The Experienced Professional Route (EPR) is a self-study programme designed for experienced housing professionals who want to achieve chartered membership (CIHCM) and demonstrate that they have the knowledge required to lead people and manage change.
This route is an experiential programme and recognises your professional capability, previous qualifications, and commitment to maintaining up-to-date knowledge of housing issues.
The programme requires you to reflect on your professional capabilities and how you approach learning to demonstrate your knowledge of housing issues. The programme covers key themes essential for housing professionals:
To apply, you must be a current resident of the UK or Ireland, have relevant UK or Ireland housing sector experience, and meet one of the following criteria:
If you work in an academic setting you can access the programme providing you can evidence practical understanding/experience of housing through some or all of the following:
You might have worked in housing practice before you became an academic or are currently a board member of a housing association or a similar organisation
You have researched and published on an aspect of housing practice
Through your teaching, you disseminate information on housing practice, and how skills, competencies and behaviours to work in the housing sector can be developed and enhanced.
Please note: Canadian, Hong Kong, and international candidates must contact their local CIH office to apply. Contact information can be found here.
The EPR consists of two stages:
A 5,000-word reflective assignment, to be completed within four months of starting the programme.
The assignment is broken down into four components:
A professional interview, conducted after the successful completion of the assignment.
You will be required to deliever a presentation in front of a panel of experienced housing professionals. This will be followed by a series of questions, designed to encourage discussion, relating to the programme themes.
Individuals, both inside and outside the UK, will be notified of the arrangements for the interview after successful completion of the assignment. Successful completion of both the assignment and professional interview will confirm that you have achieved the standards for chartered membership.
You are required to demonstrate and present a case on how your professional experience and practice shows that they meet the requirements of chartered membership, which are to:
It should also demonstrate how your professional experience and practice shows:
Although the EPR is a self-study route, you will have access to a range of support resources:
The next cohort dates for the experienced professional route:
Application closing date |
Start date |
---|---|
25 November 2024 |
9 December 2024 |
10 March 2025 |
24 March 2025 |
A registration fee of £1430 for UK and Ireland based candidates applies. Candidates outside the UK and Ireland will be advised separately of the fee.
"The Experienced Professional Route offered me an independent, online virtual learning experience that I could manage around my work and home-life commitments. It focused on housing theory and context, professionalism and conduct, and reflective practice.
"As part of the program, I developed a practice portfolio to capture the breadth of my work, critically examining it through the knowledge gained in the course. Additionally, I created a personal development plan to help me grow and develop for future roles.
"Undertaking the Experienced Professional Route was both challenging and highly rewarding. This route is ideal for anyone working in a senior role without a housing-related qualification."
Watch our video from Michael Braithwaite, CEO at Blue Door, as he talks about his experience with the CIH's experienced professional route (EPR) to Chartered membership CIHCM.
"CIH membership has been a long-held ambition of mine but seemed out of reach until I secured the Head of Development & Delivery role at West Midlands Combined Authority.
"The prospect of securing membership has meant committing to a challenging and thought-provoking accreditation programme which, for somebody who hasn’t studied for many years, presented its own obstacles!
"The assessment really confronted me with a deep assessment of my professional development over the years, how this has influenced me as a senior manager today together with the behaviours and values expected from an experienced housing professional. Chartered Membership will open a range of opportunities for me. It’s been so worthwhile."
"The Experienced Professional Route programme to chartered status gave me time to reflect on my decade in the sector.
"It was great to reflect on my career to date and formalise my learning over that time.
The programme also allowed me to see gaps in my learning and put together an action plan on how to build up on these areas.
"I was also encouraged to spend some time thinking about my future career plans.
Overall, it was a challenging but very enjoyable process and I am very proud to have passed and to have been awarded chartered status."
"Taking the executive route to chartered status enabled me to take time to reflect on my own career, professional experience and practice, and set this against the clear professional standards and ethical decision-making frameworks.
"I was naturally relieved to realise that my experiences, skills and behaviours already aligned with these frameworks, but of course there is always room for development. To this end, I had some really helpful conversations with peers and a mentor and spend a lot of time reflecting on my practice and approach.
"This allowed me to more consistently articulate those experiences against the frameworks and have given useful tools for developing wider professional practice across my organisations.
"It has been a really interesting (as well as challenging) opportunity to pause and evaluate my personal contribution to delivering professional standards."
"Becoming a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Housing has been a transformative journey. It's not just a title; it's a symbol of dedication, expertise, and professionalism in the field of housing.
"The rigorous process has enriched my knowledge, expanded my network, and elevated my career to new heights. As a chartered member, I aim to deepen my expertise, expand my professional network, and contribute meaningfully to addressing housing challenges.
"Being recognised as a chartered member signifies my dedication to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and ethics in the industry."