22 June 2006 | Steve Bagshaw
More buyers across the world will be able to gain certification for their purchasing skills following a collaboration between CIPS and Accenture. The scheme, launched last month, will be tailored to individual organisations and oil giant Shell will be the first to offer it to procurement staff.
The CIPS inside /Accenture Supply Chain Academy will offer selected users CIPS membership through the programme's Certification Track leading to CIPS qualifications. "Staff joining the learning initiative will gain external recognition," said Olav Hoekzema, Shell's global learning manager contracting and procurement. "It will also offer education in a blended fashion, with some learning in an electronic way rather than through books." Shell has 2,000 staff eligible for the programme. "We expect the first Shell employee to begin examinations in November," he said.
The online programme is divided into 15 modules totalling some 150 training hours aligned to the CIPS new qualification ladder. Some levels are already available and the remainder will be online by the end of this year.
"We will offer this extension to 60 clients covering 10,000 users in 60 countries. This gives users the option to work online, removing the need for traditional distance learning to obtain CIPS qualifications," said Lucy Bloem, senior executive at Accenture.
"This is about offering choice and flexibility in terms of learning approaches, enabling us to find a more convenient way to link in with other learning resources. It will enable us to continue to extend our educational programme across the world," said Keith Trower, CIPS deputy chief executive. "It's this choice and flexibility that will enable users to study at home or at work and give organisations a scaleable professional development programme."
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