Unique Urban Drainage PGC is Industry Leading

Staff development is a cornerstone for the growth of a successful consultancy business and a newly accredited Post Graduate Certificate in Urban Drainage will provide RPS Clear staff with a big step towards attaining professional membership with CIWEM.

The urban drainage consultancy business is highly competitive, with the need to develop existing staff and provide a unique offering to recruit top graduates in the field being essential to ensure continuing growth. With this in mind, the RPS Clear team has been working with The University of Derby for the past 12 months on the creation of a unique technical development programme within the urban drainage sector to enhance the existing Clear Technical Development Programme.

The Post Graduate Certificate in Managing Urban Drainage is a work based learning programme accredited at Level 7 on the National Qualifications Framework, which will challenge participants to broaden their understanding of the principles of urban drainage and risk based catchment management, whilst developing their technical skills and implementing their learning in the workplace.

The content and outputs of the course have also been aligned to the CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management) Mandatory Competences, with the final assessment replicating a formal Professional Review. Staff successfully completing the course will have developed sufficient knowledge and experience to achieve the MCIWEM qualification and will have taken a big step towards Chartered status with the institution (Chartered Water and Environment Manager - C.WEM).

Technical Sector Lead and Course Director James Hale said “There is nothing else like this within the industry. It will provide our staff with the opportunity for enhanced work based learning, a formal qualification and a stepping stone towards professional membership with CIWEM. It should also give us a unique selling point within the graduate recruitment market within the coming years.”

The course was approved by the University of Derby Validation Panel on the 24th April 2015, with the panel commending the team's ‘approach to CPD and academic curiosity’ and the development of a ‘technically challenging and advanced multi-disciplinary programme’.

The first cohort of RPS Clear participants will formally start the course on the 1st June 2015, registering as students with the University of Derby on this date. In future years this qualification will be opened up to staff in RPS (Clear's parent company) and also to our client organisations within the water sector.

RPS Clear Director, David De Rosa, said “Following significant investment in developing the course content, this is a major achievement and signals our commitment to structured continuing professional development for staff.”