Log in

Diploma Of Professional Development (DPD) In Leadership

The Apprenticeship-type award for those of you who are in "positions of authority" as student executives, leaders or supervisors in the groups below.   Please register with the Skills Development Service at SDS@cf.ac.uk before commencement.  We require your name, ID, role e.g. Lead Volunteer and the level you are aiming to complete.  Please note that there are only so many places available on the Diploma scheme so early registration would be strongly recommended. This is not an exhaustive list - if in doubt over whether you qualify check with the Skills Development Service.

  • Chairs and Secretaries of Student-Representatives
  • Club Crew
  • Committee Members of clubs or societies
  • Executive Members of Give It A Go and Advice
  • Lead Volunteers
  • Student-Media Executive
  • Student Mentors
  • Student-peer Trainers
  • Student Representatives in the 3 colleges
  • Student-Staff Team Leaders e.g. Bars
  • Executive/leadership/supervisory positions in a volunteering/working environment outside of the University/Students' Union e.g through Jobshop, concurrent with your Cardiff University ID card.

 

The Diploma was a very rewarding experience, I learned techniques which I can take forward into my future career and professional development. Units were quite inspiring with a lot of very good advice and insight.

Diplomas are jointly signed by the University Vice-Chancellor and Students' Union President.     

Criteria:

  1. Attendance at 5 taught units in Leadership Styles, Leadership In Difficult Situations, Problem Solving, Teamwork and Team Briefings (e-learning format)
  2. 50 hours volunteering/work experience in an active leadership capacity = PASS; 100 hours in same = MERIT; 200 hours in same = DISTINCTION.  You can mix and match your experiences if appropriate in the above list rather than limiting it to one group of responsibilities
  3. Attendance at a group interactive lecture on articulating and reflecting of knowledge, skills and experiences acquired. This is mandatory and will take place a few times during the academic year 2018-19.   Next date will be Thursday 11 April 6-7pm.  Booking and location details to follow.

You are responsible for managing your learning and will be required to keep records of your executive/leadership/supervisory activities on the downloadable pro forma and add the activities you have accomplished.  When completing this form, in the role undertaken write what you were doing e.g. Leading a project and write the skills being evidenced against it in the next column e.g. Organised a rota/Co-ordinated the team activities etc.  When you have completed the forms according to the hours required for the appropriate level of award please forward to your supervisor for counter-signing.  Your supervisor should be informed in an email that you are undertaking this award and and asked to formally confirm the work by counter-signing the form(s).  Your supervisor(s) should be asked to email the completed document(s) to Diplomasubmisssions@cf.ac.uk

Please remember to get this organised well before the submission deadline dates.  Once the forms have been received at the Skills Development Service they will be internally verified and if all are in order and the 6 workshops have been attended, they will be ratified.  You will be informed of the outcome and anything requiring clarification/strengthening will be fed back for amending.  Once forms have been ratified you will be asked to undertake a short online evaluation.  Certificates are normally issued in hard copy format around 2 weeks thereafter.

You can be "APEL'D" (accredited with prior experiential learning) for the applicable workshops if previously completed. We would need to check attendance records to confirm. Similarly, if you have undertaken voluntary or paid work within an executive/leadership/supervisory capacity in the University or Students' Union, this can be utilised as well. However, you need to make sure you can evidence it and your supervisor(s) is able to counter-sign it.  In this respect, to protect the authenticity of this award, work can only be "APEL'd" from the start of academic year 2016-17.

The scheduled timetable of units for the 2018-19 academic year semester 1 is available here

Experiential Learning Evidence Indicators

Any activitthat involves a leadership/supervisory/executive activity such as:

Attendance at any "hard skills" training e.g. Committees etc.

Chairing a meeting

Delivering a presentation

Delivering a team briefing

Training/coaching a peer/assistant/group

Bidding for a grant/sponsorship

Email/letter in a leadership/supervisory/executive capacity

Having a challenging conversation with a peer/assistant

Running a stall e.g. Freshers’ Recruitment/Volunteer Project

Recording of minutes

Writing up of minutes

Balancing accounts

Banking cash

Organising an event

Reviewing an event

Handing over a society/project

Playing a match as captain of that team
In fact anything that can be classified as executive/leadership/supervisory

In the case of discrepancies and/or unclear activities, the final decision as to the validity rests with the Skills Development Service.