Kingston University, London, has developed a Masters award in career and talent management, which will run from January 2008.

The work-based course is the first of its type to be offered by a UK university and aims to provide HR, L&D and talent management professionals with theoretical insights and practical applications used to successfully retain talented individuals.

Developed by career consultancy firm, Career Counselling Services (CCS), their career coaching and counselling core competences programme gives the opportunity for individuals to be awarded academic credits leading to an accredited postgraduate certificate in career and talent management qualification.

The postgraduate certificate is gained through attendance at CCS’s five-day course and completion of a series of work-based postgraduate level projects of immediate relevance to both the student and employer.

The certificate is managed by the School of Human Resource Management which is a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Centre of Excellence. Professor Charles Jackson, a leading expert in career development, will tutor participants on the programme. He will work closely with CCS to ensure participants achieve the standards for the postgraduate award.

Professor Christine Edwards, head of the school of HRM at Kingston commented: “Particularly within the last decade, staff retention and talent management have become priority HR issues for most companies. Companies that don’t make the link between talent retention, human capital management and productivity seriously threaten their business’s potential for optimum performance, so offering a certificate of this type makes sense.”