The 2018-2019 overall top-scoring CIPD student on the MSc in Human Resource Management is Naveen Prasad Lognathan. Naveen achieved an overall ‘Distinction’ grade in his MSc, which represented a tremendous achievement. Similarly, Jessica Ijiebor received an overall student prize for outstanding performance.

As a mature student, returning to study took a little getting used to but Naveen rose to the challenge with energy and enthusiasm quickly establishing himself as a leading and popular member of the group. A further challenge was that back in India Naveen had left behind a very busy role as a college Vice-Principal - a role that he returned to immediately after his studies were completed. Naveen’s programme director, Dr. Andrew Rothwell said: “Naveen was an absolute pleasure to have as a member of the MSc HRM course. He brought a great deal of maturity and valuable experience to the group, making an excellent contribution in class discussions. His well-developed presentation skills were an undoubted asset across numerous modules on the programme and he was well liked by his fellow students who were from a diverse range of backgrounds. His diligent approach to study was rewarded by an excellent grade profile across the programme, his receipt of the prize for the CIPD ‘Best Student’ Award are a vindication of this. I wish him every success in his future career”.

The award from the CIPD was presented at an evening event at the School of Business Loughborough on November 19^th, 2019. Andrew Rothwell accepted the award on Naveen’s behalf from Manish Amin of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Leicestershire branch committee.  Appropriately, the event focused on ‘The future and Work and the Future of Learning’, with an excellent presentation by Laura Overton, an award-winning learning analyst dedicated to uncovering and sharing effective practices in learning innovation that lead to business value. Tony Barradell, Leicestershire CIPD Branch Chair, declared that the evening had been an outstanding success and thanked the University for hosting the event.

Naveen was not the only prize-winning student from the MSc in Human Resource Management to graduate in December. The overall student prize for outstanding performance went to Jessica Ijiebor. Jessica has returned to the School of Business and Economics where she is now studying for a PhD. Jessica’s Programme Director, Dr Andrew Rothwell, said: “I was delighted to see Jessica achieve the highest overall average grade on her programme. Her grades throughout were outstanding and her contribution to the programme was exemplary. She is passionate about her research topic and I am very pleased to welcome her back to the School as a colleague. I am sure she will be very successful”. 

The School of Business and Economics gained approval to run programmes mapped to the CIPD’s qualification framework in 2016 and the CIPD-approved MSc awards in Human Resource Management and Employment Relations & HRM have since gone from strength to strength. The University hosts CIPD professional development events each year and every spring a number of our students attend the CIPD Midlands Student Conference, itself a valuable networking event.

Find out more about the programmes here and here.