Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

WA event summary: Professional development and MCIPS pathways

02 Mar 2010

The Western Australia regional CIPSA committee started of the year with a professional development event on 10th February.

 
Aiming to present both employers' and educators' perspectives of professional development for procurement people, the event featured presentations from global recruitment industry leader Michael Page International, CIPSA and the Curtin University School of Technology.

In the introduction it was noted that in order for a skill to be recognised as a profession, it must be backed by a standard. The Michael Page International presenter agreed, and spoke about the noticeable growth trend in the number of graduates working in the procurement profession, where competition for roles is beginning to heat up. The three most in-demand skills at the moment, according to Michael Page, are Category Management, Sourcing and Change Management.

Angelina Pillai, Education Manager at CIPSA, presented on the various pathways towards achieving Full Membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and supply (MCIPS) and focused predominately on the Professional Development Plan (PDP) process and the Professional Assessment Scheme (PAS), which are suitable for experienced procurement professionals.

The PDP was described as a suitable pathway for experienced senior procurement managers with at least five years experience in a strategic role and PAS was described as a suitable pathway for procurement practitioners with at least eight years experience and a minimum of five years in management capacity.

Curtin University's School of Information Technology spoke about its Logistics Masters degree, which once complete would also accredit the graduate with MCIPS.

The WA committee hopes that attendees gained some insight into the demands of employers with regards to professional development and accreditation, and also into the options available when wishing to achieve MCIPS.