UHI offer Continued Professional Development awards for rural studies

2 Jul 2009

The UHI Millennium Institute has announced its first Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Awards, which will be drawn from the syllabus of the BSc (Hons) in Sustainable Rural Development degree programme, accredited by the Institution of Economic Development. These have been developed in response to increasing demand from external agencies and organisations.

To date, individuals from such bodies have only been able to study individual modules with UHI which have not been officially certified. In response to the growing emphasis on CPD in the marketplace, the Course Team have designed a series of short course awards in consultation with the sector. Each individual award is composed of three related modules from the undergraduate degree programme which focus on the following areas:

Sustainable Development Award
Social & Community Development Award
Regional Resource Management Award
Community Participation Award
Ecology & Environment Award

Each student will study in three consecutive semesters (beginning in either September or January) and gain 45 SCOTCAT credits which is the recognised standard for Higher Education course accreditation within Scotland. The short courses are all delivered online to provide maximum flexibility for participants. A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is used with course materials being augmented by tutorials, discussion boards, seminars and group activities. Evening tutorials are offered and the online learning environment allows the course to be progressed from work, home or your nearest UHI learning centre.

The courses on offer have been praised enthusiastically by students. Anna McConnell from Sutherland said "The course gave an extra dimension to my view when dealing with economic development projects, like going from flat screen to 3D", and Kate Cowie from Invergordon commented "The course has a wide range of interesting subjects which are connected by the central theme of sustainable development. Being able to study remotely means I can access course material online at any time of the day or night."

If you would like to find out more about these opportunities, please contact Michael Smith (michael.smith@lews.uhi.ac.uk or 01851 770407) or Roddy Murray (roddy.murray@lews.uhi.ac.uk or 01851 770469).

You can find out more about the Rural Development courses on offer by visiting the UHI website.

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