Henley Africa’s NQF LEVEL 6 programme designed to take junior management to the next level

If you want to build your international career with a qualification in management and already have an NQF Level 5 qualification with junior management work experience, then Henley Africa’s Advanced Certificate in Management Practice is the perfect vehicle to prepare you for the leap to middle management.

An NQF Level 6 qualification, this Advanced Certificate in Management Practice is ideal for those serious about gaining the skills needed that will help them build and run organisations and develop a career.

The programme is open to talented junior to middle managers with an NQF Level 5 (Higher Certificate) qualification and two- to- three-years junior management experience. Those with five or more years of work/management experience but with no qualification will also be considered via Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), but RPL may only comprise 10% of every group studying towards the qualification.

Students are exposed to five critical areas of management practice. The Foundations of Systemic Management module focuses on the student as manager. It introduces students to action learning and systems thinking and provides insights into social capital, diversity, mindfulness, the value of multiple perspectives and the broader context of value creation. Broad themes include making sense of self and work; taking decisions and implementing them; understanding one’s own behaviour; surviving and thriving under stress; face-to-face communication; managing successful projects and more.

On completion, students will be able to conduct self-assessments of their interpersonal skills as managers; master techniques for effective decision-making; demonstrate ability to analyse the role, strengths and weaknesses that they and others play within a team; master the basics of human communication and personal styles of management; and successfully manage projects.

The business acumen module is designed to build a student’s business smarts and teaches students how to integrate their business acumen into management practice, focusing on the operational aspects of business acumen through theory, interactive learning activities and projects. Themes covered include cost management, budgets, organisational finance, resource management, customer service management; and quality.

In the organisational change & development module students explore the role of managers in team creation, organisational development and transformation. It encourages management practices designed to assist with operational and strategic challenges in a changing environment. Students learn to build and lead teams, manage performance and transformation, implement procedures to support and management teams, understand workplace culture and align ways of working with the organisation’s values and culture.

In modules four and five, students are required to conduct an action-based investigation to add depth to their management studies, using the models developed in the preceding sessions. Their ability to apply the analytical and integrating skills and knowledge acquired is tested through the production of a report that relates to a particular management problem. The course duration is 10-12 months.

Dr Adri Drotski, Henley Africa’s MBA Director, says this NQF Level 6 course highlights the differences between management and leadership and is a very experiential programme.

“We use experiential and interactive learning on most of our Henley programmes because we believe in learning through doing. Our students may work on projects at NGOs or local businesses to help those businesses solve particular problems and in so doing gain valuable real-world management experience.”