Success for Henley apprenticeships at CMI and FAB2021 awards

An NHS consultant and Henley Business School apprentice has won the FAB2021 Learner of the Year Award and been named the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) Outstanding Apprentice of the Year.

Dr Deepak Ravindran, Pain Consultant at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, has been studying Henley’s BA (Hons) Applied Management, Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship, alongside his work at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

He attended the CMI President’s Awards 2021 in London last night, where we were also delighted to see Henley Business School given an honourable mention for the Higher Education Partner of the Year Award for our work on apprenticeships.

In addition, the CMI also successfully nominated Dr Ravindran for the FAB2021 award from the Federation of Awarding Bodies. This organisation represents the collective voice of the UK’s qualifications and assessments industry.

The CMI Outstanding Apprentice of the Year Award acknowledges the achievements of an apprentice who has successfully applied their learning in the workplace to advance themselves, their organisation, and the community around them.

An individual may be nominated for Learner of the Year because they have demonstrated a high level of skill or competence in their learning, or they may have shown exceptional resilience through the various challenges brought on by COVID-19.

Dr Ravindran’s final work-based project focused on the impact on long COVID and included co-authoring a paper with an Oxford professor, which was reviewed by the House of Lords, and as a result, Public Health England released £10 million of funding nationally to support long COVID sufferers.

Henley’s honourable mention for HE Partner of the Year recognises our outstanding work in delivering an excellent learner experience, professional development, and employability as a result of our partnership with the CMI.

Higher and degree apprenticeships are an important and increasingly popular option for employers wanting to enhance skills and build capability within their organisation. They are also a good option for individuals seeking to start or develop their careers.

Since the launch of our apprenticeship programmes in late 2017, Henley is now within the top three largest HEI providers of apprenticeships in the UK, when measured by start volumes. We work with 1,700 learners working at over 160 employers across a variety of sectors including healthcare, finance, telecommunications and the public sector.

Over the years, the CMI has collaborated with us for a number of reasons, more recently as an end-point assessment organisation (EPAO) for over 1,500 of the apprentices on Henley levels 5-7 Management and Leadership apprenticeships.

Professor Elena Beleska-Spasova, Pro-Dean for Education and Innovation, said:

“We are thrilled that Henley received an honourable mention for the CMI HE Partner of the Year Award and congratulate Dr Ravindran on his success. At Henley, we strive to ensure all our learners grow in confidence and are able to apply their learning to advance their organisations, so it is wonderful to have the hard work of our team recognised.”

Dr Deepak Ravindran said:

“I am extremely honoured and delighted to have won both the CMI and FAB2021 awards. These three years of my time at Henley Business School and the apprenticeship through the CMI with my employer Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT) has been transformational in my personal and professional development and winning this award is a great recognition not just for me but also for the support I have had from Henley and RBFT in applying my newfound skills and knowledge to my workplace and make a difference.”

Matt Brian, Higher Education Relationship Manager for the CMI, said:

“This [FAB Award] is a great achievement as there were a large number of entries to this category, and to be shortlisted is testament to the great work of Henley Business School.”

As our economy recovers from the pandemic, we are further evolving our operating model to develop a more balanced offer spanning both pre- and post-experience learners, offering a more comprehensive set of talent acquisition and workforce development apprenticeship programmes to employers.

Find out more about Apprenticeships at Henley Business School.