Statement of Policies and Procedures

Introduction

The concept of an international insurance educational institute was discussed among leaders in the field of insurance education in 1996. These discussions included the executive officers of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Great Britain, the Insurance Institute of Canada and the American Institute for Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters.

As the marketplace for insurance and financial services becomes increasingly global, there is a growing need to educate insurance workers wherever insurance transactions take place. There is a pressing need to educate workers in every part of the world. Emerging economies require a workforce who has knowledge and skills in risk management and insurance applications.

There is also the recognition that standards are needed to assure consumers, employers and other stakeholders that insurance workers who hold themselves out as professionals are competent in their roles as insurance professionals. A global insurance educational institute would assist members in assessing the quality of various insurance educational courses.

The global institute would support the mutual respect and understanding between established Institutes and build on those relationships. It would also help the various insurance educational institutions around the world by offering assistance and guidance in needs assessment, course development and examination protocol. The global institute would also address the issues in the global marketplace by speaking with a strong voice on global education issues.

The global institute should recognize a member’s national and local market practices, procedures and regulations and support members in their roles as educational providers.

Following the initial discussions, the need for such an organization was confirmed by the three organizing members in January 1997, and The Institute for Global Insurance Education was officially established.

Mission and Purpose

The mission of the Institute for Global Insurance Education (IGIE) is to develop the competencies of global insurance workers through education and certify those individuals who have met established standards of knowledge and performance. Its purpose is to establish minimum competency standards, encourage continuing professional development and develop an international benchmark for professional qualification. IGIE will support its mission and purpose by:

1. serving as a clearinghouse (perhaps on the internet) for the expanding number and type of educational offerings in insurance around the world,
   
   
2. establishing acceptable standards for the design and administration of international professional education in risk management and financial services,
   
   
3. providing curriculum, curriculum design support, course delivery, and testing services to member Institutes and other organizations that are in need of such help,
   
   
4. jointly developing with affiliate members, educational programs on doing business in their countries, and
   
   
5. developing global insurance education programs which may lead to a global insurance designation that would be jointly administered by members of the IGIE.

Also in support of its mission, IGIE will assist in creating a positive and ethical business environment for insurance professionals, assist in formulating good public policy on cross-border educational issues and support members in pursuit of their own missions. Whenever and wherever appropriate, IGIE will speak with a single voice, and from a position of collective strength, on global insurance education issues.

Membership

The three organizing Institutes, the Chartered Insurance Institute of Great Britain, the Insurance Institute of Canada and the American Institute for CPCU, are the founding members of IGIE.

Membership in IGIE is restricted to organizations that create, maintain, develop or deliver insurance or risk management education courses, programs and certifying examinations to the insurance, risk management, and financial services workforce. IGIE will consist of Members, Affiliate Members and Academic Members. Prospective members will be invited to apply for membership.

Members

This type of membership is reserved for national insurance institutes, often referred to as "examining institutes," and their graduate or alumni organizations around the world.

Affiliate Members

This type of membership is reserved for other institutions and organizations that are not defined as Members or Academic Members.

Academic Members

This type of membership is for colleges and universities from around the world that offer insurance and risk management courses.

Organizations will be invited to apply for membership by completing and submitting a membership application.

Governance

IGIE will be managed by a Board of Management (The Board) which will consist of one member from each of the founding member institutes.

The Board will appoint a member who will act as Chairman of the Board. The Chairman will serve at the Board’s discretion for as long as the Board deems appropriate.

The Board may at its discretion appoint other members as officers of IGIE. The duties of the officer will be identified when the appointment is made. The Board is also empowered to create committees or task forces to perform specific functions. It is also empowered to act on proposals by members brought before the Board.

The Chairman’s Institute, during his or her term of office, will provide secretarial and administrative support for the Chairman.

The Board may meet at any time to deal with Board issues; however, it will meet annually with fuller membership representation to discuss issues requiring broader representation. All Members of IGIE will be invited to attend the annual meeting. Meetings and sessions will be held in an open forum and all Members in attendance will be invited to participate in the proceedings. The Chairman will distribute the date, time, venue and agenda for the annual meeting to all Members.

The Chairman will keep records with respect to:

The assets and liabilities of IGIE;

Monies received and expended on behalf of IGIE;

Membership

Such records will be kept at the offices of the Chairman’s Institute and be open to inspection by members of the Board.

Proposed Criteria for Evaluating Professional Qualification

The IGIE plan states that:

"There is also the recognition that standards are needed to assure consumers, employers and other stakeholders that insurance workers who hold themselves out as professionals are competent in their roles as insurance professionals. A global insurance educational institute would assist members in assessing the quality of various insurance educational courses."

Toward this end, it is necessary to establish a system for advising IGIE members on establishing acceptable standards for professional study within their own organizations and to establish standards for professional qualification. In support of this effort, the IGIE would offer advisory opinions to members as to the efficacy of their teaching, assessment and examination procedures, recording and monitoring procedures. The IGIE may consider, in the future, the development of additional programs to complement programs offered by member organizations. If there is a perceived demand for the IGIE to develop its own programs, those programs must meet the same high standards for professional qualification approved by members.

Advisory Opinions by the IGIE

Members wishing to obtain an advisory opinion from the IGIE will be required to submit detailed information about their professional study programs including abstracts of their qualification structure, assessment and examination methodology and recording and monitoring procedures.

This information should include:

1. Identification details:

Name of awarding body

Address of awarding body

Titles of qualification awarded

When established

Countries in which qualifications are offered

Contact name and position title

2. Qualification structure

Aims and objectives of qualifications awarded

Entry requirements

Entry statistics for past five years or since introduction

Components, which comprise qualification, i.e. preliminary requirements, assessments deployed, guidance procedures, examination process, duration of qualification, whether credential is mandatory or optional

Number of courses required, average length of time to complete the qualification, work experience requirement, and syllabus

3. Relationships with teaching centers

Details of links between learning and certification. How do students prepare for examinations and other qualifications? If through classroom instructor – How is remuneration determined?

4. Quality assurance and control

Description of process for proctoring and supervising examination including security measures, examination delivery methodology and confidentiality measures

Experience and expertise of examiners

Systems for orientation and training of examiners

Nature of appeals process

Staffing structure and description for selecting and training staff

Methodology for creating and evaluating examinations

Methods used to ensure validity, reliability and consistency of assessments

Systems for monitoring, evaluating and governance of assessment standards

Use of external assessors

Maintenance of standards for passing and honors recognition

Pass ratios for past five years

Recording and retention of examination statistics

Process for investigating cheating and types of penalties

5. Awarding and reporting procedures

Administrative procedures for recording individual examination results. Information and feedback to candidates on examination performance. Who, besides the candidate, may receive qualification information about the candidate? Length of time to release grades following examinations. Are credits awarded by other academic institutions – Who and how?

6. Other information

Details of franchising or licensing arrangements with other awarding bodies and the role of each body in the qualification process. Regulatory requirements for certification. Procedures for awarding and recognizing successful candidates and any continuing education requirement to maintain the certification.

Submitting information to the IGIE:

1. Requests submitted to the IGIE for an advisory opinion will be logged with an acknowledgment of receipt sent to the member who prepared the information. A committee comprised of IGIE members will evaluate the submission.
   
   
2. The chairman of the evaluation committee will be responsible for preparing a report, recommend acceptance of the qualifications as submitted or recommend appropriate measures that will improve the qualification process to make the credential acceptable to the IGIE

In the event the submitting member and the evaluation committee can not agree on recommended changes, the submission will be sent to a review panel chaired by the IGIE Chairman for acceptance, rejection or further negotiations.

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