Manchester Lecturer Wins International Teaching Award

01 Oct 2018

The British Academy of Management recognises the value of a ‘Manchester Education’

Dr Ian C. Stewart, Senior Lecturer at the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, was awarded the British Academy of Management 'Experienced Teaching Practitioner Award' for 2018, at a ceremony attended by Lord Bichard, chair of the National Audit Office. The presentation was made by Peaches Golding OBE, Lord Lieutenant of the City and County of Bristol.

Ian received the award in recognition of his work on the unit MACE60061 Management of Projects and his efforts to bring as per the Manchester 2020 vision, a personally distinctive ‘outstanding learning and student experience’ to postgraduate students in a multidisciplinary, international, large-cohort situation. 

A strong supply of competent project managers is necessary for socioeconomic sustainability. The UK suffers a shortage of 1,700 professional project managers, needed to deliver £426 bn worth of ongoing projects. Internationally, a similar picture exists. Students need to quickly develop the competencies that are recognised and sought by employers, before seeking the extant employment opportunities, but a person can only learn to manage a project by actually managing a project. The challenge is to create a sufficiently authentic learning experience that initiates students into the practice of project management reflecting the indeterminateness of change, emergence and human interaction common to all project work, letting them experience the features of life on a project, as an individual and as a multidisciplinary team, in a safe, controllable manner and at scale - in cohorts of up to 420.

His response to this challenge was the ‘Project Management Video Documentary Assignment.’ This is delivered through a carefully managed learning community of alumni, practitioners, academics, professional association and students, using project assets from the University; the IT PMO, Student Experience and in the past, Manchester Capital Projects as well as local private firms such as Buro Happold and public sector organisations such as TfGM. 

Judged by a panel of business school deans to be “creative and innovative”, it was also commended for its “inclusive and focussed approach to a cross disciplinary subject.” The judged deemed the initiative to be “…a well-crafted initiative with sharp and impactful focus on project management and responding capability development. The work […] has great potential in enhancing the professional practice of project management.”

The award comes with several opportunities to disseminate this successful practice, which will further publicise the innovative pedagogy being developed within the Projects Group at MACE and the distinctive value of a ‘Manchester Education’ as a foundation to professional development for a career in project management.