RKC Student wins PMI 2017 Student Paper of the Year Award

The Project Management Institute’s Education Foundation (PMIEF) has awarded Neil C. Robinson, a postgraduate student at Robert Kennedy College, University of Salford, its 2017 James R. Snyder International Student Paper of the Year.

The award was presented to Neil at the annual PMI Global Conference in October, held in Chicago, Illinois, USA, for his research paper titled Life is a Project: Project Management as an Enabling Life Skill in Cross-Cultural Transition.

Neil’s paper was inspired by the outcomes of the Life is a Project (LIAP) education initiative, teaching project management life skills to a group of ESL (English as a Second Language) adults in London.

During the course of five volunteer-led workshops, participants were assisted to articulate and develop plans for personal life projects as well as collaborating as a project team in the planning and delivery of a practical community-based project initiative – a fund-raising event in support of the British Refugee Council. Neil and the LIAP programme were also featured in a local UK news article.

Neil’s paper introduces the concept of project management as an enabling skill for individuals in the process of cross-cultural transition. He explores theoretical models of cultural adaptation, research into psychological and socio-cultural impacts of cross- cultural transitions, the challenges of being a non-native English language speaker.

The paper concludes with a view on the merit of project management skills in a cross-cultural context and thoughts on further development of the concept.

On receiving this award, Neil said “It’s a great honour and validation of the effort expended to have this work recognised by PMIEF.” In an email to the university, Neil also thanked the university and Robert Kennedy College for equipping him “with the requisite academic research and writing skills to produce this piece of work!”

As a mature student himself, Neil believes it is never too late to learn, “Education really can “open doors” and with programmes like this (Online MSc Project Management), it’s never too late to “follow the dream”. Just do it.”

Robert Kennedy College celebrating 50 years of the University of Salford

 

Robert Kennedy College recently celebrated 50 years of the University of Salford and was pleased to welcome to Zürich Prof. Helen Marshall, Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. David Spicer, Dean of the Business School and Eileen Roddy, Associate Dean International.

The university has had a venerable history, from getting the Royal Charter from Her Majesty the Queen constituting the University of Salford ‘for the advancement of knowledge’ 50 years ago to having Chancellors the likes of the Duke of Edinburgh (1967-1991), the Duchess of York (1991-1995) and Sir Walter Bodmer (1995-2005) and playing host to Margaret Thatcher, The Smiths, New Order and Happy Mondays that played at Maxwell Hall.

And while the university continues to grow, opening new campuses, laboratories and student accommodation quarters, it also won Business School of the Year and been named in the QS World Rankings of Top 50 global universities.

In an exclusive partnership with Robert Kennedy College #RKC, the university is taking high quality British education global with Swiss ingenuity. With an ever-growing portfolio of online Master’s Degree programmes (click to download the course catalogue), the University of Salford is leveraging the nearly two-decade expertise of #RKC in online education.

To mark the occasion for our residential students, Robert Kennedy College hosted an exclusive live masterclass conducted by Prof. Spicer and Richard Dron, Technical Innovation Officer at Salford Business School. The celebrations continued through to the evening and concluded with a gala dinner that also included our residential students.