Two years ago, Cordie Director Ian Thompson FCIPS was invited to undertake a detailed technical review of the current CIPS Level 6 Professional Diploma syllabus as part of CIPS’ on-going regulatory commitment to keep its qualifications up-to-date.
The outcome of this review is about to be published at the end of this month (July 2025) with a revised syllabus launched in time for the March 2026 exams.
“The Level 6 Professional Diploma is all about a strategic view of the supply chain. It takes a leadership perspective on procurement activities and includes specialist subjects such as innovation, cyber security and ESG. The review I was involved in was all about keeping this syllabus as modern and as current as possible to reflect the changing demands of our profession!”
You can find out more about the proposed changes in Ian’s brief YouTube clip here:
Unveiling the Revised CIPS Level 6 Syllabus
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Why is CIPS updating its Level 6 qualification?
The CIPS qualifications are regulated by the UK Government qualifications regulator, Ofqual. This helps to reassure learners and employers about the quality and integrity of a qualification and the educational rigour that it requires. Some other CIPS “certification” programmes do not have this rigour and so they are perceived by some employers to be of considerably less value.
As part of its Ofqual regulatory compliance, CIPS is required to review and update each of its syllabuses on a regular basis - typically every 5 years or so. The current Level 6 syllabus was first-published in 2018 and a lot has happened since then!
Examples of developments that needed to be considered for the Level 6 review include:
The growth and influence of A.I. technology on procurement and supply chain activities
Increased requirements for resilience to withstand supply chain disruption events
The prevalence of cyber attacks and the need for supply chain cyber security
Changes in globalisation dynamics
The increasing importance of ethics and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) principles
Increased emphasis on supply chain risk management and mitigation.
What are the changes?
Fortunately the forthcoming changes are all relatively minor, with the exception of one piece of exciting news about a new optional study module focusing on ESG Principles. Please refer to our other blog post on this.
In scoping this review of Level 6, CIPS took the decision to limit any changes to the ‘core’ modules only (i.e. L6M1, L6M2, L6M3 and L6M4).
Only minor changes and amendments have been made and so there is little or no disruption to your studies. It is still the same qualification, requiring the same number of credits, assessed through the same types of exams.
CIPS plans to publish the details of the new syllabus and provide a detailed overview of each of these minor changes in its press releases scheduled for the end of this month (July 2025). Until then, we have been asked not to share the details with anyone. The advance copy of the Level 6 syllabus has been “embargoed” by CIPS until then.
When does this all kick-in?
As with other syllabus changes, CIPS manages a transition from the existing syllabus to its forthcoming replacement. The transition period will be during the November 2025 exams, and so the new syllabus will only begin to be assessed at the March 2026 exams.
Existing Level 6 learners may have finished their studies by this time, but if not there is nothing to worry about - it is still “business as usual” for your CIPS studies.
Cordie learners achieve exceptional pass-rates at the CIPS Level 6 exams - and several of our study modules continue to enjoy 100% passes.
If you would like to find out more about how you can study for your CIPS Professional Diploma and/or achieve the MCIPS designatory letters behind your name, then please get in touch!
You can use the contact form at the bottom of this page - we would love to hear from you.