When we (Econsultancy.com and Internet Retailing) announced our Diploma in Internet Retailing last autumn we were responding to professionals’ desire for a structured qualification in ecommerce in multichannel retail, as well as employers’ demands for qualified, expert staff in our sector.
The last few turbulent months have kept the spotlight on ecommerce — not only as a still-growing area within a challenged retail sector, but also due to the drive to extend ecommerce practices throughout the whole business.
When we launched we received a great deal of very positive interest, but we also heard two concerns, namely:
- The cost and time commitment to progress through the Diploma in a year was too great
- There was a very strong call for an accredited, portable qualification that could lead to Masters or MBA programmes, or work with existing in-house accredited qualifications (eg Tesco’s in-house foundation degree programme).
We took this feedback to heart and approached the team at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Business School to discuss how we could create a programme incorporating this feedback — and I’m really pleased to be able to announce (drumroll) the new Post-Graduate Diploma in Internet Retailing, accredited by MMUBS.
http://econsultancy.com/training/qualifications/retailing
The qualification retains the focus upon the commercial, blended skills required of today’s multichannel, multidisciplinary retailers, but has the following main improvements:
- The course is structured into one module each term. After three modules you earn the Post-Graduate Certificate, a further three earns the Post-Graduate Diploma and an elective dissertation in year three will covert the Diploma into an MSc
- The qualification will be accredited by MMUBS and therefore all of the course credits earned will be fully portable, recognised by other universities and qualification programmes
- MMUBS will be provide the learning management system to support the course
- We are now able to increase the intake size from the eight people initially envisaged to 15.
You can find more information on the Econsultancy qualifications site.
We are also hosting two Open Evenings so you can come and learn more about the Diploma and meet the tutors and academic staff. These are scheduled for:
- London on Wednesday 6 May
- Manchester on Monday 11 May
You can register your interest on the Econsultancy page.
We’re very excited at these improvements and we’re looking forward to meeting potential delegates in May.
