UNIVERSITY OF NORTHAMPTON

The University of Northampton (UON) is a leading Gold Rated Teaching For Excellence (TFE) University in the UK. UON needed to update their Advertising and Digital Marketing (BA) curriculum and align it with the needs of local and global employers. They also wished to make their students' learning experience more interesting & engaging with access to the Digital Marketing Institute’s membership platform where students and staff could become part of a network of 150K members and access a library of over 1200 pieces of unique content created and curated by the world's leading subject matter experts in digital marketing.

The Digital Marketing Institute is the global standard in Digital Marketing Certification. Our mission is to support students to achieve their learning ambitions and help them realise their digital career potential. Our content is validated by representatives from the world’s leading brands including Google, Facebook, and Twitter, while our global certification is recognised by the world’s largest employers.

Following an initial consultation with theprogram leader, digital innovator & entrepreneur, Kardi Sommerfield, it became apparent that UON and the DMI would be a good fit for a partnership.

According to the recent WorldSkills UK’s Disconnected Report,‘92% of businesses say that having a basic level of digital skills is important for employees, while 76% say that a lack of digital skills will affect their employability. Further to this 88% of young people say digital skills are important for their careers.’*

UON recognised that working with the DMI could help them to address this digital skills gap in a real and meaningful way, preparing their graduates for a digital future.

When discussing the development of digital marketing curriculum Kardi stated,

‘It's never fully done and that's one of the main reasons we sought a digital partner…. you can’t just dust down last year's slide deck and carry on. It's different every year and you have to stay on top of it and point the students in the direction of exciting new material!’

Following a comprehensive and consultative pre-planning, application, mapping, and validation process, UON became a ‘DMI University Accredited Partner’, and could now access the benefits of DMI accreditation, including:

• UON faculty gained access to a large library of industry-validated curriculum which is credited-rated and quality assured to a Higher Education standard.

• UON faculty and students gained access to ‘DMI Power Membership’ with articles and case studies from the world’s leading brands, and a range of other content including short courses, videos, webinars, tools, templates, and podcasts from some of the foremost subject matter experts in digital marketing.

• Finally, students were certified to a Certified Digital Marketing Associate (CDMA) standard through UON assessment which DMI validated and approved.
  
  The DMI’s CDMA certification is recognised by the world’s leading employers.