Who publishes this, who teaches, and who pays whom

LearnLoom Consultants is an independent recruitment agent for London School of Planning and Management (LSPM), the OTHM and Qualifi approved centre that delivers, assesses and certifies the programmes described on this site. This site is published by the agent and is not operated by LSPM, OTHM or Qualifi. Applications are made directly to LSPM, and LSPM pays the agent a fee when a learner it introduces enrols.

The business

Publisher

LearnLoom Consultants

Registered address

Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

Capacity

Independent recruitment agent for LSPM. We introduce applicants; we are not employed by LSPM and we do not speak for it.

Contact

Enquiry form

The person responsible

The person responsible for the content of level8diploma.org and for answering its enquiries is Education adviser, LearnLoom Consultants, Education adviser, LearnLoom Consultants.

Where a page on this site says "we", "us" or "our", it means LearnLoom Consultants. It never means LSPM, OTHM or Qualifi, none of whom have written, approved or paid for the words here. When we describe how LSPM teaches or admits, we are reporting what we know from advising applicants and from the published specifications, and we name LSPM as the party doing it.

Other sites we publish: level4diploma.org, level5diploma.org, level6diploma.org and level7diploma.org. Each covers one level of the qualifications framework and is written for a different reader; they share a publisher and this disclosure, and nothing else.

LSPM pays us a fee when a learner we introduce enrols and pays their fees. That is the whole of our income from this site. You pay nothing extra for using it or for enquiring through it: the fees you would pay are LSPM's published fees, the same as if you had gone to LSPM without us, and we do not add a charge, take a deposit or handle your money at any point.

Because we are paid on enrolment, every link from this site to LSPM is a commercial link and is marked as such in the page code (rel="sponsored"), which is how search engines are told that a link has been paid for. The fee relationship is also why we say plainly, in the guide and on the advice call, when we think Level 8 is the wrong step for someone. An agent who talks a reader into a programme they will not finish earns a fee once and a reputation for it permanently.

London School of Planning and Management (LSPM) is the approved centre for both diplomas described on this site. It holds centre approval from OTHM and from Qualifi, both of which are awarding organisations recognised by Ofqual, the qualifications regulator for England.

Legal name

[LSPM legal entity name], company number [LSPM company number]

Address

Office 7, 35-37 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7JN, United Kingdom

Website

www.lspm.org.uk

Admissions

LSPM's website · +44 (0)20 3868 8831

An approved centre is the organisation the awarding body has inspected and licensed to run its qualification. In practice that means LSPM does everything that touches your learning: it decides whether to admit you, registers you with OTHM or Qualifi, employs the tutors, runs the seminars and supervision, sets and marks the assignments, moderates the marking internally and presents it to the awarding body's external verifier. When you complete, the awarding body issues the certificate on LSPM's confirmation. Your contract for the course, your fees and your learner record are all with LSPM.

The awarding bodies page explains the chain from regulator to awarding body to centre to this site, and how to verify LSPM's approval yourself.

• We do not teach, supervise or mark. Nobody at LearnLoom Consultants holds a role in LSPM's academic team, and we never see your assessed work.
• We do not admit anyone. The application is made to LSPM, the interview is LSPM's, and the offer, if one is made, comes from LSPM in writing.
• We do not set, quote or collect fees. Figures on this site are LSPM's published figures or are marked "to be confirmed"; a fee is only binding when LSPM puts it in your offer letter.
• We do not register learners with an awarding body or issue certificates. Registration is LSPM's; the certificate is OTHM's or Qualifi's.
• We do not describe a Level 8 diploma as a doctorate, promise progression to any DBA or DProf, or name universities. Each university decides for itself, and we say so wherever the subject comes up.
• We do not run pop-ups, countdown timers, chat widgets or analytics that load before you agree to them.

Two kinds of statement appear on this site and we try never to blur them.

Facts about the qualifications: level, credit value, total qualification time, guided learning hours, Ofqual number, unit titles and credit values, and the awarding body's own entry criteria. These are taken from the current specification published by OTHM or Qualifi and checked against the Ofqual register. They are held in a data file refreshed from the awarding bodies' pages, and each programme page footnotes the specification it draws on. Where the data has no value, the page says so rather than estimating one.

Editorial: everything else. Who a diploma suits, what the research units demand, how many hours a week to plan for, what progression to a doctorate realistically looks like, and how LSPM's admissions process works in practice. Education adviser, LearnLoom Consultants writes this from three sources: the specifications, read closely; the applicants we have advised and what they went on to find; and what LSPM has told us about its arrangements. Where we describe LSPM's internal practice that we cannot verify from a published document, we say so and ask you to confirm it with LSPM's admissions team. We do not reproduce awarding-body marketing copy, and we do not publish testimonials, rankings, employment statistics or lists of universities.

Pages carry a review date. When a specification changes, the data is refreshed and the affected pages are re-read. If you find an error, the contact page has the address to use, and we will correct it and say so.

Level 8 is the least understood level of the framework and the one most exposed to overstatement. Only two regulated diplomas exist at it in this field, and the people who consider them are usually senior, short of time, and being told by somebody that the qualification is "a doctorate in all but name". We wanted one place that says what a Level 8 diploma is and is not, at length and without a sales pitch, and that lets a reader decide against it as easily as for it. The site earns its keep by introducing well-informed applicants to LSPM, and it does that by being straight with them first.