01
Academic Programmes
Five Executive Certificates
Five stackable, eight-week Executive Certificates. Each develops one board discipline through applied work, board laboratories and assessment.
Stages 1 – 5
The GDI Proposition
The boardroom is where consequence becomes visible.
GDI's portfolio is built as a career ladder, moving from entry into director office to professional directorship and institutional stewardship.
Govern with clarity. Decide with courage.
Each module turns complex board questions into evidence-led judgement, disciplined dialogue and decisions leaders can explain, document and defend.
The Learning Rhythm
Five movements in every module.
01
Prepare
Reading, diagnostic and board pack.
02
Interrogate
Faculty seminar and expert challenge.
03
Practise
Board laboratory or simulation.
04
Produce
A board-usable professional artefact.
05
Reflect
Peer council, feedback and transfer.
Three Divisions · Seven Stages
A portfolio designed for progression.
Choose a specialist academic route, build integrated professional-director capability, or enter a selective Fellowship formation pathway.
02
Career Progression
Advanced Programme in Professional Directorship
The 12-month Advanced Programme integrates all five disciplines with diagnostics, residencies, coaching, a professional portfolio, capstone, simulation and viva.
GDI-PDP · Stage 6
03
Fellowship
Executive Fellowship in Global Directorship & Stewardship
A selective 16-week formation route for institutional stewards, culminating in a legacy project, oral defence, Fellowship Court and separate Council consideration.
GDI-EF · Stage 7
Executive Certificates 01 – 02
Enter the boardroom. Then create value.
Eight-week, practice-led certificates with board-usable work and an observed simulation.
01
GDI-EC01
Stage 1 · 8 weeks · 70–80 hours
Executive Certificate in Board Directorship & Governance
Enter the boardroom.
Enter legally literate, financially alert and ready to contribute from the first meeting. A practice-led transition into the distinct legal and fiduciary office of director.
Board-Ready Evidence
- ·Appointment due-diligence dossier
- ·Director law and ethics examination
- ·Board paper and finance exercise
- ·Observed board-entry simulation
02
GDI-EC02
Stage 2 · 8 weeks · 70–80 hours
Executive Certificate in Strategy & Capital Stewardship
Then create value.
Govern strategic choice, capital and performance with independent judgement. Oversee scarce capital toward the most compelling risk-adjusted uses.
Board-Ready Evidence
- ·Strategic-choice paper
- ·Capital-allocation memorandum
- ·Scenario examination
- ·Integrated strategy simulation
Executive Certificates 03 – 05
Assure. Chair. Govern the future.
From inconvenient evidence to future-ready stewardship.
03
GDI-EC03
Stage 3 · 8 weeks · 70–80 hours
Executive Certificate in Audit, Risk & Compliance Governance
Lead assurance with financial acuity and the courage to interrogate evidence. Build coherent assurance over material risks and the decision processes that carry them.
Board-Ready Evidence
- ·Audit and risk committee pack
- ·Applied examination
- ·Committee crisis simulation
04
GDI-EC04
Stage 4 · 8 weeks · 70–80 hours
Executive Certificate in Board Leadership & Culture
Create a disciplined, courageous and accountable governing body. Govern the board's most consequential people decisions through evidence, clarity and preparedness.
Board-Ready Evidence
- ·Board-effectiveness report
- ·Chairing practicum
- ·Integrated board simulation
05
GDI-EC05
Stage 5 · 8 weeks · 70–80 hours
Executive Certificate in Technology, AI & Sustainability Governance
Govern the risks and transitions shaping relevance and resilience — responsible AI, cyber preparedness and sustainability across critical services.
Board-Ready Evidence
- ·AI governance charter
- ·Cyber tabletop exercise
- ·Future-board simulation
Division II · Career Progression
GDI-PDP · Stage 6 · 12 months · 600–680 hours
GDI Advanced Programme in Professional Directorship.
A year of integrated formation, evidence and assessed board judgement for serious professional directorship. Integrates all five certificate disciplines with enterprise inquiry, regulator or investor dialogue, a board-paper clinic and a multi-party decision lab.
Assessment Architecture
- Five certificate blocks — 40%
- Professional board portfolio — 10%
- Applied governance capstone — 20%
- Integrated simulation — 20%
- Viva and development plan — 10%
Division III · Fellowship
GDI-EF · Stage 7 · 16 weeks · 180–220 hours
GDI Executive Fellowship in Global Directorship & Stewardship.
Four movements — Office, power and legitimacy; Value, capital and collective judgement; Technology, resilience and intergenerational duty; Legacy, defence and conferral. Fellows design and defend an enduring institutional reform.
Programme completion establishes eligibility only. Fellowship is separately considered and never automatic.
Read the Fellowship Charter →Assessment Architecture
- Stewardship dossier — 15%
- Four judgement commentaries — 15%
- Residency, salon and peer contribution — 10%
- Institutional legacy project — 35%
- Oral defence and Fellowship viva — 25%