at the learning provider. The fifth and final criterion is that students on accredited courses are encouraged to engage with CILIP and find out how it can support their career development. To make this process more accessible to students, CILIP has a student membership offer which will give them full membership, with access to networks, special interest groups, grants, the latest thinking and developments in your field with insights, research and analysis from CILIP’s range of online resources and free events and Information Professional magazine.
International
For students looking to take their qualifications abroad, CILIP’s memoranda of understanding with sister organisa- tions the American Library Association (ALA), the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and the Library Association of Ireland (LAI), give students portability of degrees for international careers. IP
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