King's College London and FourthRev launch first Career Accelerator in Product Management

As the digital economy continues to evolve, many companies are experiencing a step-change in the skills they need to thrive and grow. One key area where skills are in highest demand is in product management roles. This is why King's College London is announcing today the launch of the King's Product Management Career Accelerator, in partnership with FourthRev, the digital education company.

The 6-month programme has been developed by the Department of Digital Humanities at King's, in collaboration with leaders from organisations such as Atlassian, Dropbox, Mr Yum, Linktree, and industry expert, Janna Bastow, CEO of ProdPad. With a curriculum co-designed by global technology companies and leading employers, the programme provides an immersive, project-based experience for learners seeking a career as a product manager. The Career Accelerator's capstone Employer Project allows students the opportunity to work with an employer partner on real-world industry problems, where they have the chance to demonstrate and apply the capabilities they have developed throughout the programme, while creating meaningful organisational value for the partners.

A key part of the programme is its emphasis on developing in-demand skills and experience expected of product managers in today's digital economy. Product managers often oversee multiple departments, manage relationships between different teams and liaise with customers and external stakeholders, all of which require a diverse skill set. The King's Product Management Career Accelerator exposes learners to both the technical knowledge and human skills specifically related to product management, such as product and UX design, as well as cultivating interpersonal skills within a professional environment, including structured thinking and decision-making, communication and stakeholder management.

Prof Smithies, Programme Coordinator on the Career Accelerator and Professor of Digital Humanities at King's College London commented: "The King's Product Management Career Accelerator connects university and industry in a genuine partnership that equips students with the confidence and skills they need to succeed in complex digital environments, ensuring they can design products that realise the needs of business, government and society and drawing on the expertise and strengths of King's Department of Digital Humanities."

Professor Marion Thain, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King's College London added: "King's is delighted to be developing shorter courses through this partnership (to supplement our more traditional degree-length offerings) because it enables us to share our expertise more broadly. We are really proud of the incredible talent we have in this important area, placing us at the forefront of digital developments, and we want as many people as possible to be able to benefit from that talent. The skills and knowledge we offer are essential to tackling the major challenges of the twenty-first century. It is King's mission to make the world a better place, and supporting the progression of people who are already in the workplace (as well as the more typical degree student) must be part of that. It's also great to have this route to working more with industry experts and we look forward to developing further those relationships to the benefit of all parties."

Mark Lester, Chief Partnerships Officer for FouthRev added: "We are thrilled to be launching the Product Management Career Accelerator with King's College London. Whether you're looking to break into a product management career or deepening your expertise in product management, the Career Accelerator brings together the rich practical insights from veteran product managers, the experience of doing authentically-designed business projects from employers, and the academic rigour and analytical skill development from a world leading research university, so learners can acquire the job-relevant and critical abilities to achieve their career goals."

The King's Product Management Career Accelerator will open for applications in July 2022, with the first learners commencing their studies later this year. Although available to all, King's and FourthRev expect the programme to appeal most to those starting out and looking for a ?way in' to the product management space, as well as those with 1-2 years of experience.

Participants will be assigned a Career Coach for the duration of the programme, providing access to 1:1 coaching focused on progressing personal career growth and development and upon finishing the course, students will receive a certification of completion from King's College London.