Echelon manages the development and integration of student and members’ learning on behalf of such organisations as the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, the Institute of Civil Engineers and the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Echelon’s second survey into the importance given to continuous professional development continues to reflect a trend that CPD for members is being given greater weight by professional bodies.

In summary the survey findings include:

• CPD is mandatory for approximately half of the institutions who responded to the survey.

• Where CPD is not currently mandatory, there is a trend to make it so with a slight majority of those institutions where it is not currently mandatory expecting it to become so in the next five years.

• Nearly 90% of respondents to the survey considered that the requirements placed on their members to fulfil their CPD obligations would grow.

• Compared to 2004 there seems to be less emphasis on assessment methods that concentrate on the number of hours completed or points acquired. The reason for this appears to be a shift away from measuring CPD inputs towards an emphasis on outcomes.

• Almost 90% of those surveyed offered members a means of recording their CPD activity. However, when asked if this included an on-line system for keeping CPD records this percentage fell to less than one third. This does not show any significant change from the 2004 results.

Read the full white paper.