There has been a sudden and dramatic price increase in the CIPS study guides. Some have increased as much as 25%. Unfortunately, even though Cordie is an approved study centre and a “centre of excellence” partner of CIPS, we were given no notice of these increases, and so it with great regret to all of our CIPS learners that we bring this news retrospectively to you.
Many in the education sector have questioned the reason for study guide price increases. Once a syllabus has been established, study books don’t need to be re-written and there are zero maintenance costs. Many book retailers reduce the price of their books as the print run matures. Indeed, the principles of “marginal costing” (an element of learning within the CIPS qualifications itself) suggest that the longer the production run, the lower the selling price can be dropped, because all of the up-front fixed costs of authoring and typesetting have been paid off.
However, these industry norms are not the case with CIPS. The current underlying inflation in the UK (as announced yesterday) is 4.6%. Despite this, the price of 6-credit OR study guides has risen 25% from £24.00 to £30.00 without any prior notice to learners nor study centre partners.
It means the price of a suite of Level 4 study guides is now £280.00 (an overnight increase of £46.00); which is a lot of money however this is looked at. It comes at a time that many of CIPS’ customers are struggling with price freezes and budget cuts; particularly within education. By way of example, the apprenticeship levy cap for the Level 4 Commercial Apprenticeship in Procurement & Supply has remained fixed since it was first introduced in 2018. From this, training providers are required to provide the highest level of quality in education, despite the backdrop of inflation and wage rises. From this fixed sum, CIPS (the Awarding Body) has continued to push up the prices of its exams and the price of its end-point assessment, leaving less money for training providers to support learners. This recent price rise on the study guides just adds further pressure on training providers.
So, how does CIPS justify these price increases?
CIPS is the professional body for people working in procurement and supply. Its mission is to serve them and promote the interests of its membership (i.e. the profession). Some might argue that putting such a dramatic price increase on the potential new membership of the Institute is an act of self-harm. CIPS learners are by definition unqualified in procurement and therefore, in general, hold lower paid jobs. There is an argument that CIPS is leveraging their need for learning and growth in order to line its coffers. Some might argue that this is the wrong demographic in the profession to target; surely higher paid procurement executives and “Fellows” of the Institute should be targeted for bigger contributions to the professional body?
Another consideration is the global reach of the CIPS student base. Less than 50% of the student membership is in the so-called developed world, where salaries and education budgets are higher. Again, is there an argument that CIPS is unfairly leveraging students in developing countries in order to fund its activities as an Institute?
Nobody welcomes price increases, especially large ones that come out of the blue. However, in the absence of effective competition, learners of the CIPS qualifications are left with the decision either to find the extra money or possibly run the gauntlet of sitting their exams without access to the official study guide.
Here at Cordie, we have written in-depth comprehensive eLearning that covers every piece of learning content throughout the Level 4 syllabus. It is a credible alternative to the CIPS study guides, and indeed many of our learners tell us how much better our content is to prepare for the exam, than that offered by CIPS.
Our eLearning is free for all our learners, and will continue to be - no inflation here!
#CIPS #procurement