Shape the future of management.

Since 2014, we have moved from ad hoc, low-level engagement with Universities to genuine partnerships based on supporting student employability, enriching student experience and providing professional recognition and development pathways. We have achieved this by developing a distinctive dual accreditation offer whereby CMI accredits courses containing management and leadership modules, awarding students a CMI qualification in addition to their degree at the end of their course. For the duration of the course they are entitled to CMI affiliate membership, enabling access to CMI content and tools, online mentoring, networks and events. We support this with additional curriculum engagement activities such as speaker events and are engaging with academics to ensure that they are effective CMI champions for their students. More recently, the new Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship and the soon to be launched Senior Leader’s Master Degree Apprenticeship has given us an exciting new pathway to help Universities engage with employers and are fast becoming one of the greatest business opportunities of our time. We are also now working with international partners of UK Universities and providing employability support in subject areas outside Business Schools.

The CMI now engages with over 120 UK-based universities and a growing number overseas. Participating student numbers have increased from 2,000 to 40,000. 60% of students say that a CMI accreditation influenced their choice of university. Eight out of 10 students say that the CMI resources have supported their academic journey and three quarters of HE Partners say there is a significant impact on student employability.

"CMI Companions on Campus" is a clearly defined programme of Companion engagement with University students at CMI HE Partners.

• The initial offer we would make to selected HE Partners (about 20 of the most significant in the first instance) is two Companion-led events per academic year
• Events would be either keynote addresses to significant audiences or masterclasses for students (with mandatory attendance – not electives) on particular leadership topics. They would not be events involving entry level subject-matter; those would be serviced through speakers, from other CMI membership levels or other contacts etc.
• Events would be CMI-branded events: "CMI Keynote" or "CMI Masterclass"

The main scheme rules are as follows:

• at least 12 weeks’ notice being required for engagements
• each request from a University will be agreed with a particular Companion on a case by case basis and will involve a dedicated point of contact at the University
• CMI will provide relevant collateral, PowerPoint slides etc. for each engagement to ensure CMI branding of events and common messaging for "About CMI" etc.
• the expectation is that the University will cover any related hotel and/or travel expenses. In other cases CMI will cover these costs
• we will implement a structured feedback process to evaluate engagements

We also intend to pursue other ways of strengthening Companion engagement with the HE Partner strategy. These will include:

• Items on CMI’s work with the HE sector in the”Companions Connect” newsletter”
• Social media output
• Involving Companions as appropriate in HE Partner engagement events, such as planned “round tables” and our annual CMI Higher Education Conference

Depending on the level of University demand and available Companion resources, we will review whether we can increase the number of Companion events per year for participating HE Partners, and the pace of extending the scheme to HE Partners generally.