Staff and apprentices at London Metropolitan College celebrate a successful Ofsted inspection with ‘Good’ across the board.

London Metropolitan College, a specialist provider of Project Management courses and the only UK provider to offer a specialist degree and apprenticeship in the emerging field of Project Controls and Global Project Controls, announced a strong Ofsted outcome this week with Good awarded across all inspection categories. 

Ofsted commended apprentices’ diligence and the speed with which they learn on LMC’s carefully designed fast-track programmes:

‘Apprentices have a positive and purposeful attitude to their training.  Apprentices quickly become more confident in their roles and take on new responsibilities at work and employers value the skills that apprentices develop and bring to the workplace’. Effective recruitment and onboarding processes mean that ‘employers and apprentices fully understand their commitment to the apprenticeship, and many pass with merits and distinctions’. (Ofsted Report March 2024)

Commenting on the outcome of the recent inspection, Executive Director Suresh Karanjeet said:

‘Above all, we keep our learners at the heart of everything we do and we are exceptionally proud of their achievements’.  The inspection team identified a range of strengths which contribute to students’ success, including well-trained and knowledgeable lecturers, helpful career advice and guidance, and frequent contact with link tutors who support with meeting targets and managing workloads.

Mr Karanjeet confirmed that there had been considerable investment over the last year in recruiting and developing experienced project management professionals to the lecturing team and expanding the leadership capacity to focus on the quality of training to ensure excellent student outcomes. Mr Karanjeet, shown below with an LMC student ambassador, highlighted that as part of the ProjCon group, LMC students have unique access to industry expertise, resources and networking events both nationally and internationally which enhance their experience.

LMC was praised by inspectors for developing a ‘responsive curriculum that meets the local and national need for skilled project managers and controllers. Leaders work closely with the professional body for project management and trailblazer groups to design the content of their apprenticeships. Leaders respond proactively to industry requests, for example by creating pathways to higher education. By offering this option to their employers, employees who would otherwise not have accessed higher education have the opportunity to achieve a degree’.

Project Management is consistently reported as one of the biggest skill gaps both nationally and globally.  Data from the London Chamber of Commerce Skills Report states that 32% of SMEs were most likely to report a shortage of project management skills and for large businesses, that gap rose to 42%.  The lack of appropriately skilled project managers is negatively impacting productivity in sectors including construction, engineering, local government, healthcare and manufacturing. 

LMC’s mission is to continue to support organisations to increase productivity and achieve business goals through training a pipeline of highly skilled Project managers and Project Controllers who can successfully deliver complex projects in a challenging commercial environment. These programmes provide a fast track to degree and apprenticeship qualifications which lead to outstanding opportunities for personal and career progression.

Marina Etherden, Head of Operations expressed sincere thanks ‘to every member of our talented team who work tirelessly to deliver a high-quality student experience as well as our learners and employers for their amazing support’