Virtual open evening

Video transcript - Virtual open evening (September 2022)

- Hello, everybody, and welcome to our virtual open evening. Welcome from all across the world. I'm sure everybody is excited to find out a little bit more about the collaboration and the University of London Southbank as well as Cambridge Education Group.

MICHAEL ANTHONISZ: My name is Michael Anthonisz, I'm the program director for both the undergraduate and business and management and the postgraduate in project management programs, CEG. I've been with the company probably about six months now. It's just under six months, looking into and launching these programs. I've been working in higher education for about the last 20 years and I'm really excited about these programs and look forward to welcoming you on board.

SELIMA RAHMAN: Thank you, Michael. And Leila, if you'll actually just introduce yourself as well?

LEILA DALE: Hi, my name is Leila, and I'm a module leader for CEG. I used to work based on campus. Something similar to CEG, part of CEG. Though I used to teach business and to be personal tutor. I've got like industry experience as well in the human resource management and more like a customer care as well. So I'm really happy and excited to be module leader and develop programs and work together with you and welcome you all.

MICHAEL ANTHONISZ: Yeah. It's a new partnership for us. Obviously, CEG has a history of working with UK institutions on the delivery of online programs. But this partnership has a slightly different look in that we are much more of a student face-- we have much more of a student-facing role in this program. So the association with London Southbank is a way of validating the programs that we're offering.

So all of the certification that one will receive from this program would be headed with London Southbank University. Although the delivery is managed and delivered by us at Cambridge Education Group, drawing on all of that experience of working on partnerships that we've attained over the years.

LEILA DALE: So BA Business Management is a four-year program, but it's more like three and a half years. So it's not fully full four years. It offers wide variety of different courses. It's very modern addressing current issues because we are constantly developing and improving the program. So we've got an exciting opportunity to add the resources that are up-to-date and look at the very, very newest information.

So maybe I will tell you some of the modules that are there. So for example, we've got contemporary business issues on the first year, understanding organizations and people, principles of marketing. Those are just few of the first year modules, and then next year we've got some managing people, supply and operations, also research methods and accounting. So it's like very wide, but you will get insight on near enough all topics for business and you will walk away as a business management professional.

MICHAEL ANTHONISZ: The MSc program, very similar to the business management program in terms of how it's been designed, it's been designed for people who are working and want to complete and gain a certificate in project management whilst working on it full-time basis. It's aimed and targeted at those people who are currently working in project management but, perhaps, need some certification to support their experience and background.

Certainly, the current cohort that we have is made up of project management professionals who are looking to gain such certification. Or for people who are looking for a career in project management. So maybe it's an aspiration to work in this area or there's potential opportunities for you if you've got some qualifications there. So it's been designed for either type of student, depending on what your circumstances are.

It's officially probably just under a two-year program. And that's made up of five modules that you'll take on a weekly basis and what I would call with direct engagement with content and module tutors. And then a further module that is the completion of an extended project or thesis. So that final project takes that up to nearer the two-year boundary in terms of time to complete.

LEILA DALE: Yeah.

- We try and keep it as contemporary as possible and we include all areas that you may encounter from in project management, whether that's kind of the process of managing projects and project methodologies or focusing on the best way to lead project teams and complete a project towards it's end goals or even managing projects on a global basis. So it's really tailored for all areas of project management, whether that's architecture and large construction projects or even events and hospitality-type projects as well.

LEILA DALE: Lots of students are asking, when should I join? At what time are my lectures? What is my timetable? This is not the case. You've got full flexibility. What does it mean you've got full flexibility? I think the best way to explain it is through example. So for example, let's say that you are working full time and you don't have any time during day time, but you are more free, let's say, Thursday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday.

So you can choose and log in and go through all the materials guided practice during those days and do all your work. Or let's say that maybe you're a night person or maybe you're a day person or morning person, you don't have to particularly join at like specific time. The only difference is a webinar and the only exclusion is webinar.

Webinar is once a week for one hour for a set time when you've got the opportunity to meet tutor and discuss and raise any questions about guided practice and get some extra support. Apart from that, you communicate via email and messaging tutor via discussions on Canvas platform, on student support, and so on. So maybe Mike, you can give some very good, good example of flexible learning?

MICHAEL ANTHONISZ: Well, yeah. I think you touched on some interesting examples there. I think the first one I could give, if you were like me. So I have a full time job, I have a family. And so lots of commitments in and around that job and family. So if I wanted to gain a qualification in project management, undertaking this program would allow me that opportunity, let's say, after 10 o'clock at night for a couple of hours when family have gone to bed and I've got a couple of clear hours, to engage with the materials that are online, complete the work as necessary, and follow the program that way.

If I couldn't, for example, take an hour out of my workday to go to the webinar, the only really scheduled part of the course, I could watch the recording of that webinar at a later date. So-- Leila was identifying, I am probably more of a night person or certainly was when I was younger and now my days just seem to be longer and longer and less sleep. So that would suit me quite well.

Alternatively, you could imagine that you've just finished your undergraduate qualifications and you've got your first job, your first role, again. So you want to give that your dedication, but you're also looking to plan your career in a specific direction. Then the program offers you that flexibility to engage in materials as well.

So yeah. I think the beauty of it and the way that the content has been developed by experts in the area of project management or of business management but also experts in terms of teaching and learning in terms of being able to deliver content in a way that is agreeable for online study.

So it's really being tailored to be as accommodating as possible. If there's areas of the course that you want to explore in more detail, then obviously, you might want to spend more time on it. But in terms of-- it's not the face-to-face engagement, let's call it the direct engagement with the teaching materials, we work to 10 hours of direct engagement with additional recommendations of readings and activities to undertake as well. So yeah. That would be the commitment.

But as you can imagine, when we talk about business management or project management, there's a necessity to be able to work and be self-driven to complete your work so assessments can be on an individual basis, but equally, we expect people to be able to work in teams so there'll be group work elements as well.

But as Selima mentioned, that it's not focused on an inner round exams, it's focused more on the production of reports, presentations that are, perhaps, recorded and then submitted to the online platform. Reflective pieces where we're asking you not only to tell us what you've learned from the course, but also how that fits into your experiences, what surprised you, and how might this be used for in your career going forward. So there's a range of written, of oral assessments-- both on an individual and a group basis.

CHELSEA KNOTT: We have a dedicated student advisor team. So before you get enrolled onto the course, you would talk to course advisors like Selima and myself. But once you are formally enrolled onto that course, then you'll get one handed over to the student advisor team. So what they do, they deal with any issues that might arise while you're on the course. So before the course starts, you'll have a welcome week, which for our next intake, is starting on the 10th of October.

And what you'll do then, you'll have workshops, which are led by student advisors. You'll get to know how the online learning platform called Canvas works, and they'll also kind of-- for a lot of people, it's the first time that they might have studied online. So the support through the early stages of getting you enrolled onto the program and getting you acquainted and familiar with that learning environment.

What the student advisor team can also do is once you're enrolled on that course and you've been on it for a while, if any extenuating circumstances come up, they can help with that. So for example, maybe you have a business trip coming up and you need to take some time away for a little bit, you can chat to them about it as well. They can also help if something in your family comes up and you need maybe an extension for an assignment. So in terms of the support you can expect from a pastoral side of things, there is a dedicated student advisor team there for that kind of support.

- From academic perspective, obviously, you are communicating with your tutor. Almost you can communicate on a daily basis. So for example, you will participate in discussions and you will gain the subject knowledge from your guided practice. However, obviously, for MSc and BA, because this is the academic qualification and higher education, you'll need some academic skills that they are trying to-- that will lead to your qualification.

So all the evaluation analysis reflection, we've got dedicated academic skills team. And academic skills team is there to support you. And once a week, they are offering webinars as well for you to develop skills such as like essay writing, report writing, academic language, and so on.

So everything from academic side and referencing as well. So you can address to academic skills team, and then you also got a tutor who's got subject knowledge. So you are like supported from all sides, I would say. You gain maybe even more skills than you would be like a face to face student because you actually gain a lot of time management and independent learning skills.

So you are actually coming out so like a better manager at the end because you've got this independent learning and work ethic itself. Also you learn to work together in a group and communicate when you don't necessarily maybe meet the people at the same time. So you need to find another channel to communicate.

And I think the one that is interesting and quite big when you learn cultural intelligence a lot, what does it mean it literally, you meet people from different countries, different backgrounds. And working together in a team, you learn about each other and it like develop this awareness of cultural intelligence. And because we are moving so much like internationally and globally, it's so important for managers, for business managers to have this cultural intelligence skill.

MICHAEL ANTHONISZ: If you consider the motivation, perhaps, for studying an MSc, there's obviously a clear motivation of wanting to get a formal qualification in a specific area. So I think that's the first thing. So I think we can disregard that because I think we understand that. But then beyond it, I would be looking at identifying the skills that would enhance a career by talking about direct and indirect skills as well as soft and hard skills.

The direct skills for the MSc in project management would be around understanding things like project planning, critical path analysis, managing costs and managing resources. Those sorts of areas. Of course, some of those elements could be applicable indirectly to your career if it's not in project management, for example.

So the ability to plan, to coordinate, and execute-- doesn't matter whether you're in project management or not in project management. It gives you a basis to be able to excel within an organization and become a better employee and/or manager/supervisor. So I think we can talk about the direct and indirect skills of the program. But equally, I think Leila was right when we talk about the softer skills of being able to communicate with people, not only in terms of dialogue but also electronically.

Leila was just talking about the impact that the pandemic has had on businesses, but I'd say, it's had a wider impact in terms of how we communicate with people, how we might expect people to be working with us, so that the fact that you're completing a qualification online and are tech savvy, if you like, and comfortable is a good string to your boat.

I think things from the communication point of view, I think areas like the cultural awarenesses as Leila indicated as well would be on the softer sides of the skills that you would pick up either through direct content on the subject area or through the process of completing the course over the duration of the course.

The qualification that you get is equivalent to anything that you would get in a British university doing a face-to-face course. I think in terms of the bang for your buck on that regard, then you're gaining an awful lot more. I think the experience and the expertise of the materials that are developed really is, again, comparable with anything that you would get from a face-to-face point of view.

The experience on the program is very collegiate and it's very personable and as I say, focused on the student experience. So yeah, I think there are many, many benefits to not only gaining a qualification in this way on online, but to the specific courses that we've developed, because I think they help people well.

SELIMA RAHMAN: Yeah, definitely. Leila?

- Yeah. I just want to add that this is like unique approach because it's not fully like online-- fully online when you would imagine like online course or online program, it would mean that you are fully, fully independent and you don't really have interaction with anyone at that point. You just like submit your work and that's it.

We are offering almost like a hybrid approach where you are online, you are demonstrating your independent skills. But at the same time, support is there. So we have got very strong back behind you, I would say.

CHELSEA KNOTT: It should take you no more than about 30 minutes to complete. If you have all your documents-- your supporting documents, your transcripts, of course, either speak to one of the course advisors or take a look on the website for our [INAUDIBLE] requirements. If you have all of that ready to go, it's just a case of submitting your application. And then it should take the academics just over a week and a bit, we'd say about fortnight to get back to you and hopefully come back with your offer.

Thank you so much for attending as well. Tomorrow, we will be in touch with you to find out a little bit more about your interest in the program. If you've got any questions, feel free to reach out to us or to your specific course advisor, you can email us or drop us a call. That's not a problem.

If you've got a spare minute at the end of the special open day, please just take a moment to fill out the poll on the side of the chat there. And we will get in touch with you shortly. And I hope you have a lovely rest of your evening. Thank you again to everybody for attending, and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.