ICM

ICM

Established as a charity for global outreach in 1979, the Institute of Commercial Management (ICM) is the leading professional body for commercial and business development staff.

About ICM examinations body

Established as a charity for global outreach in 1979, the Institute of Commercial Management (ICM) is the leading professional body for commercial and business development staff. ICM provides a wide range of professional qualifications in business, management and related vocational areas. Our programmes are designed to address and respond to the training needs as well as the personal development of learners, whether entering or continuing to work within the wide and varied commercial sector. ICM exhibits best practice in responding to the academic and vocational needs of learners by regular liaison and structured feedback mechanisms, thereby ensuring that we stay in touch with the needs of Centres and learners. We strive to implement rigour in the award of credit, inclusive in assessment and examination, accuracy and efficiency in the certification of all our learners undertaking business, management and related vocational education programmes.

Business Education and Training Programmes

ICM's global services include the design, development and certification of business education and training programmes. The development and certification of bespoke education and training programmes for the corporate sector means that our courses are fit for purpose. ICM works with a range of public and private sector clients including universities, business schools, colleges, training providers and government agencies.

ICM supports, sponsors and promotes a number of projects, both in the UK and overseas, as part of its commitment to promote social cohesion and development. We adhere to our Corporate and Social Responsibility Policy. At ICM, we believe that by making education as accessible to as many learners as possible, this strengthens the social and economic well-being of individuals as well as the communities in which they live. To this end, each initiative that we support provides services that are central to the education, welfare and personal development of young people.

Qualifications in England
ICM is an Awarding Organisation recognised by Ofqual, The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, in England. Ofqual regulates the ICM Level 2 Award in Psychology only which is currently in development for a 2020 launch.  For information on this and on any new ICM qualifications please keep an eye on our news and announcements section.

Overseas Qualifications
‍Our current portfolio of self-regulated qualifications (these qualifications are for the non English market and unregulated by Ofqual) are subject to our internal quality assurance processes which reflect our high standards. We cover a wide range of sectors and levels.

The Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF)

The Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) is a single framework introduced in 2015 for describing all regulated qualifications in England.  It provides information about the level of challenge and the size of each qualification, showing where a qualification sits in relation to others in terms of level and size.  ICM offers single subject qualifications and professional qualifications.

Level Descriptor

The different levels indicate the level of challenge of qualifications at Entry Levels 1-3 and Levels 1-8.   The level descriptors for each level describe in general terms, without being specific to any vocational area, the challenge in terms of knowledge and skills required at each level.  The descriptors indicate the outcome of learning rather than the learning process or the assessment method.

Total Qualification Time (TQT)

The size of the qualification is based on the amount of Total Qualification Time (TQT), which is the time it takes to complete the qualification including its associated learning and assessment.  As some learners will study faster or slower than others, the qualification size is a guide (for a notional learner) and not an absolute measure of achievement. The TQT includes the guided learning hours (GLH) that show the amount of time required for activities necessitating a member of staff or other supervisory person to be present, such as teaching in a classroom environment, workplace induction and supervised practical sessions.  The TQT is used to calculate the credit for the qualification.

Awarding organisations now have the freedom to review and develop qualifications to best fit their learners and the titling of qualifications is related to TQT such that:

  1. An “Award” is a small-sized qualification, i.e. a qualification that has a TQT value of 120 hours or less.
  2. A “Certificate” is a medium-sized qualification, i.e. a qualification that has a TQT value in the range 121-369 hours.
  3. A “Diploma” is a large-sized qualification, i.e. a qualification with a TQT value of 370 hours or more.

Subjects
ICM provides qualifications at Certificate, Diploma, Advanced Diploma, Graduate Diploma and Post Graduate Diploma levels. More than 200 individual subjects are examined by ICM on a quarterly basis, covering key industry sector areas such as:

  • Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies
    • Health and Safety
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
    • Computing
  • Retail and Commercial Enterprise
    • Hospitality
    • Sales Management
  • Leisure, Travel and Tourism
    • Tourism
  • Arts, Media and Publishing
    • Journalism
  • Business, Administration, Finance and Law
    • Accounting & Finance
    • Business Management
    • Commercial Management
    • Human Resource Development
    • International Trade
    • Maritime Management
    • Marketing
    • Project Management
    • Sports Management

Courses examined by ICM

Certificate
6 months
Certificate
2 years
Certificate
1 year
Certificate
6 months
Certificate
1 year
Certificate
2 years
Certificate
1 year
Certificate
1 1/2 years
Certificate
1 year
Diploma
6 months
Diploma
2 years
Diploma
1 year
Diploma
2 years
Diploma
6 months
Higher Diploma
1 year
Higher Diploma
1 year
Higher Diploma
1 year