WHAT factors should influence your decision when choosing CILIP Accredited courses? How do you balance your ambitions with your practical needs? This article takes some general guidance about how to choose courses, degrees and masters degrees and focuses specifically on CILIP accredited courses.

There are 14 universities and colleges that offer CILIP accredited courses in the UK ranging from foundation through to Masters. The number of institutions and courses means that a prospective student could realistically evaluate all the options, unlike some other subject areas. The fact that all of these courses are accredited should make the process easier by removing the anxiety of having to assess a course and an institution on your own. Instead, you can lean on an external assessment.

Bottom line

However, the decision may still not be easy. Accredited course providers are evenly spread across devolved nations and regions, but accreditation means uniformity of quality, not uniformity of content. So prospective students may find the content or teaching style they want isn’t on their doorsteps. While they might find it is available online, if it isn’t, they will have to weigh up their personal circumstances and their personal goals to find the way forward.

Charlie Inskip, Associate professor, who teaches and is admissions tutor on the MA / PGDip Library and Information Studies at the Department of Information Studies, University College London, recommends anyone considering taking a Masters’ (or a PGDip, also accredited widely) to consider the following:

• If working, ask colleagues where they studied and what the experience was like
• Sign up for open days – many are online nowadays
• Attend events run by the department – often open to the public
• Look at the social media of the department and the staff
• Apply early, places are becoming a premium in some institutions
• Don’t over-commit – can you afford to study and work part time? How many hours can you spare in a week? Can you get your employer to subsidise your studies financially or with day-release?
• Can you see yourself studying on that programme? They all vary and you will find one that suits your learning and career needs.

Career prospects

Here we often refer to how to choose postgraduate courses but many of the considerations are equally valid for courses aimed at different stages in a career or education.

Whichever level you may be at now, you will probably have an eye on your future career. And that is one of the first issues raised in a piece called “Which Masters degree is right for me?”, published by Prospects, a graduate careers organisation which is part of Jisc and funded by the UK higher and further education sector.

The first suggestion is to ask yourself “Is a Masters degree necessary for my career?” Careers in some sectors like the sciences or teaching require postgraduate qualifications. But sometimes a Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate may be adequate for people’s career goals.

Where do library and other information professional careers sit in this matrix? The two main career routes in the sector (academic and public librarians) are both weighted towards postgraduate qualification, specifically an accredited one. Prospect provides details about required qualifications in its Job Profile section and in its entries for both academic librarians and public librarians it says value is placed on post graduate and/or accredited qualifications.

It may also be worth checking the members of CILIP’s expanding Employers Partners Scheme to see how their employment processes and CPD processes use the PKSB, the tool which also underpins the courses CILIP accredits. Another issue to consider is the fast changing economic situation and how this may be affecting employers and the employment market. There is some recent analysis of the job market here.

Institutions

The next step is matching your own goals/needs to an institution. The aim is to become as confident that an institution will help you to develop the real-world skills and knowledge needed to master your profession. Also that it will take into account your current situation as some students will be career changers while other will be enhancing existing careers.

Prospects suggests that you scrutinise your potential department, its research reputation and the academic profiles of lecturers to ensure that they are specialists in your particular field. A big benefit of accreditation here is the requirements for staff CPD, which ensures skills and knowledge are current.

The advice is also to “look into the institution’s reputation” but with a warning that “while overall league tables can provide an indication of a university’s strengths and student satisfaction, they’re usually based on undergraduate courses.” It says: “A university’s subject-specific strength is a more valid concern – an institution may be strongest for your area of study even if it doesn’t score highly overall.” Again, accreditation can provide a mark of quality if a host institution falls short.

Your interests and style

To narrow down your options when choosing a Masters, target programmes and institutions that satisfy your interest. Hopefully your career choice and personal interests will be well aligned, but one of the messages from the case studies is to find as much common ground -between your personal interests – the subjects that motivate you – and the requirements of your career. You should consider if some forms of teaching suit you better than others and then check if the course is exam-based, continually assessed or both and ask yourself if you enjoyed the rigours of exams or writing your dissertation and the freedom this afforded you.

Course content

Prospects advises looking past the course title saying: “Courses with similar titles vary significantly in terms of content”. This is certainly true in CILIP accredited courses too.

Look at compulsory modules, whether they support your reasons for doing the course and add to existing knowledge. Scrutinise optional modules and confirm that your specialist interest will be covered. Prospects suggests that you also check that modules won’t be cancelled if only a small number of students select the option. Again, accreditation should help with this – although courses and modules do come and go.

Links with employers

Prospects refers to links with industry. It says: “Not all institutions offer the same opportunities, so check before making your decision.”

Accredited courses will all offer different kinds of opportunities and they must all meet certain standards and be compatible with CILIP’s conditions (see benefits of accredited courses). But strong industry links to employers can be manifested in different ways and the advice is to look at whether there is access to mentoring schemes, opportunities to work with businesses, networking with employers and alumni.

Location

This will mean different things to different people. Work, family commitments or accommodation costs may limit students to looking at the nearest or most flexible options. For others it may be a lifestyle decision: city or rural, campus or not. Some may consider studying abroad (CILIP does have a number of accredited courses in institutions around the world). Postgraduate students in the information sector do often opt for something nearby or flexible study options because they are working. The options on offer for accredited courses will differ from institution to institution, but many do have distance-learning options.

To assess whether a location will work may mean looking at programme timetables and how many days a week you need to dedicate to study, or how many lectures and tutorials you will have. Prospects advises finding out about contact hours, class size and whether you’ll be able to work part time. Also what the options are for part-time study, although this often doubles the time it takes to gain a qualification.

Support and facilities

Access to the latest academic facilities and resources is important. Once again accreditation should provide a good deal of reassurance in this area. However, Prospects also advises potential students to not just focus on life in their future careers, but to also “ensure that the -university offers wellbeing support to postgraduates. This could include counselling provision, mental health support, disability support or a personal tutor system.”