During the year we delivered the MSc programme, Mid Life, Pre-Retirement and Life Planning. We were pleased to receive continuing financial support from the then Department for Education and Skills although there was a change to the nature of that support in that we suffered a small reduction in the amount of the support and we were required to use £20,000 on projects that support Government initiatives.
The University of Surrey conducted their periodic review of the MSc programme in October 2006. The outcome was very satisfactory with accreditation continued to 31st August 2008. The External Examiner, Brian Gearing, completed his appointment in 2007. We are grateful to Brian for his support and wise counsel and judgements. His reports consistently commented that the work of the students was of high quality and this was a reflection of the high quality of the tutoring team and the resources. Professor Malcolm Johnson succeeded Brian Gearing and we welcome him as our new External Examiner.
We commenced discussions on the MSc programme with The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). The CII provide high quality vocational education programmes for their Personal Finance Society members that leads to Chartered Financial Planner status at first degree level. The CII recognised the Life Academy MSc programme would provide the natural progression for their chartered members and give them a holistic view of their clients and their work that would complement their vocational CII training. We were pleased that our discussions led to an agreement whereby CII are to promote the MSc qualification to their chartered members.
We applied for accreditation at NVQ level 3 for the Introduction to Life Planning programme. That application was successful and Life Academy is now an accredited centre for Open Colleges Network and the programme has NVQ level 3 accreditation. We are grateful to all those members who have contributed to the development of this programme and made it possible.
