Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, announced yesterday that Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, will design and deliver the new Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA). The MPLA is a leading-edge initiative from the Major Projects Authority (MPA) designed to develop a cadre of world-class major project leaders within the Civil Service to direct major government projects of high complexity and cost, such as the Olympics and High Speed Two (HS2).

Saïd Business School, in partnership with Deloitte, will design and deliver a one year development programme drawing on the resources of the University of Oxford, and in particular the work of the BT Centre for Major Programme Management at the Saïd Business School, which is the leading centre of research and teaching on major programme management internationally.

The Dean of Saïd Business School, Professor Peter Tufano said: ‘The Saïd Business School is dedicated to building and supporting a community of excellence in the field of major programme management. We are delighted to bring our unique research and teaching capabilities to this partnership for the creation and delivery of the first Major Project Leadership Academy for the public sector.’  The Director of Oxford's BT Centre for Major Programme Management, Professor Bent Flyvbjerg, added: 'Over the past three years we have been developing at Oxford a global "gold standard" for how to manage major projects successfully. This is the standard we now bring to the British Civil Service.'

Over four years, 150 Project Leaders will undertake the Academy with the first two cohorts starting in October 2012.  The Academy consists of three, 5 day-long residential modules delivered over a 12 month period and will blend action learning, masterclasses and mentoring from experienced and highly-skilled practitioners.  It will address three primary themes:  Major Project Leadership, Technical Understanding of Major Project Delivery and Commercial Capability. ‘As you would expect from Oxford, the Academy programme is intellectually rigorous,’ said Dr Paul Chapman, Academy Director at Saïd Business School. ‘But it will also focus on the practical skills necessary to develop senior practitioners that can deliver very large and complex projects on time and on budget. We will be drawing on our considerable experience of working with senior project practitioners from around the world, as well as our research insights in developing the first programme of its kind for the public sector. The Academy will further enhance and build the skills of already capable project specialists in the public sector by giving them exposure to the ideas, experiences and best practice from world-class major project leaders and academics, and connecting them to their peers across Central Government and beyond.’

By developing and retaining the skills of senior project leaders across government, the Major Projects Leadership Academy is intended to reduce the need for expensive external consultancy and return major project leadership capability to Whitehall. Its focus will be on building expertise to ensure that future projects meet their objectives on time and on budget, providing the desired outcome, and representing value for money for taxpayers.  In future no one will be able to lead a major government project without undertaking this development course.

Announcing the initiative, Francis Maude said: ‘When it comes to major projects, this government means business. Taxpayers need to know that major projects will be delivered on time and to budget. We do have impressive expertise in the public sector at the moment, but we want to take a long term view and build this within Whitehall. Crucially, this will relinquish taxpayers from having to foot the bill for external consultancy to deliver the projects and services the country needs. This is one important step in our plans to reform the Civil Service. We want to build world-class project leadership skills within Government. Starting with our current leaders, we will develop a generation of professionals that are internationally recognised for their skill and expertise.’