OTHM, Qualifi and Ofqual at Level 8

Ofqual regulates

The qualifications regulator for England. It recognises awarding organisations, sets the conditions they must meet, and keeps the public register on which every regulated qualification appears with its level and credit value.

OTHM or Qualifi awards

The awarding organisation writes the qualification and its units, sets the assessment criteria, approves and monitors centres, verifies marked work, and issues the certificate. The qualification is theirs.

LSPM delivers

London School of Planning and Management is the approved centre. It admits, teaches, supervises, marks, moderates and registers learners, and presents their work to the awarding body for verification. Your contract for the course is with LSPM.

This site advises and refers

level8diploma.org is published by an independent recruitment agent for LSPM. It explains the qualifications, answers enquiries and passes readers who want to apply to LSPM. It teaches nothing and awards nothing, and it is paid by LSPM on enrolment.

The order matters for one practical reason. Your certificate is issued by the awarding organisation and is not tied to the centre or to this site. If LSPM ceased to operate, the qualification would still exist and your record would still sit with OTHM or Qualifi. If this site vanished tomorrow, nothing about your programme would change.

Ofqual is a non-ministerial government department. An awarding organisation that wants to offer regulated qualifications applies for recognition and, once recognised, must comply with Ofqual's General Conditions of Recognition, which govern how qualifications are designed, assessed, quality-assured and awarded. Ofqual does not approve individual qualifications in the way a university senate approves a degree; it regulates the organisation, which is then accountable for every qualification it lists.

The register at register.ofqual.gov.uk is the public record. Each regulated qualification has a number in the form 000/0000/0, and its entry gives the awarding organisation, the level, the credit value and the total qualification time. The two Level 8 diplomas on this site are listed there under the numbers shown on their programme pages. A qualification that cannot be found on the register is not regulated, whatever its title suggests.

OTHM Qualifications is an Ofqual-recognised awarding organisation offering vocational qualifications from Level 3 to Level 8, mainly in business, management and related professional fields. Its Level 8 diploma is the more research-led of the two on this site, with a sixty-credit research core, and OTHM requires its centres to run a selection process for it rather than apply a single entry threshold.

Qualification

OTHM Level 8 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice

Ofqual number

603/6996/6

Credits

180

Awarding body website

othm.org.uk

Specification

Current specification

Approved centre

London School of Planning and Management

Qualifi is an Ofqual-recognised awarding organisation with a portfolio of vocational qualifications across business, management, health, computing and other fields. Its Level 8 diploma is a fixed programme of eight mandatory units with a strong emphasis on strategy in international organisations, and Qualifi states a clear entry threshold of a Level 7 qualification or a master's degree.

Qualification

Qualifi Level 8 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership

Ofqual number

601/5362/3

Credits

160

Awarding body website

qualifi.net

Specification

Current specification

Approved centre

London School of Planning and Management

Approval is granted to a centre after the awarding organisation has examined its staff, its resources, its assessment and internal quality-assurance procedures and its policies on malpractice, appeals and reasonable adjustments. It is maintained through periodic review and through external verification of marked work. A centre that fails to meet the conditions can have its approval suspended or withdrawn. London School of Planning and Management holds this approval from both OTHM and Qualifi for the two diplomas described here; the agent who publishes this site holds no approval from anyone and needs none, because the agent does not deliver.

At Level 8 the centre's obligations are heavier than at lower levels because assessment sits close to supervision. The specifications require assessors with the subject expertise to judge doctoral-standard work, first marking followed by internal moderation, and a sample of every cohort's work going to the awarding body's external verifier before results are released. How LSPM staffs and schedules that cycle is LSPM's to describe; the assessment chapter of the guide sets out what the awarding bodies require of any centre and tells you what to ask LSPM to confirm.

1. Find the qualification on the register

   Search register.ofqual.gov.uk by the Ofqual number shown on the programme page. Check that the level is 8 and that the awarding organisation matches.

2. Read the specification

   The awarding body publishes it. Compare the unit titles and credit values with those on the programme page here; they should match exactly, and if they do not, tell us.

3. Confirm LSPM's approval with the awarding body

   OTHM lists its approved centres on its website and will confirm a centre's status by email; Qualifi does the same through its centre enquiry contact. Quote London School of Planning and Management and the qualification title. You can also ask LSPM directly for a copy of its approval letters, which any approved centre will provide to an applicant.

4. Check who is talking to you

   This site's publisher is named on the About page with a correspondence address and the fee relationship with LSPM. If you are ever unsure whether you are dealing with LSPM or with its agent, ask; the answer, on this site, is always the agent until you reach LSPM's own application page at www.lspm.org.uk.